Neill Log House: Difference between revisions

Neill Log House
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Pittsburgh Landmark – PHLF
Pittsburgh Historic Designation
Neill Log House in June 2019
Location	East Circuit Road near Serpentine Drive in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40°26′09″N 79°56′08″W / 40.435847°N 79.935606°W / 40.435847; -79.935606
Built	ca. 1795
Part of	Schenley Park Historic District[1] (ID85003506)
Significant dates
Designated PHLF	1970[2]
Designated CPHS	February 28, 1977[3]

The Neill Log House (also spelled Neal) is a historic log cabin in Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was built during the second half of the 18th century and has been most commonly attributed to Robert Neill (Neal), with an estimated construction date around 1787–1790.^[4][5][6] This estimate is based on architectural evidence as well as the large increase in value of the land during Neill's period of ownership which would indicate he made substantial improvements.^[6] However, an earlier date of 1765 has also been claimed in some sources, which would associate the building with an earlier landowner, Ambrose Newton.^[7][8] In 2024, a dendrochronology study determined that the beam over the fireplace, believed to be original to the house's construction, was cut in 1795.^[9]

The Neill Log House is one of the oldest surviving houses in the city, and one of only a handful of buildings remaining from the 18th century.^[4] The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation placed a Historic Landmark Plaque on the building in 1970.^[2] In 1977, it was named a City of Pittsburgh Designated Historic Structure.^[3] It is part of Schenley Park U.S. Historic District.^[10]

Naming

Prior to 1969, the structure was generally known as the Neal house. The name of Robert Neill and his family was spelled various ways in official documents, including Neal, Neill, and Neil. In 1969, Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation president Charles Covert Arensberg wrote an article in Western Pennsylvania History titled "The spelling of Robert Neill who built the Neill Log House in Schenley Park" in which he contended that "Neill" should be considered the proper spelling.^[6] Since then, the building has been most commonly referred to as the Neill house.

History

The site of the Neill house was part of a 262-acre (106 ha) tract, sometimes called "Highland", which was owned by Ambrose Newton. Newton was a soldier at Fort Pitt and was listed as a resident of Pittsburgh's "upper town" in a 1761 census.^[11] After the Treaty of Fort Stanwix nullified the Iroquois Confederacy's legal title to southwestern Pennsylvania, the land was opened to white settlers. Newton purchased the Highland tract around 1769. When he died in 1773, the property was sold for 63 pounds, 9 shillings.^[6] The Martin log house, part of the same tract, has also been possibly attributed to Newton.^[7]

The land came into the possession of Robert Neill sometime before 1779. In 1787, he received a land patent from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania which legitimized his title to the property. The purchase price was listed as 34 pounds, 8 shillings.^[6] According to the Squirrel Hill Historical Society, Neill probably acquired the tract by squatting, a practice which was tacitly encouraged by local authorities. Squatters who lived on and improved vacant properties were usually allowed to take legal ownership of the land once they had paid for it. Many deeds for properties around the Squirrel Hill area were dated 1787–88, the same as Neill's, indicating that enforcement of property law may have been stepped up during this period with many of the squatters forced to pay for their land.^[12]

Tax records indicate Neill owned two horses and three cows in addition to his land, suggesting he was probably engaged in farming. The site of the log house may have been chosen for its proximity to water, as a map from 1872 shows a stream, probably fed by a natural spring, running alongside the house into

Neal lived in the house with his wife Elizabeth (Irwin) Neal, their son John and their five daughters, Nancy; Mary, Elizabeth, Jean and Martha. There was also possibly a second son. Robert was the son of John and Margaret Neal who emigrated from Ulster Ireland. On June 8, 1738, John and Margaret Neal purchased 200 acres of land in Paxtang Township, Lancaster County Pennsylvania (now Dauphin County) near Harrisburg Pennsylvania, for “fifteen pounds and ten shillings for each hundred acres” which they called “Neal’s Garden”. They had 8 children, William, Margaret, Robert, John, James, Jean, Eleanor, and Agnes (Nancy). William and John Neal were surveyors and farmers who purchased land and developed homesteads in Indiana County Pennsylvania and Westmoreland County Pennsylvania, respectively. Robert purchased the land in Pittsburgh in what is now Schenley Park developing a wagon trade route along the Nemacolin Indian Trail (Braddock's Road) from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, with his father’s homestead outside of Harrisburg PA as one of the resting points.^[citation needed]

In 1795, Robert Neill sold the land to John Reed for a price reported as either 360 pounds, 5 shillings,^[5] or 365 pounds, 5 shillings.^[6] The large increase in the value of the property during Neill's ownership has been cited as evidence that the log house was most likely constructed during this period.^[6][5]

