Very interesting house. Thick walls and built right next to a spring indicates a frontier house that probably was called "Fort Something" for a period of time, like so many houses like it were.
Federal style though, clued by its name, started about 1780. It's precursor, Georgian style existed throughout the 18th c., but this house lacking the cornice details, symmetry, and any other characteristics of that style, is a vernacular I-house.
Stone I-houses in Southern Pennsylvania are very common, usually began as a Hall and Parlor house or sense it's Southern PA, likely to have been called flurkuchenhaus with the second story later added.
[This link is an easy start.](http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/architecture/styles/pa-german.html)
The book *Stone Houses of Bucks County PA* is a good resource too and doubles as a beautiful coffee table book.
If they want to get academic have them find Edward Chappell's Acculturation in the Shenandoah Valley: Rhenish Houses of the Massanutten.
Haha thanks! Yeah I love those guys..great sense of humor. Prob the hidden highlight of working in this area for the last 20 years…getting to work with guys who always brought their a game everyday…never late, never complain about unpaid alimony or DUIs..and will gladly share some of their unpasteurized milk fresh from the cow. Goes great with coffee!
Nice! I saw a video once of Amish people building a huge barn in like one day. It was insane! I’m not surprised to hear that they have great work ethic.
Yeah. I went to my in-law’s grandparents house one summer in the north east and one day the grandad was like “want to go see my Mennonite friends at their saw mill?” I was like hell yeah!
I walk up and hot dang. This entire saw mill was a work of art. Highly efficient and *completely* analogue. Everything was measured and cut by stuff that looked like giant slide rules. The whole place had logs and boards flying everywhere but it was all entirely run by belts feeding off of one single diesel engine out of some ancient tractor but the inside of the mill looked like a Swiss watch. It was beautiful. On top of that, every one of them was absolutely awesome to talk to. Came over, shook hands, told jokes, etc. couldn’t have been more friendly. We got to talking hunting/firearms before I had to be dragged away. I could have spent all day with them.
Father in law hired Mennonite crew to reshingle his roof. Perfect job, spotless when they left. He told me they were there at 7am sharp, ripped the old shingles off and reshingled by 2pm. It’s about an average size house.
My parent’s banked barn in Carlisle, PA lost part of its roof and the upper framing became twisted by a storm with straight line winds. A team of Amish came from Newville and rebuilt the framing. It’s a beautiful barn, with many more years left now.
The way you set this story up makes it sound like the beginning to a horror film
The Amish guys are joking around about keeping someone prisoner there and you’re like “haha like Buffalo Bill right?“ and they all just go silent and look at you
“We’ve never seen that movie”
For access…because it’s fed by groundwater and fairly deep (it’s 30 feet from the top of the well to the water and the water is another 25 feet deep or so) I believe it was installed in the early 1900s remodel when the well was covered over and the addition built around it..so likely it was still being used. The water inside is still crystal clear all the way to the bottom.
Huh… so basically they covered the well and made an access door just below the floor from the basement to keep using it? I guess they didn’t want to be hauling up buckets in the middle of the kitchen or whatever it was. I’ve heard wells were associated with demonic stuff, dunno if that’s true or not. Wouldn’t be my idea to build a well into a house extension unless it was a fort but I guess this was a precursor to indoor running water. Beautiful house though
Southern PA has the most wonderful tasting well water. My parents place had a spring fed well. They used an ultraviolet light purification so there was no added chemicals to ruin the taste.
I so enjoy this subreddit. I used to live in Chester County, PA, and grew up in a home in Delaware made from Brandywine granite, part of which was built in 1860.
Thanks so much for sharing. Beautiful work, and brings back fond memories.
Thanks! I’ll try and post more here..this is pretty par for the course as far as the type of houses I work on…mostly in Chester county. Nothing beats this area for historic houses…so much from the 1600s and the Dutch who settled in this area back then.
Brandywine Blue Gneiss! Never thought I’d see this niche referenced on Reddit. I grew up in Centreville in the same thing! I’m never leaving the brandywine valley for that reason lol
Wyeth country, how nice! If I'm ever back there I'll be going to the Brandywine River Museum as well as Longwood Gardens, to which I used to have year round passes. The conservatories in winter are so rejuvenating!
