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29 Maple Avenue
By Ferne
Reilich, Curator
Here at the Aaron Nutt Cottage we are not only in a stone house, but have many limestone houses nearby. Over the past year we have shared research about several of the houses and who lived there. This not only becomes an interesting way of learning more about the community, but helps us with the many inquiries we have from visitors.
This month we will focus on a house that many people pass on their way to the Centerville Post Office. Currently, it is vacant and ready for someone to move in and care for it. In our archives it is known as the James McKinney house and it stands at 29 Maple Avenue.
The tax records for Montgomery County show this land was part of the Aaron Nutt plat. It was first sold in 1814, but from those same records we believe the house was not built until about 1835. At that time James McKinney was the owner, with his wife, Malinda. James was a tailor, and we wonder if he had his business in his home, since it was so close to the center of town. He didn’t own the house very long, however, as the records show it was sold in 1838 to James Harris. During the next eighty-four years the house was bought and sold many times, but in the1920’s the Scheidt family moved in and stayed for fifty years. Luckily, our records here, include the memories of their daughter. She relates that additions were added to the house and the front entrance was changed in later years, but originally the house contained 1 bedroom downstairs and 2 bedrooms up. Her father, Fred Scheidt, worked in the stone quarries for many years, until 1920. He then worked as the caretaker for the cemetery, further north on Maple Avenue. The family was large, with four boys and five girls. They raised most of the food they needed in the large garden at the back of the house. Their mother, Mary, canned much of it and stored it in the cellar, which had to be reached from outside. Water was obtained from a well and a cistern collected the rain water. The house was heated with a coal stove. Oil lamps were used inside the home until about 1960 when electricity was installed.
Although the home sounds rather primitive, it furnished the children with many happy memories and a snug environment. Today we can see the two-story limestone structure still standing behind the church parking lot, where it formerly served as a church library, and if you stop by the cemetery you can see the resting place for Fred and Mary. Now, we wonder what will be the next chapter in the story of 29 Maple Avenue ? |