Historians be like:
Peter never married. He Chose to stay single his whole life. Lived until the day he died with his roommate and closest personal friend Jack by his side
In 19th Century CE, Paris 🇫🇷, some streets were paved with wood instead of stone to reduce the noise of horse drawn carriages. Pictured here is the Passage Saint Maur which still holds a few of the city's last surviving wooden blocks.
During the mid 1800s CE, Paris experimented with thousands of wooden paving blocks cut from pine and other durable timbers. City officials hoped they would soften the constant rumble of iron shod horses and steel rimmed wagon wheels that echoed through narrow streets. The wood also provided better traction in wet weather and was easier on horses' hooves than granite cobblestones.
The idea spread to London, New York, Chicago, and several other cities. However, wooden streets required frequent maintenance. They absorbed moisture, could become slippery when coated with mud or horse manure, and deteriorated more quickly than stone. By the early 20th century, asphalt and modern paving materials had largely replaced them, leaving only a handful of surviving examples as reminders of an unusual chapter in urban engineering.
Some Parisian wooden blocks were treated with creosote to slow decay. The preservative worked well, but during hot summer days the streets could give off a distinctive tar like smell that residents often complained about.
#archaeohistories