A fellow bought a grand old house in Savannah, Georgia and decided to restore it to what it had been in the 1800s. He contacted the local historical society to insure that whatever work was done would be correct for the historical period and, during their survery, one of the historians pointed out that the lane behind the house was a true rarity. "You see," the historian said, "Savannah is built on swampy ground and in the 1800s the only way they could stabilize the soil was to get a crew to beat it with sledge hammers until it was as hard as concrete. You've got a real piece of history here, so make sure this isn't damaged." The man, excited about this find, called his builder over to take a look and told him about the historian's discovery. "I'm afraid they're entirely wrong," said the builder. All they really did back then was just mix some nut shells with the dirt. It's no big deal; you can find these all over Savannah." "Good grief," the man said, "you mean my hammered alley is really cashew's clay?"