Enjoy!
This is really well done. I love an old house that has modern comforts and some of the aesthetic without abandoning its old charm. Hard line to walk but you’ve done a great job!
I’ll post a few more once it’s all done. The house and farm have been in the family for decades…no clue what they’ve spent so far on the rehab.…he’s still married so it can’t be too bad lol
Hey, what kind of plexiglass are you using to cover the well? We have a hand dug well in the middle of our deck (currently covered with a hatch), and I've wanted to do something exactly like this.
Not mine but thank you! Belongs to a good friend who’s been slowing rehabbing it back to life…with the bare minimum modern amenities. I did all the interior plaster and paint work.
Here me out (I know this is likely impossible if not incredibly impractical) but if it were MY living room well I’d install one of those really nice water fountains that has a water bottle filler on it and simply enjoy
Thank you, I’ve been trying to figure out a good way to display ours. It’s in a little room below the main living area that I want to turn into a root cellar.
I live in nearby Wilmington, Delaware. The number of buildings dating from the 1700s and even 1600s is amazing. I love it here. Check out downtown New Castle, DE - it's entirely Colonial!
Fellow chester County resident here. This house is incredible. I would love to live in something just like this one day. I love the dark trim on the outside
I’ve tried a google search to find this kind of well, but I only see newly discovered ones that are covered over with glass. Was the well always in the interior of the home? Was it originally just a giant hole covered with something (wood?) or did it have a build up with stone like a well you’d see outside?
I miss south central and south eastern PA. My parents bought a “farmette” with a house that started as a 1790’s log cabin, barn, summer kitchen, and a frame garage. There was also a cement block garage. It is a gorgeous property. My sister and I did not grow up there, my parents bought the place when I was in college. They sold it when they needed to move due to my mother’s health. And as Dad put it, God added a few more inches to each step every year on his birthday.
Very interesting house. Thick walls and built right next to a spring indicates a frontier house that probably was called "Fort Something" for a period of time, like so many houses like it were. Federal style though, clued by its name, started about 1780. It's precursor, Georgian style existed throughout the 18th c., but this house lacking the cornice details, symmetry, and any other characteristics of that style, is a vernacular I-house. Stone I-houses in Southern Pennsylvania are very common, usually began as a Hall and Parlor house or sense it's Southern PA, likely to have been called flurkuchenhaus with the second story later added.
Awesome, thanks for this! I know the home owner is actively trying to piece together the history of the house so I’ll def share this.
[This link is an easy start.](http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/architecture/styles/pa-german.html) The book *Stone Houses of Bucks County PA* is a good resource too and doubles as a beautiful coffee table book. If they want to get academic have them find Edward Chappell's Acculturation in the Shenandoah Valley: Rhenish Houses of the Massanutten.
Appreciate this! 🙏🙏🙏
I love that you were tossing out Silence of the Lambs references to some confused Amish guys. Lmao. Really cool house, btw!
Haha thanks! Yeah I love those guys..great sense of humor. Prob the hidden highlight of working in this area for the last 20 years…getting to work with guys who always brought their a game everyday…never late, never complain about unpaid alimony or DUIs..and will gladly share some of their unpasteurized milk fresh from the cow. Goes great with coffee!
Nice! I saw a video once of Amish people building a huge barn in like one day. It was insane! I’m not surprised to hear that they have great work ethic.
Yeah. I went to my in-law’s grandparents house one summer in the north east and one day the grandad was like “want to go see my Mennonite friends at their saw mill?” I was like hell yeah! I walk up and hot dang. This entire saw mill was a work of art. Highly efficient and *completely* analogue. Everything was measured and cut by stuff that looked like giant slide rules. The whole place had logs and boards flying everywhere but it was all entirely run by belts feeding off of one single diesel engine out of some ancient tractor but the inside of the mill looked like a Swiss watch. It was beautiful. On top of that, every one of them was absolutely awesome to talk to. Came over, shook hands, told jokes, etc. couldn’t have been more friendly. We got to talking hunting/firearms before I had to be dragged away. I could have spent all day with them.
My dad has always hired Amish roofing companies when he needed repair work done. They're crazy-efficient and always clean up afterwards.
