PBS has produced several wonderful “reality” documentaries about living in the past in America. The one I always think about around Thanksgiving is called “The Colonial House” (website link) produced in 2004, recreating with volunteers, life in America in 1628. The documentary itself is very interesting, but the website is fabulous and highly interactive with many photos & videos. I highly recommend the video diaries of the colonists for insight in to how hard life was for these 21st century time travelling indentured servants.

This extraordnary DVD is available for purchase through Amazon at Colonial House DVD.

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I have 2 words to say - wood stove.

Being historic home enthusiasts, many of my readers already have wood stoves and are enjoying the benefits of heating without the use of fossil fuels. This makes political sense and economical sense. We installed a Jotul wood stove this year and my family could not be happier. We are not yet deep into winter, but our goal is not to use our oil furnace at all. Nada! That means the several common rooms that benefit from the stove will be comfortable, while the upstairs bedrooms will remain chilly (perfect for sleeping). The last several weeks have been into the 30’s and our stove has risen to the task. We have also seen a change in our family behavior. We spend more time together around the stove in the evening, instead of in our private rooms. This is “living in the past” at its best. Looking beyond the lap top computers and the television, I can see my colonial family in front of the warm hearth - sewing & reading, and lovingly sharing the evening hours before bed.

This stove is one of the steps that my family has taken in our renewed efforts to tread more gently on the earth. The stove has evolved from its origins in the 18th century and is now quite efficient including catalytic filtering to reduce pollution. I would love your comments on this or any other vintage propositions. I am aware of other traditions and methods that have been lost to history that can benefit us today, but I would also be interested to learn more. In a global economic collapse (we must save money) and with an endangered environment (we must save the earth), there are lessons that we can learn from those that came before that can be healthy altrnatives and make alot of sense today.

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There was a time when the unique “one of a kind” nature of a historic home would add value to its appraisal, now I am afraid that era appears to be passing. Though historic homes are rarely subject to distress sales and people traditionally have purchased historic homes as long term residences, not short-term investments, the market for the later in this area may have finally brought the appraisal values of these vintage beauties down.  In a real estate market battered by a year of short sales, foreclosures and forced sales - following 3 years of price deterioration, the credit strapped banks are not only scrutinizing customers more carefully, they are increasingly critical of the property to be purchased. Until recently, there were enough truly unique homes sold that, in my experience, a case for comparables could be made when a willing seller and a qualified buyer agreed on a sales price. Mortgage lenders never liked the term “unique” when applied to a home they were contemplating lending money to purchase and appraisers usually struggled with comparables, but in my 6 years of specializing in historic home sales, I have never had a home not appraise, until now.

Mortgage lenders must now use “fire sale” home values to support the sale price of a rarely traded historic home. This has worked against contemporary home sales for quite a while, finally, in my opinion unfairly, the problem has caught up to the historic home market. Historic homes have always occupied their own market with only a passing nod to their youthful neighbors and subject to a very special and knowledgeable clientele. The irony is that a seller and knowledgeable buyer can agree on the value of one of these unique homes, but a hyper-risk weary mortgage lender will ultimately decide the deal.

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