Re the converted outbuildings...

    This is still being done.  My aunt lives in a converted turkey barn, no
foundation, wood walls placed directly on the dirt.  It was built in the
1910s, I believe.  Floor is currently sheet linoleum (or rather the vinyl
equivalent) on dirt.  Now has an exterior of stucco and interior is
sheetrock, but when they moved in is was all raw wood with a few feathers
still there.  Poop was scraped out.  Rural location.
    An archaeologist I know has an old outhouse I believe he told me he
converted into a leanto shed, attached to his old house, circa 1850s.  Was
rural, now in town.
    My neighbor's house was set on trunks with the bark still on them; it
was built ca 1887.  Its current kitchen was a shed moved and attached to the
house around 1900, and encased with matching siding.  A farm, originally now
in suburbs.
    I know of a house built of packing crates obtained from the nearby
railroad yard.  Built circa 1930, on wooden piers.  Didn't start out as a
house, it was a storage shack, but turned into a residence a decade or so
after.  Last year the object of a community refurbishment.  In an old
residential neighborhood.
    Another house here started out as an underground tool storage area, that
part is now the lower floor of a house.  All the lumber was salvaged.  Built
in the 1960s.  Within a subdivision.

    People are opportunists!

    These are my favorite types of houses.  I love these vernacular
makeovers.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Megan Springate" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2009 2:14 PM
Subject: Concealed Hoe Blade and Outbuilding Converted to a Dwelling?


> Greetings,
>
> Has anyone encountered hoe blades or other iron tools in concealed
> contexts? I have one that was recovered concealed in the framing for the
> first floor ceiling, immediately south of a chimney. I have done a fair
> bit of reading on concealed ritual objects, and though I've found
> references to the uses of iron, and their placement near chimneys, I
> haven't found any reference to hoes or other relatively large iron
> objects.
>
> Also, has anyone encountered dwellings that were built by converting
> existing outbuildings? The framing of the two-story dwelling indicates
> that it was built by converting a single story, slope-roofed,
> crudely-built outbuilding. The outbuilding was constructed using
> repurposed wood from some other building, as well as tree trunks, several
> of which retain their bark.
>
> The questions are both regarding the same context; the building appears to
> have been converted to a dwelling in the mid-1850s or so.
>
> Regards,
> Megan Springate, RPA