The Woodwright's House part-1

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Hello, my name is Jasper. I am a woodright at Billy Creek Village. Um, today I would like to show you something pretty cool and nifty about the local area here in Indiana.

[00:00:14][music] [music] In Park County, a few miles north of Rockville, in the northwest corner of Washington Township, sits a small two- room building, tucked away in the trees, hidden by vines, overgrown, quite unassuming.

[00:00:55]After clearing away some of the overgrowth, saplings, and small trees, it reveals what this building is. And furthermore, after clearing out piles of old rotten lumber and other assortment of things piled on the floor, we can finally see what it full beauty is.

[00:01:21]As we walk around the building, we can note different construction styles like the independent limestone blocks that the sills are set on.

[00:01:33]You can also see how the age of the building is showing as trees have since grown up through the eaves as nature tries to reclaim itself.

[00:01:54]This building was nailed together with square nails on every piece from the moldings to the siding.

[00:02:07]In this corner of Washington Township, the first settlers started arriving in the end of the 1820s with this specific chunk of land being purchased and settled in 1829 by the Engle family.

[00:02:26]Another interesting feature to note is the hand huneed 8 by8 sill logs that go all the way around the perimeter of the building.

[00:02:38]I've dated this building to be built somewhere between 1874 and 1905 based on the Park County atlases from 1874 and 1905.

[00:02:53]Based on the maps, there are building locations that are not on the 1874 map that are on the 1905 map.

[00:03:07]Now, I will be the first to admit that this is not definitive proof, as maps from the period a lot of times left out buildings and other structures.

[00:03:29]Now, while we start to work our way to the inside building, I would like to talk about how this building would have originally looked somewhere later in its history.

[00:03:42]From what I can tell, these double doors are not original to the building. There most likely would have been some window casings here. As in the pile of screens and windows here, I've found some remainders of frames.

[00:04:00]There would have been a divider wall that divided these two rooms along with the center window here being a door.

[00:04:11]Somewhere in the 1980s, there would have been a pot belly stove that went up through here. I found the flu lever in the attic with a patent year roughly 1970.

[00:04:35]Along with this divider wall would have been a doorway to get between the two along with a chimney that went from the floor all the way through the attic and through the ceiling.

[00:04:47]I am unsure if the chimney was a fireplace or just a chimney with pot bellies on both sides.

[00:05:00]and joices in this attic are in really good condition.

[00:05:08]Boards that I'm walking on are 24 in wide at 1 in thick, about 10 ft long, circular saw.

[00:05:18]These boards along with all of the rough saw timber in this building would have come from a sawmill in the local area.

[00:05:28]At one point, this roof would have had wood shakes, but since it's been retrofitted with metal.

[00:05:37]This is the first video of a series where we'll be talking about the dismantling, moving, and reassembly of this building to Billy Creek Village along the way talking about its history.

[00:05:50]If you like this video, please leave a like and if you want to see more, please subscribe.

[00:05:56]And remember, don't forget to love your local history. Thanks for watching.