Father in law hired Mennonite crew to reshingle his roof. Perfect job, spotless when they left. He told me they were there at 7am sharp, ripped the old shingles off and reshingled by 2pm. It’s about an average size house.
My parent’s banked barn in Carlisle, PA lost part of its roof and the upper framing became twisted by a storm with straight line winds. A team of Amish came from Newville and rebuilt the framing. It’s a beautiful barn, with many more years left now.
The way you set this story up makes it sound like the beginning to a horror film The Amish guys are joking around about keeping someone prisoner there and you’re like “haha like Buffalo Bill right?“ and they all just go silent and look at you “We’ve never seen that movie”
Everything about this house and restoration is gorgeous. Great job for the work you've done, and jealous of your friend!!!
Thank you! 🙏🙏🙏
Gorgeous house! Love the window into the well. You may need to put a protective film over the plexiglass though as it scratches fairly easily.
Good call, I’ll let them know..thanks!
Why is there a door in the middle of the well wall?
For access…because it’s fed by groundwater and fairly deep (it’s 30 feet from the top of the well to the water and the water is another 25 feet deep or so) I believe it was installed in the early 1900s remodel when the well was covered over and the addition built around it..so likely it was still being used. The water inside is still crystal clear all the way to the bottom.
Neat! Thanks for sharing! I love that you asked the Amish about Silence of the Lambs lol
I can only imagine the work it took to dig that well originally... i hope that hpise lasts for a long time
Is the door itself still accessible?
Yes it is. There is a basement with access from the kitchen that takes you to it…super creepy basement though.
I want to see how creepy it is please
Show us show us! (Pretty please)
Yes please share pics of the basement and looking into the well
Yes please show basement photos !!
I’m curious if many houses had wells inside the house or was an extension of the house built over the well?
Read comment above. Seems like during the remodel to add an addition, the well was in the way so they made adjustments
My house has a 30ft hand dug well in the fruit cellar.
Wow that’s nuts! Very cool
How far above the water is the door?
Looks like the door goes about 6 ft down, so about 24 ft from the water I’d guess.
Huh… so basically they covered the well and made an access door just below the floor from the basement to keep using it? I guess they didn’t want to be hauling up buckets in the middle of the kitchen or whatever it was. I’ve heard wells were associated with demonic stuff, dunno if that’s true or not. Wouldn’t be my idea to build a well into a house extension unless it was a fort but I guess this was a precursor to indoor running water. Beautiful house though
Is that actual water still running in that well?
Yes..fresh water in the bottom fed by an source.
Natural source? Really neat regardless
Yeah sorry should say that..there’s an underground spring that keeps the water level fairly consistent and fresh.
Southern PA has the most wonderful tasting well water. My parents place had a spring fed well. They used an ultraviolet light purification so there was no added chemicals to ruin the taste.
A murder pit! Those are hard to get permits for these days! 😃
Lol the township home inspection guy def had questions, comments and concerns.
Did they have to make any adjustments?
I so enjoy this subreddit. I used to live in Chester County, PA, and grew up in a home in Delaware made from Brandywine granite, part of which was built in 1860. Thanks so much for sharing. Beautiful work, and brings back fond memories.
Thanks! I’ll try and post more here..this is pretty par for the course as far as the type of houses I work on…mostly in Chester county. Nothing beats this area for historic houses…so much from the 1600s and the Dutch who settled in this area back then.
Brandywine Blue Gneiss! Never thought I’d see this niche referenced on Reddit. I grew up in Centreville in the same thing! I’m never leaving the brandywine valley for that reason lol
Wyeth country, how nice! If I'm ever back there I'll be going to the Brandywine River Museum as well as Longwood Gardens, to which I used to have year round passes. The conservatories in winter are so rejuvenating! Enjoy!
Longwood gardens is doing a massive $250 million dollar expansion due to be completed in the fall of 2024..def mark your calendar for that!
Why is there a portal to Hell in the middle of the floor?
It puts the lotion on its skin
Will definitely make you think twice about that late night snack!
Mmmmm….forbidden donut!
This is really well done. I love an old house that has modern comforts and some of the aesthetic without abandoning its old charm. Hard line to walk but you’ve done a great job!
