Uncovering a 1790's log house.
For most of a century this house wore a brick coat, and almost nobody knew what was underneath it. In May 2025 we started taking the brick off by hand. This page is the running record of that work, in photographs and film, kept as we go.
- The 1790's
- When it was raised
- May 2025
- When the brick came off
- Eight films
- Kept as we went
01 · Archive
The earliest images we have.
These are the earliest photographs of the house we have been able to find. The record is thinner than it should be. If your family holds photographs of this house, we would be glad to hear from you.
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An undated print, held up to the house
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Family photograph
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Undated interior
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Undated exterior
02 · Condition
The house we were handed.
This is how it stood when the county placed it in our care. Paneling on the walls, carpet on the floors, and a brick skin over the whole of it.
The brick veneer, October 2024
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Interior, May 2025
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Interior, May 2025
03 · The Reveal
The brick comes off.
In May 2025 the veneer began coming away, and the hand hewn logs came out from under it for the first time in about a hundred years. They were cut on this ground. They are still standing.
Hand hewn logs, out from under the brick.
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The side of the house.
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The original 1790's structure, with the addition put on the back in the early 1800's.
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Hand hewn logs, exposed.
04 · The Vision
What it can be again.
A house people can walk into, on ground people can walk across, in a county that knows whose it was and how it got here.
Artist's rendering of the house restored to its 1790's form. Not a photograph.
05 · Watch
The house history and progress.
Short films on the house, the family and the work, made while it was underway rather than afterwards.
There is a lot of work ahead, and we would welcome your help.
Every gift goes into the house and the ground around it. Thank you.