Pre-Civil War Home

I did a U-turn when I saw this old home and had to get a couple shots with the magnificent sky in the background. I walked on the property a few steps to shoot and it wasn’t long before I spotted a tractor moving toward me in high gear. I thought “Ok here comes the codger to chew me out.” I could have walked to the car and driven away but I thought I would stay and hear him out. His first words, “you wanna hear about the history of this house?” The guy was so nice, we talked for an hour and he asked me to stop by and meet the family. I thanked him and said he could see the picture on the computer and he said “I don’t mess with computers.”  I said “you’re a lucky man.”

The home was built before the Civil War with additions later. The original wood planks are the wide ones adjacent to the front door and were “pit cut” meaning one man stood in a pit and another man above, they would pull the long saw blade back and forth to cut the wood. I wonder what the pay was back then?