Reed added a second parcel known as the Bedford tract to the property and then sold it to Brentnall Robbins in 1804. In 1813, military officer and businessman James O'Hara bought the tract from Robbins. The land was eventually inherited by O'Hara's granddaughter Mary Schenley, who donated it to the city of Pittsburgh in 1889 to create Schenley Park.^[7] The section of the park near the log house became a golf course, with the building itself being repurposed as a maintenance shed.^[7]

An interesting side note is that O'Hara rented the property to the Burchfield family, who owned a lot of property in Squirrel Hill South. Adam Burchfield was born in the Neal house. His grandson, William, married Elizabeth Stewart, Robert Neal's great-great-granddaughter. The Burchfields were executives of Horne's department store for several decades. Robert Neal and his wife Elizabeth (Irwin) Neal, his son John and his wife Jennie (Hamilton) Neal, and several of his daughters and granddaughters are buried in the Allegheny Cemetery.^{[citation needed]}

Connection with the Lewis and Clark Expedition

The Neill log house is profiled on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Experience website created by the National Park Service to highlight noteworthy places along the route of the 1804–06 Lewis and Clark Expedition.^[13]

It is believed that Meriwether Lewis may have passed near the house in May 1803 en route to Pittsburgh, where a keelboat was being prepared for the expedition. This is speculative as it is not known exactly which route Lewis took to Pittsburgh. However, he did write that the roads during this part of the trip were "dusty", providing some evidence that he may have been following an overland route through the Squirrel Hill area rather than along the river, which would have been swampier.^[14]

First restoration

In 1935, the house was surveyed by Charles Morse Stotz for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). Stotz noted that the roof, gables, and floor had been replaced and that the whole building was "in an extreme state of dilapidation."^[5]

In the late 1960s, the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) was seeking funding to restore the Neill house and open it to the public. Before the project was able to get started, one end of the house collapsed in August, 1967. PHLF was then able to secure a $50,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to help rebuild the structure.^[15]

Beginning in summer, 1969, the house was rebuilt as authentically as possible. Stotz, Hess & MacLachlan were the architects for the project. The building was disassembled and each piece was numbered. The house was then rebuilt, replacing the rotted wood with new logs which were hand-cut and aged to match the originals. Original wood was also reused where possible. The restoration team used period-correct techniques as much as possible, including attaching the rafters with wooden pegs and chinking the walls by hand. Modern electrical and heating systems were also installed, though designed to be inconspicuous.^[12]

An archaeological dig conducted during the reconstruction uncovered approximately 19,000 artifacts.^[12]

Second restoration

The log house was reconstructed a second time in 2023–24. The house was lifted in order to replace all four sill logs, which had rotted. The restoration also included replacing the roof, repointing the masonry, replacing the chinking, and securing door and window openings to prevent animals from entering.^[16][9]

The house currently sits preserved in Schenley Park with a fence around it (though it is open to the public periodically). The log house is also featured on the cover of A Guidebook To Historic Western Pennsylvania by Helene Smith and George Swetnam.^[17]

Architecture

The Neill house is a one-story, gable-roofed building constructed from hewn oak logs on a fieldstone foundation. It contains a single ground-floor room with a loft. Architectural historian Charles Morse Stotz wrote that the house is "of typical Pennsylvania type log construction, with the corners carefully notched together and chinked with stone and clay," also noting that the "shaped and beveled projecting ends of the roof rafters are worthy of especial notice."^[5]

Most of the logs have been replaced since the house was originally built, but were cut to match the originals. Some of the original logs were reused during the 1969 reconstruction, but not necessarily in the same places. The roof, gables, joists, and floor have also been replaced. The house is held together by means of notches and pegs rather than nails and the floor is constructed from split logs, known as puncheons, with the flat surface oriented upward. The loft was originally accessed by a ladder, but stairs were added in 1969.^[12]

The house has a fieldstone chimney which is positioned inside the exterior walls and protrudes through the roof. This arrangement was somewhat unusual, as it was more typical for log cabins to have the chimney built on the outside.^[8] Another unusual feature is that the chimney has two separate flues which are connected to two side-by-side fireplaces, one large and one small.^[5] According to the Squirrel Hill Historical Society, the main fireplace was probably for cooking, while the smaller fireplace to the left could have been used during the night in order to save firewood. The fireplaces and chimney are original and have never been disassembled. The lintel beam over the fireplace, which was dated to 1795, is also original.^[12]

There is at least one small "loophole" window, about 1 foot (0.30 m) high by 2 feet (0.61 m) wide, on the east side of the house. The Craftsman magazine reported that this type of window was used as "constant danger of attack by Indians compelled the settler to build for defense as well as comfort." Most log houses in the area later had their windows enlarged, making the Neill house example noteworthy.^[8] Another window on the front of the house was indeed enlarged at one point.^[5]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Neill Log House.