Claudine was doing some digging (No I don’t know why) and found some good information on our house at the Ohio Historical Society.
The Document: Ohio Historical Society Inventory Record
It lists the build date as first Quarter of the 18th Century. We always knew it was old, and knew the very first record of property tax collection was in the 1840’s, but this puts it as being built prior to 1825.
“Despite unsympathetic exterior and interior alterations, the house remains significant for it’s rare plan type.”
I guess that’s the polite way to say. Someone screwed up this house along the way, putting siding on it, and taking down walls and sealing up the original fireplaces.” Yeah, we wish that stuff hadn’t happened too.
Despite the never ending issues that come with having an old home, we do like this place.
But it’s easy to understand why folks don’t tend to invest in restoring them once you do the math. You’d never recoup the costs involved with doing so. We’d love to remove the siding, the the cost of doing that, with the expected costs of fixing what we’d find underneath, and coming up with a solution to preserve the old Brick just simply wouldn’t be worth it. We’d never get our money back. Ever. Our house simply sits “On the wrong side of the tracks” in Trenton.
I believe the county/Friends of Chrisholm has spent millions restoring the Historic Farmstead. Funny thing is, some of those folks are buried in our back yard. It’s a really cool place though and I encourage you to visit it if you’re into local history.
Here’s a little Quad-copter fly-by of the property, including some of the highlights: