This post is part of a blog series revealing the table of contents of upcoming Issue Seventeen. As is our custom, we’ll be discussing one article per weekday in order to give you a taste of what is to come.
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Most American homes built today lack the enduring grace of the buildings of yesteryear. Quickly constructed, stick-framed, vinyl-clad, and devoid of the handprints of human work (save an “upcycled” hewn beam fastened over a gas fireplace), these structures are not meant to last. But the homes of centuries past were different.
Preservation timber framer, archaeologist, and author Nevan Carling believes that these old houses are worth saving. In Issue Seventeen, he makes the case that they are a vital part of our material culture, offering us a lens through which we can understand our cultural heritage. Carling explores the many facets and details of an early American house that can help us understand more about the builders, the local economy, and the nation and world as a whole at the time of construction. Details of hewing styles, layout methods, materials used, and many others offer a guide of sorts to begin to decipher the mysteries of any preindustrial home.
“To look at an axe mark, a mistakenly cut joint, or even a simple doodle on a piece of timber, is to witness and engage with another’s humanity,” Carling reflects. “More often than not, the names or faces of these unknown laborers will forever be lost, but parts of their story are preserved – locked in time by the tool marks they left for us to witness.” Old houses are full of such stories. It’s up to us to find them and keep them alive.
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