The Old Stone House Museum

This week we go three-dimensional, with a nice shard of pottery found at the Stone House site:

Potsherd excavated from Old Stone House site, date unknown

When the OSH reconstruction began in the late 1960s, archaelogical excavations were conducted at and near the site to determine the historic building locations and usage patterns.  Excavations of  outhouses (or, if you prefer a more refined term, “privies”) usually provide the richest material, since the “bathroom” doubled as garbage site for broken household items.
Unfortunately, we haven’t yet had the opportunity to research the age of this particular piece, and, sadly, don’t have the resources to hire our own ceramics specialist on staff!  The names of the states might give us some clue – pieces celebrating the Union were popular after the ratification of the Constitution, and after the end of Civil War.  It’s unlikely this dates from the 1790s, and could be as late as the 20th century.  If you know of a good research source for American ceramics, please leave a comment below!

At the Stone House we have an exhibit of various pieces of material culture excavated at the site.  This piece of pottery is on display, along with silverware, nineteenth-century toys, liquor bottles, and even shoes, all excavated from our site.  Beyond the basic novelty, these everyday objects can also tell historians a great deal about life in nineteenth-century Western Pennsylvania.

Old Stone House, c. 1912 - photographer unknown

This one is probably pretty familiar to those of you who’ve visited the Old Stone House before.  The Stone House’s function as a stagecoach tavern was largely obsolete by the post-Civil War era, when railroads surpassed the stagecoach as the primary form of transportation.  The Stone House was then rented out as a farm, frequently changing hands between both owners and tenants.  This photo from about 1912 shows a number of alterations – much of the upper porch had been enclosed for additional living space, as well as a portion of the lower porch on the right.

It would be interesting to know when these alterations were carried out – were they done by tavern operators for additional sleeping rooms (and thus more profit), or by later private residents?  Records on the Stone House are scant, especially architectural descriptions, so we’ll probably never know.  For comparison, here’s a picture of the Stone House today (as it was likely originally configured in 1822) from roughly the same angle

Photo by Paula J. Slomer

Thanks for checking in – there will be lots more coming to the OSH blog as our season opens and we get into the full swing of things.  For now, don’t forget about the  Civil War Encampment this weekend – free and open to the public (with beautiful weather to boot!)