A New Beginning Five Years Later

This month is five years later . . . five years later after the first time I discovered that I descended from Peter Burr who built the oldest surviving wood frame hose in what is today West Virginia. It is five years later since that cloudy day in September 2004 when I first saw the old house and walked around the locked chain-link fence, looking in and yearning to touch the old house. Next month, October 2009, will mark five years later since I first set foot in that old house and since the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I walked from the 21st century into a room built in the 18th century by two men with my DNA running through their veins. I knew the moment was monumental and I was fortunate to do what the vast majority of people today cannot do, walk in their ancestor's very foot prints. I looked out the window and imagined 13 pairs of little feet running and playing, totally oblivious to the fact that over 250 years later their descendants would look out their window at their playground and feel a connection to the past that was at the time just a normal day in the life of a child.

I walked on wooden floors installed plank by plank by my ancestors and touched fireplace stones set in place with the skill of a craftsman. And I marveled at the details. Only 20 years after settlers built the first permanent house in the new frontier, my ancestors in the same frontier were attaching chair rails to interior walls and hand beading the beams used for the ceilings. Later additions to the house did not utilize such craftsmanship, but at the same time young George Washington was purchasing his first land grants, my ancestors were purchasing property also and adorning their home with features known previously to them in Fairfield, Connecticut.

Today, is September 25, 2009 and I look both backward and forward on this day. This blog is not intended to be entertaining or funny, but to be informative and factual as it chronicles the on-going progress of our new organization, Reliving History, Inc. Herein we attempt to connect today with the past and with the future for the purpose of making history come alive and relevant for the sake of our future.

The Peter Burr House has long set isolated on its surrounding farm lands and until recently almost faded quietly into oblivion. Then about 20 years ago new visions for the house were born. Local citizens, especially one incredible visionary (Dr. William Theriault) had the foresight to realize this old house has stood against all odds, surviving wars, storms, freezing winters, hot summers, floods, droughts, pests, children, and industrialization . . . . For some unknown reason it has outlived all other totally wooden structures in the state and the vast majority of brick or stone structures. And we today wonder why? and how? And no one knows the answer.

But many of us have come to realize the old house is now a treasure that should and must be preserved and utilized for the value it brings to the landscape. The Peter Burr House, now (and hopefully forever) owned by the Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission, is a public property with capacity to become an administrative center for networking with other local focuses related to the period in history when men like Peter Burr, Robert Harper, General Braddock, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis, Benjamin Franklin, and James Rumsey were walking old roads that also continue to exist in the area.

The last five years have materialized into a progression that joins hands with the earlier progression started by Dr Theriault twenty years ago. The hairs that once stood up on the back of my neck are now aged with the rest of me, but the impact of that moment has not faded. Passion for the house and for the intricate history materialized into action. In the last five years we have located other descendants of Peter Burr and organized and held (October 2008) a successful first Burr family homecoming in over 200 years. Since that homecoming, renewed energy has led to the incorporating of Reliving History, Inc., an organization dedicated to preserving the Peter Burr House and breathing life back into the local history that lays dormant in the bowels of dusty archives.

Incorporation is complete. By-laws are written and in final stages of approval. A new Master Plan for the Peter Burr House is in review. The application for non-profit, tax exempt status or IRS 501(c)(3) is almost complete. Grant proposals are being prepared. Planning meetings are under way. And next spring is our target date for increased programming and local networking to benefit the Peter Burr House and other related historic sites and to likewise enhance the local focus on the incredibly rich colonial history in Jefferson County, WV.

This blog is intended to provide both background and updates as progress evolves. So check back periodically.

B Joyce Cole,
Founder of the Peter Burr Society and
Founder and Chairman of Reliving History, Inc.