Many exterior features assist in suggesting the approximate date or
origin of an old house and a knowledge of what is behind the exterior
would allow a more accurate conclusion. But this information is not
needed for our purposes.
We would like to say, however, that fixing a precise year date for
the building of a house is most difficult here in Nantucket, just as
it has been found to be, for those attempting to do so, in respect to
old houses at off-island locations. There is no evidence of building
material being derived from trees growing on this Island except by
the early settlers. Statements found in early writings speak of house
frames being brought from the mainland. There is knowledge of much
timber and lumber and shingles being brought, principally from Maine,
but also from New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Packets made frequent
voyages to Maine in the early days. Even firewood was brought from
the mainland. Hence, second-hand building material was saved and used
again and even again, including window-sash and doors. Houses were
frequently moved in whole or in part. There are many larger and more
expensive houses on the sites of smaller, older ones. Occasionally
houses were removed to make room for lawns and to give more light
and air to the remaining houses. In the years after the decline and
demise of the whaling industry, great numbers were taken down and the
material shipped away, often to distant points, or used for local
firewood. As an illustration, Messrs. George C. Gardner and Allen
Smith are reported to have taken down some 270 houses during a decade
or more after the Civil War, many being sent to Cape Cod, at times
cut into bays and shipped on deck.
Old Deeds and Wills record a certain lot of land “with house
thereon.” Frequently, this causes the present-day owner to willingly
assume that his present “house thereon” is the same. The number of
houses out of this 319, where evidence could be adduced which would
stand in a court of law, showing the year in which the existing house
was built, are very few. But what of it, so long as we do not fool
ourselves. The error in fixing the precise date of the building of a
house is well described by Worth in Nant. Hist. Assn. V. 2, Bul. 5,
which might be read to advantage by those who set much store in exact
dates.