1810 House and Museum

The 1810 House is believed to be one of the last ones standing in Ohio from this time period. Descendants of the Kinney family still live in the area; some continue to visit and donate family artifacts for the museum’s collection. The 1810 House started as a log cabin when the Kinneys first arrived, and renovations were made to the building up until the 1900s. The museum today contains many of the family’s belongings, including outfits, dolls, paintings, old kettles, and wagon wheels.

The pioneer days have not been very well preserved, making the 1810 House very unique. It is built mainly from walnut and oak logs, along with cement, brick, and clay from the ponds that were nearby. The bricks were hand-pressed by builders in the 1800s. Whenever the house had its last resident, it had no running water, an outhouse, lanterns for light, and slight vandalism from abandonment. The original structure had only four rooms and a latchstring door, along with spiral stairways. These characteristics of the 1810 House made it the perfect target for preservance, renovation, and the classic "pioneer" look that made the structure special. With the artifacts, the interesting build of the house, and the family history, the 1810 House has everything that a historian would admire in present-day time.

The 1810 House has been opened to the public as a museum since the 1970s. Volunteers managing the house have done many fundraising activities for funding to keep the building and its history alive. Memberships are available to the public to help with funding.

1. The House, 1810 House Aaron and Mary Kinney Homestead. Accessed October 16th 2019. 1810house.org/history/the-house/.
2. Conley, Ciara. 1810 house opens , Daily Times. June 12th 2017. Accessed October 16th 2019. portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/16657/1810-house-opens.