Tell us something we don’t know.

[Oaktree]

As for building techniques being better or worse than today's world I think today's building techniques are much better and will stand much longer as they eliminate many structural damage issues and required maintenance that the older techniques required. The problem is obsolescence - it is so much easier to build a new house than remodel old ones to incorporate the new technologies. I say that even though I live in a house that was built in the 1850's (that is accurate as records are from back then) beofre electricity, central heat and AC, steel roofs, etc. It has been moved to a new basement and foundation and totally updated many times but it is a labor of love - and incremental funds verus one time expenditures - more than economic sense to still have it.

Yeah, much like autos the "they don't make them like they used to" doesn't really hold much water. My house is about the same vintage as yours, maybe a decade or two older (again, accurate records don't really exist). Very solid house (plank construction), but agreed that bringing it to modern standards can be challenging...updating wiring/plumbing (a real joy given that outside walls are 4" thick solid wood), insulation, etc. is a lot of work not to mention questionable "improvements" done by previous owners. Personally, I find modern homes rather sterile and cookie-cutter but not everyone is into quirky old places.

 

[WinterDeere]

re: "accurate records don't exist"... sometimes you get lucky!

The largest part of my house was built by the pastor of one of the largest and oldest churches in our area, and so his history is pretty well documented in church records, plus his family being one of the original families that settled this area, there's a good bit of collected family history. I already knew he had bought this lot in 1773, and was living on it by 1779, a narrow range of just 6 years.

Then when stripping failing original stucco off one of our gable walls in 2019, I got a very excited call from our stone mason. He found a date stone! I remember asking him why he was so excited about that, and he said that in 44 years as a stone mason working on old houses, this was only the second original date stone he had ever found hiding under the stucco on one of our so-common early-PA farm houses.

The writing was Cyrillic, but eventually translated as "Goes up from here in AD1775". The location of that stone, about 10 feet above the ground in the corner stack of the house, is at the separation line between older stonework and the "new" house built above it in 1775. The older work is believed to be a much smaller house that stood here since 1734, but not yet confirmed. The stone was hidden under stucco that was original to that phase of construction, whoever put it there knew that writing would not be seen for many years, although I'm not sure they'd have expected it to be a full 244 years!

 

[two_bit_score]

Broken window VS stuck in the woods. Window is easy to replace. Takes less than an hour.

Takes less than 15 minutes to hide-a-key.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

re: "accurate records don't exist"... sometimes you get lucky!

The largest part of my house was built by the pastor of one of the largest and oldest churches in our area, and so his history is pretty well documented in church records, plus his family being one of the original families that settled this area, there's a good bit of collected family history. I already knew he had bought this lot in 1773, and was living on it by 1779, a narrow range of just 6 years.

Then when stripping failing original stucco off one of our gable walls in 2019, I got a very excited call from our stone mason. He found a date stone! I remember asking him why he was so excited about that, and he said that in 44 years as a stone mason working on old houses, this was only the second original date stone he had ever found hiding under the stucco on one of our so-common early-PA farm houses.

The writing was Cyrillic, but eventually translated as "Goes up from here in AD1775". The location of that stone, about 10 feet above the ground in the corner stack of the house, is at the separation line between older stonework and the "new" house built above it in 1775. The older work is believed to be a much smaller house that stood here since 1734, but not yet confirmed. The stone was hidden under stucco that was original to that phase of construction, whoever put it there knew that writing would not be seen for many years, although I'm not sure they'd have expected it to be a full 244 years!

Well! I just got off the phone with the fellow who lived in the old cabin...his brother lives there now. It really should be on the national historical registry. According to him the farm was his family's place, the main house, nice 2 story home built in 1841. The cabin he believes stands because it's never been vacant and over the years kept in repair...small 2 rooms down, 2 up. A small bathroom and kitchen addition put on in the early 1950s. He believes it was built in the late, not mid 1600s, still very old.
We almost never go in that direction, but he said we should take pictures of it.
I'm not sure how to determine the age of it.
I grew up in the same county in the 1950s and our neighbor had 2500 acres...a land grant from the king of England (1700s). There were two very old cabins on his place I remember walking through with my brother but they were vacant. By the early 1970s I showed them to my wife but both in very bad condition and I'm sure now I couldn't find what's left...I doubt anything.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

There was a strange 2 story house built in 1900 a mile from here, vacant, owner gave permission for wife & I go there anytime. I wondered why walls were so thick, found out it was built over a slave cabin! Where plaster had fallen you could see hand hewn logs.
One of the decendants lived nearby and I talked to her about it...she was 100 yo.
It was very haunted and we made lots of audio & video recordings.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

 

[WinterDeere]

He believes it was built in the late, not mid 1600s, still very old.

Yeah, that's about the oldest you can normally find in this country, which is very cool. As noted before, 1695 is the oldest building still standing in Williamsburg, a town that's been keeping records since something like 1635. Our house is very old, but your buddy's place was already onto its second generation by the time the oldest part of ours was built, and probably close to 80 years old by the time the "main" house here was occupied.

I'm not sure how to determine the age of it.

I had a whole mix of various historians and old-house nuts come through this place, when we first bought it. I learned they often disagree, many while being completely cock-sure of their own unsupported conclusions, in the process. But as I learned more about the history of the house, I found many reasons that supported some of their incorrect conclusions. For example, one guy absolutely insisted the house must be 1820 - 1840, he insisted there was absolutely no way it could be any older than that, based on the construction of interior walls, plaster, etc. Later I learned that the house, while much older, underwent a massive renovation under the generation that owned it during that time window (1820-1840). So, no wonder one historian picked up on that, he just didn't dig deep enough to see the older house hiding behind those updates.

A deed search is always first, which can be quick and easy or slow and painful, depending on age and quality of the records in your area. If anyone notable lived in your house (eg. my pastor), then local church or business records may contain some clues. Finally, track down every prior owner of your house, and get in touch with them or their kin, to get as much info as you can. I had distant-past owners and their grandkids sending me photos, drawings, family trees, histories, etc. As noted, even before finding the date stone, we had the age of the main part narrowed down to a 6 year window. I also believe I know the construction date and owner of the older house upon which this was built atop.

If there are remaining original items, such as door hinges, door hardware, windows, etc., then there are a lot of books that will show you the age of those items. Hinges are nice, because L hinges and H hinges denote specific periods and styles. Of course, your house could be like mine, they replaced most of our 1700's hinges in the 1820's, just the same as you ditched that 1968 Avocado-colored Sunbeam kitchen range 30 years ago, when it was 25 years old. Just be careful to note that things can vary widely by locale.

 

[orezok]

 

[orezok]

 

[WinterDeere]

View attachment 856852

At least some of this is total BS. The American Indians did not even have horses before their "white brothers" brought them from Europe in 1519. So, how were they gifting free horses to one-another?

There was plenty of warring between Native American tribes, long before and contemporary to the Europeans arriving. Possessing inferior military technology does not somehow imply or guarantee a group is passivists. It's terrible, what they suffered due to disease and mistreatment, but they were also not innocent lambs at the slaughter. The whole idea of that meme, that they were all just living in harmony, is fiction.

A few historians have pointed out what a shame it was, that we discovered a stone-aged culture in the 17th century, as of course we did nothing but conquer and destroy it. Imagine if we had the same opportunity today, to learn and understand how such an ancient culture lived. In many regards, they were living in the 17th century, as the middle east and Europe were, 4000 - 2000 BC.