The stone walls of the house were about 18 inches thick and the inside surface of these walls was plastered. The whole interior of the downstairs rooms, except the floors, was whitewashed. The interior dimensions of the lower floor are 15 by 23 feet.
Floor joists, rafters, and shingle laths were all hand hewn from white oak. Examination of the floor joists disclosed that four of them had been split from the same log. All wooden trim and the door and window frames were of black walnut. In the period when this house was built, the use of this kind of wood was not at all uncommon even in barns.
The floor boards were about one and a quarter inches thick and were of beech and walnut. There is no ridge pole to support the roof, but the rafters are notched and put together with wooden pins. The split shingles were of oak. In the work of reconstruction, all of the stone used is the original stone except the floor, which formerly was of wood. The ceiling beams, attic flooring, rafters and most of the shingle laths are originals. The remaining woodwork which was in bad condition has been replaced but the original details of design and construction have been carefully reproduced.
The fireplace chimneys are a part of the end walls. This style of architecture shows the Moravian influence, the Moravians being a religious sect who came to Ohio mostly from North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.
Wooden partitions at one time divided the lower floor into three rooms: two tiny bedrooms and the living room. Because they made the rooms so small, these partitions were not included when the house was rebuilt.
Each room had its own fireplace. The large one was used for cooking and for heating the combination kitchen and living room. The two smaller fireplaces were in the bedrooms. They were connected to a single chimney and have been omitted.
The large fireplace was the center of activity for the household. Every morning a large log would be brought in and placed on the embers left from the fire of the night before. This log would be big enough to last the day, and smaller sticks and logs would be put in front of it. If no coals survived from the night before, the fire had to be lighted by sparks from flint and steel, which was always a tedious task, or coals might be borrowed from a neighbor. This was seldom necessary because most families took care not to let their fires go out.
Hinged to the side of the big fireplace was a crane with pot hooks or “trammels” on which cooking utensils were hung. Its deep pit provided storage for wood ashes so necessary to the pioneer for the making of lye used in making soap and hominy. Nearby was the inevitable bellows—known in those days as “belluses”—and the hearth brush.
Cooking over an open fireplace was difficult, but many housewives became very proficient at it, and meat cooked in this way had a flavor unexcelled by any mode of cooking today.
The big fireplace also had its disadvantages. With the first frost, flies were likely to swarm down through the chimney and into the room.