For Memorial Day we decided to go exploring in our area. Just by driving around we came upon a really neat old house called Bacon's Castle up in Surry, VA about 30 minutes from our house. It is the oldest known home structure in the US that is still standing with it's original foundation, wood, brick, etc. It was built in 1665 & is one of the only Jacobean structures in North America.
It's a really beautiful home/fort/castle for being so old. We got to walk around the grounds & see the gardens, the servant homes, the animal stalls, sheds, & other fun things.
You don't see Jacobean structures in the US. They were most built in England in the 16th & 17th century, but not here. The 3 chimneys show that it's a Jacobean structure. Really neat looking too.
In one of the rooms, they hollowed out the walls so you could see the original wood from 1665. I can't believe how well in tact it still is.
They also showed the original brickwork as well. The home was lived in until the 1970's/1980's so the walls had been updated, but the original brick & wood still lie below the new walls.
The spiral staircase was gorgeous. I've always had a thing for spiral staircases.
And it's one of the only homes in America that actually has a kitchen in the cellar/basement area. We saw this all the time when we lived in Europe. This is how Europeans did it. These poor people built this house before they experienced a VA summer. ha ha ha. They didn't realize what the heat & humidity would do to this room. They ended up having to make another kitchen outside the house because this one did not work with the weather here.
The tour guide let the kids go inside the chimney so they could see out the top to the sky. It's amazing how perfectly built this structure was.
It was a really neat find for us. I love living so close to such amazing American history. It makes living here SO MUCH FUN.
No comments:
Post a Comment