| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| CabinCreek-Kentucky |
Posted - Nov 13 2005 : 5:20:40 PM
The 'saltbox' style of home was the first uniquely American house to emerge in the 'new country. To Old World eyes, the forests of the New World seemed a boundless resource, an dit ws this abundance of wood that, archticturally speaking, shaped New England. Built in 'post and beam' fram fashion, raised into place, and then sheathed in clapboard or shingle, the first settlers' houses tarted out as simple rectangular structures, usually containing four romos grouped around a central chimney. The rooms were plains, with low ceilings, and small casement windows provided only dim lighting. Later as demand for space grew, a lean-to would be added to the back of the house (usually housing the new kitchen and a storage attic), creating an asymmetrical gable roof, short on one side of theh house and long ont he other, and thereby changing the profile of the housoe to the one we now call 'saltbox.'
Do any of your farmgirls live in a 'salt-box' home (new or olde) or have any fond memories of one in your hometown?
xo, frannie |
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