Dating my house

[Redroadhouse]

Hi everyone, i joined this group looking for support and tips, i bought this house in the green mountain nationalforest in VT. I always wanted an older home, but this place has been vacant 6 years. An ad from a real estate agency said 1768, but the town says 1834. How will i know for sure? Also something comes out at night looking for food. hes not as loud as a racoon, but two big to be a mouse, is it really possible to seal up an old house. I'm not living in the house full time yet... Thanks!

[Neighmond]

Pretty house! I would vote for the later date for some reason. As for your pest, get a kitty cat and keep it around-even if it only lives out in the garage or a barrel lined with rags; get it neutered and feed it some nominal amount and keep a water bowl handy-lots of pests will smell a cat and keep right on moving.

Cheers!
Chaz

[Mick_VT]

It sure looks early 19th century greek revival to me.

[Nicholas]

Hi Redroadhouse,

It looks like the half of the house on the right is an add on, based on that window position, maybe that is the source of the date confusion. I have had a similar but opposite time date on my house, because of an addition, the real estate ad said 1941, based on tax appraiser, but the town historian said 1915.

Do they have possums in VT? I have one that sneaks into the pet door of our screened in porch and eats our cat crunchies. Cats just stare at it. Possums are known to make their homes in attics and other crawlspaces.

[phil]

leaving a Ghetto blaster on might help. I dont' know if it will affect mice and rats but some animals would just naturally move out if there was music playing 24 x 7 It worked great to evict the skunk and her litter from under my shed without doing anything too drastic. I guess they can't hear well and that messes with their defense system.

[Redroadhouse]

Thanks guys

[Mick_VT]

A quick search reveals that the town was not settled until about 1780, so the realtor date is amost certainly incorrect.

[jharkin]

I am also going to agree that 1768 seems too early based on Micks findings... but the exact date might not be so easy to pin down.

Tear off that addition and you are left with a small cape style house. the center entrance fits cape style as well, which where built as far back as the 1600s or as late as the mid 1800s. Those column like corner details OTOH do fit Greek revival style - question is are they original or a renovation? Could well be a renovation as in the Greek revival period houses also would have the entrance on the gable end, not the long end. But it does not rule out that they built a cape style house in the Greek period.

If you want to find an exact date, short of having a beam carbon dated (it can be done $$$) the most accurate method is researching the original deeds. You might get lucky and find it, or you might hit a dead end. We tried this and they where easy to trace back to 1850 but earlier than that and the deeds are not cross referenced. Also at that point streets where not named. So you had to do a lot of sleuthing finding names in the index and trying to make sense of "a plot 50 paces from the well on the road to Milford running along Farmer Mac s stone wall to ..."

If that doesn't work you can also research old maps and genealogy records. Late Victorian owners have found their houses on Sanborn fire maps that start in the last couple decades of the 1800s. I got lucky and found a map of my town dated 1831 with every house drawn with owner names. From this I cross referenced genealogy records online and at least found out what family owned it then - which was another clue to try and track down the deed (no luck yet).

If none of that works then the next step is to use architectural clues. Get this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Building-History- ... ew+england

You can use this to look at elements of the framing, foundation construction, flooring, door hardware, type of nails used, etc to pin it down at least within a decade or two. The trick is being able to tell whats original from the renovations, families in the 19th century chased fads and renovated nearly as much as modern families do. Don't be surprised to find replacement doors, old fireplaces bricked in or removed, newer floors over old, exposed rough beams that where originally encased in molding, etc.

One thing that gave me a strong clue was nails. The town dated my house as 1795 and searching in the attic I mostly found machine made cut nails of a type first invented in England around 1790 and imported, then made domestically after 1810 or so. Imprints on some original doors show the hardware to all be Norfolk latches and forged iron butt hinges which came after 1800. That coupled with knowing the owner as of 1831, who happened to be a war of 1812 vet who married right after makes me think a date closer to 1810-1815 is more likely in my case (probably built when he came back from war, got married a started a family).

[nhguy]

A book to look at is A Building History of Northern New England by James Garvin. It gives you all the elements you need to date your house. One place to go also and you will find the above mentioned book is Historic Deerfield in Deerfield, MA not far from you. They have a great store and naturally buildings to wander through. the task of dating your house may take time, but you'll learn a lot in the process, that's part of old house ownership. The fun of learning, living and preserving a piece of history for future generations, be careful its addictive. I remember buying my first great old house, the owner a very old man said, "remember you're only a renter here" I lived there 20 years, it was and is a beautiful house.

[Gothichome]

Red roadhouse, just noticed how close the road has become to your front door. When your home was built it was probably not much more than a walking path, maybe a horse trail. Even then, it would have been pretty close to the traveller. Any hints that is was built (or was once) as an inn or tavern?