The house was built by hand. Each piece of lumber was cut from trees that grew close, each one brought to length with saws that were made two centuries ago, brought down with axes, pulled here behind mules, stacked and cut to length, shingles peeled of bark, with hatchets carving each one down and slanted like the rest.
Foundation built of small flat rocks, chipped and straightened by hand, laid out in a two foot row, by binders twine and wooden stakes, each cleaned with time and control, at least a foot tall to hold to the curve of the earth.
House was laid like a footprint, three sides, a shady spot in the middle, the children's beds on the far side, and the fireplace built with foundation rocks, the fire box with large fashioned blocks and the chimney finished out with sandstone, and hand mixed rocks and grinders mud.
Each rock, each board, each frame for each window, each step and stair, each piece of this old house was brought to life, loved and lived in by the builders, each meal, each heartache and each death were all witnessed and held closely by its walls, and now holds on to it beyond the lives of many.
Ralph E Peck
Photo by Ralph Peck
Outside of Salina Oklahoma off of Hiway 82
Comments