Sunday, May 20, 2012

The history of the house: as much as we currently know

The realtor's listing stated the house was built in 1972.  In just looking at the pictures the realtor put on the web it was obvious the house was older.  Who would put metal kitchen cabinets in a house built in 1972?  Once we got into the house it was obvious it was much older.  The foundation is stone, one section of the basement has a dirt floor, The floor joists under the master bedroom have circular "kerf" marks from mills functioning after 1860, some of the beams under the kitchen/living room have up and down "kerf" marks from an earlier saw.
We were fortunate to meet the current owners and they told us the house was moved to its present location sometime in the 1930s.  The area surrounding the property on three sides is currently state game lands. We have been wondering if the house was moved when the game lands came in.   I would think the house was not moved far and that has got me looking at old maps of the area.  There were grain mills and saw mills close by and many of the old houses are still remaining, but a few are gone.  Could one of them be our new house?  It will be interesting to look for more clues as we work on the house.
Here is a link to a map of the area from 1876:
http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/13537/Greenwich+Township++Albany+Township/Berks+County+1876/Pennsylvania/

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