The floor boards were about one and a quarter inches thick and were of
beech and walnut. There is no ridge pole to support the roof, but the
rafters are notched and put together with wooden pins. The split
shingles were of oak. In the work of reconstruction, all of the stone
used is the original stone except the floor, which formerly was of wood.
The ceiling beams, attic flooring, rafters and most of the shingle laths
are originals. The remaining woodwork which was in bad condition has
been replaced but the original details of design and construction have
been carefully reproduced.
The fireplace chimneys are a part of the end walls. This style of
architecture shows the Moravian influence, the Moravians being a
religious sect who came to Ohio mostly from North Carolina,
Pennsylvania, and Georgia.
Wooden partitions at one time divided the lower floor into three rooms:
two tiny bedrooms and the living room. Because they made the rooms so
small, these partitions were not included when the house was rebuilt.
Each room had its own fireplace. The large one was used for cooking and
for heating the combination kitchen and living room. The two smaller
fireplaces were in the bedrooms. They were connected to a single chimney
and have been omitted.
The large fireplace was the center of activity for the household. Every
morning a large log would be brought in and placed on the embers left
from the fire of the night before. This log would be big enough to last
the day, and smaller sticks and logs would be put in front of it. If no
coals survived from the night before, the fire had to be lighted by
sparks from flint and steel, which was always a tedious task, or coals
might be borrowed from a neighbor. This was seldom necessary because
most families took care not to let their fires go out.
Hinged to the side of the big fireplace was a crane with pot hooks or
“trammels” on which cooking utensils were hung. Its deep pit provided
storage for wood ashes so necessary to the pioneer for the making of lye
used in making soap and hominy. Nearby was the inevitable bellows—known
in those days as “belluses”—and the hearth brush.
Cooking over an open fireplace was difficult, but many housewives became
very proficient at it, and meat cooked in this way had a flavor
unexcelled by any mode of cooking today.
The big fireplace also had its disadvantages. With the first frost,
flies were likely to swarm down through the chimney and into the room.
On one side of the fireplace was a built-in cupboard where cooking
utensils and dishes were kept. The plates and bowls usually were made of
wood or pewter, and the knives, forks and spoons of horn. Also in the
cupboard might be found a bread basket, dough trough, candle-stick
molds, a bootjack, and a box of sand used to polish the pewter ware.
On the other side of the fireplace was a steep staircase leading to the
attic and typical of those found in small houses of the period.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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