Historic House Blog

This house is significant enough that it’s listed on the Connecticut Freedom Trail, which designates “sites that embody the struggle toward freedom and human dignity” and “celebrates the accomplishments of the state’s African American community.”  So why is this particular property worthy of recognition?  The designation honors Henry and Lyzette Munroe, a black farmer & [...]

Really, BGSU? The school where I earned my B.A. in History is about to needlessly knock down a very cool building that is historically significant.   Their stated purpose is to build a new student health center.  I understand that  universities need to expand, but I also believe there would be several reasonable alternatives to razing [...]

So, this really exists.  An 18th century farmhouse (dating to 1795) that is now a McDonald’s restaurant on Long Island in NY.

In 2005, in West Cape May, NJ, a developer demolished the historic Moffitt House, a circa 1770, pre-Revolution Colonial — despite outrage and preservationists’ active plans to save the house by moving it.  A report by Jack Fichter of the Cape May County Herald notes that the demolition of the former B&B proceeded with “most [...]

We usually stick to historic houses here on HHB, but I had to make an exception to write about something disturbing that’s happening today about an hour from where I live.  In Tiffin, Ohio, a county courthouse that was built in 1884 (and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places) is being [...]

So, it’s Halloween . . . and with Halloween comes ghosts.  And where are the ghosts?  Well, usually, they’re in historic homes!  Why is that?  The answer, in some ways, seems obvious.  Historic houses have been around for at least a couple of generations, if not several centuries.  Certainly, they are much more likely to [...]

Can a crazy neighbor, bored building inspectors, and a complacent city government halt a homeowner’s dedicated preservation efforts— and result in criminal noncompliance charges?  Apparently so, according to the owner of an old house in Lakewood, OH, a suburb of Cleveland.  In a recent posting on her blog, “1914 Foursquare,” the owner, “Nina,” shares the [...]

When making an offer on a house, would you want to know that it was located in a designated historic district?  Especially if that district contained rules governing future alterations of your historic home?  Of course you would.  And the City Council in Mobile, Alabama thinks sellers of historic homes — in these designated districts– [...]

Many-a-time on our road trips between Connecticut and Ohio, we would exit I-80 to stop for gas near a small city named Sharon, just after crossing the border from Ohio into Pennsylvania.   Yet we never really drove into town, feeling we didn’t have time to casually “explore” on such a long trip.  But had I [...]

In honor of Halloween’s fast approaching, we thought we would address the issue of “haunted houses” and real estate.  Ghosts and the paranormal are certainly not limited to “historic” houses.  But let’s face it . . . historic houses almost inevitably have some kind of story tied to them.  Whether it’s a dramatic legend about a murder in the [...]