Are you interested in learning about the history of a house and the people who lived there? This could be the house you currently live in, or the one you grew up in, or the house of an ancestor. It's been said before, but there is, really, nothing stranger and more interesting than reality. The stories you learn from the past can be both wonderful and most always a bit surprising. I can help to uncover the stories that are likely to exist right in your own home.
As a place to store and manage the information I was gathering on my house and neighborhood, I developed a website called Houses, and their people. This website is set up to accommodate houses anywhere in the world. So far, it focuses mostly on one town, but I'm always adding more, and I'd love to be able to add your house to the site.
Some houses currently under development:
Feel free to browse other houses on the site, and please let me know if you have any questions or observations.
I have considered the possibility for this website to be the basis of a self-guided walking tour of a neighborhood or community. In the future, I may provide small (tasteful) signs for owners to place at the sidewalk with a QR code that links to the right page, letting visitors learn about the history of the house before them. This might spur interest in neighbors wanting to learn about their houses and encourage conversations about common history and sharing knowledge.
■ For $250, I'll spend 5 hours combing through the available records to develop an initial story of your house's history. Depending on its age and location there will be varying amounts of information to be found. Older houses will have more history, and thus more chances for interesting stories. This initial work will include a page on the houses.iroots.net website as well as a nicely formatted PDF of that same information.
After developing an initial story, we can discuss if you're interested in doing any further research. I will provide a proposal and quote based on your interests and what has been learned.
I'm also happy to help with any other projects relating to the research of houses, neighborhoods, and communities.
Please let me know how I can help with your research efforts. Contact Scott.