The Eng Family Home: America Told Them They Didn't Belong, So They Built a House Anyway
I have a confession to make. Whenever I hear that a museum has restored an old house to give people a glimpse into the past, my first instinct is to prepare myself for an enthusiastic explanation of antique wallpaper, furniture nobody is allowed to touch, and a tour guide who has developed a deeply concerning emotional attachment to a nineteenth-century butter churn. I appreciate history. I really do. But there's only so much excitement I can manufacture over a wooden chair that looks remarkably similar to every other wooden chair humanity has produced since someone first figured out sitting on the ground was optional. Then I came across the story of the Eng family home in Seattle's Chinatown-International District, and I realized this was something entirely different. This wasn't simply another charming historical property preserved so future generations could marvel at how people survived without central air conditioning or the ability to complain about their neighbors on...