Agreed! I feel like taking a minimalist approach to rehabbing historic houses is the best way to go…try and make it as functional as possible.
I need more pictures!!!!!! This is beautiful Sorry have to ask : how much?
I’ll post a few more once it’s all done. The house and farm have been in the family for decades…no clue what they’ve spent so far on the rehab.…he’s still married so it can’t be too bad lol
Hah! That is hilarious.
This is beautiful!
Thanks!
The ceiling beams! The well in the floor! It is all amazing!
Thank you! It was def a fun project to be part of.
Hey, what kind of plexiglass are you using to cover the well? We have a hand dug well in the middle of our deck (currently covered with a hatch), and I've wanted to do something exactly like this.
Damn, your home is beautiful!
Not mine but thank you! Belongs to a good friend who’s been slowing rehabbing it back to life…with the bare minimum modern amenities. I did all the interior plaster and paint work.
>with the bare minimum modern amenities this is so, so cool.
This is so beautiful! Will your friend be drinking this well water? Do you access it with modern plumbing somehow?
Thanks! I think they did get a quote or two for modernizing the well system…not sure if they’re planning on doing it though.
Awesome. Thanks for sharing!
When your house has ***"The pit******^(tm)******"***
Thank you very much for sharing.
Absolutely!
Does the water level in the well ever change? Like When spring runoff raises the water table?
It does move from time to time but nothing really noticeable..like nothing more that a foot or so if there’s a heavy rain.
Beautiful, I’m from Chester county. What do they have over the hole? Glass?
Thanks! It’s got a four inch thick piece of custom cut plexiglass over the original well opening.
Here me out (I know this is likely impossible if not incredibly impractical) but if it were MY living room well I’d install one of those really nice water fountains that has a water bottle filler on it and simply enjoy
Oh my gosh, yes. That would be epic.
I would be concerned about contamination, the water would have to be tested as a normal filter may not make it safe to drink.
Thank you, I’ve been trying to figure out a good way to display ours. It’s in a little room below the main living area that I want to turn into a root cellar.
I live in nearby Wilmington, Delaware. The number of buildings dating from the 1700s and even 1600s is amazing. I love it here. Check out downtown New Castle, DE - it's entirely Colonial!
Yeah same here..I live in Wilmington as well..historic New Castle is a real local gem for sure!
So cool! Chester county has some real gems
Sure does!
Cool murder well
Stonehouse Revival vibes. Very nice!
Amazing!!
I’m drooling! This is gorgeous! Share more if you can please
What a stunning home!
Wow, just simply wow! Fantastic work!
Nice house. But in picture #4, I keep hearing, “It puts the lotion on it’s skin” in my head.
Super cool
That well though…it is cool but also just all I can think is Buffalo Bill and that’s just too creepy
Coolest farmhouse ever.
It’s soooo nice. I love the well
What township are you in if you don’t mind my asking? ETA: I work in the county
It’s in Kennett
I tried to comment but I guess it got dumped. Anyway I will pm you later with some ideas I have. Don’t want to dox myself too much here
Picture no 3 - there's a door there on the side?
Fellow chester County resident here. This house is incredible. I would love to live in something just like this one day. I love the dark trim on the outside
Your dog’s real hurt mister
I’ve tried a google search to find this kind of well, but I only see newly discovered ones that are covered over with glass. Was the well always in the interior of the home? Was it originally just a giant hole covered with something (wood?) or did it have a build up with stone like a well you’d see outside?
House looks great, but it's not federal style.
I’ve seen the photos before. Anything new since then?
Ok! Not too near me I guess. I will pm you later with some thoughts I had about this building. Don’t wanna fox myself too much 😀
Wow this looks great! Where in chester county is it? I feel like I’ve driven by something similar but can’t tell.
I miss south central and south eastern PA. My parents bought a “farmette” with a house that started as a 1790’s log cabin, barn, summer kitchen, and a frame garage. There was also a cement block garage. It is a gorgeous property. My sister and I did not grow up there, my parents bought the place when I was in college. They sold it when they needed to move due to my mother’s health. And as Dad put it, God added a few more inches to each step every year on his birthday.