NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla — If pianos could talk, this one would have a lot to say.
A 200-year-old Smithsonian restored Emerson Square Grand Piano in North Fort Myers is looking for a new home.
Watch to see what the piano owner fears will happen to it if it doesn't find a new home soon:
Hand-carved and built just after the Civil War, Joan Bennett said this piano is more than an instrument - it’s a piece of history. But she said experts could only trace it back to the 1860s. The next 100 years? A mystery… until…
“In the 70s when we lived in Washington DC, I bought it. It was painted, and it didn’t play,” Bennett said.
So, Bennett said she had a woodworker strip it back to its natural finish. Then came the tough part of getting the inside working again.
“I convinced someone who works at the Smithsonian in the piano department to rework the inside, and he did. He told me it would cost $3,000 before I would know if the sounding board cracked because of the new strings,” Bennett said.
Luckily, the sounding board held up. Since then, the piano had moved with her eight times. And each time, she said it had to be checked before it could be played.
“These are all wooden, and on today’s pianos they’re not wooden. And if they were out of line and someone played it they could break, then they have to have one hand-carved since it’s not something that’s made anymore,” Bennett said.
But now, Bennett said she and her husband are making a move the piano can’t follow. They’re heading to an independent living home and there’s no room for it.
“It’s that time in our lives, we’re both in our 90s and it has to go on, we have to go to the next stage in our lives,” Bennett said.
So, Bennett said she’s reached out to local churches and community groups hoping to find it a good home, but no one would take it. And with a deadline at the end of the month, she said her options are running out.
“There’s a piano junk place that comes and gets them, but they just junk them. And I hoped that I could give this piano to someone who would want it, and be able to enjoy it,” Bennett said.
So if you’re interested in giving this piano a good home, Joan said to reach out to us here at Fox 4.
news@fox4now.com
“It’s just a wonderful addition to your home if you have the room for it - it makes parties wonderful,” Bennett said.
