Jeff's parents acquired this beautiful 134 acre mountain homestead in the 1980s.  It had sat empty for 10 or 15 years and needed a lot of work.  Jeff's mom and dad, Bill and Betty, treated work on the place as a labor of love.  They reclaimed the homestead from overgrowth, made sure all the buildings were roofed, and pruned and fertilized the many fruit trees.  The caretaker tasks have recently fallen to us and we have a lot of work to tackle now.  This site will tell the continuing story of the restoration of the place. 

UPDATE:  In August 2011 the Ananias Pitsenbarger Farm was added as an historic district to the National Register of Historic Places!   Hooray!  I'll post a link to the info online as soon as the National Park Service puts it online.

PROPERTY OVERVIEW

The farm is partly wooded and partly open hay fields.  Old orchards still stand, and our new log cabin overlooks the old homestead.  We have a couple of "fishin' holes" and spring-fed streams.  The deer, turkey, ruffed grouse and other wildlife share the farm with us and all creatures (us included) find it a restful, rejuvenating place. There used to be "healing herb" and wildflower gardens around the house and we are working to recreate them.  Our greatest challenge are the deer, so we will be specializing in deer resistant plants.  16 of the original 23 homestead buildings still stand and are in fair shape, considering their age.  Most are either round or square log buildings dating from the early-to-mid 1800s.  The other buildings are log pole construction with clapboard siding, dating from ca 1900.  Most of the log buildings have wooden or leather door hinges and many still have the wooden pegs used to hold the chinking in place.  Standing buildings are the main house, cellar/storage house, 2 hog pens, chicken coop, granary, storage building, carriage house, woodworking shop, WPA outhouse, 3 small log hay barns, a large double-crib log barn, spring house, and a horse barn.

HISTORY

The Pitsenbarger Farm had been owned by only 3 families from the late 1700s through 1973 - the Amick, Propst, Pitsenbarger families.  All were of German descent, and their heritage and culture are still in evidence all over the farm.  The owners never owned a tractor, and the WPA outhouse remains the only toilet!  This is a superb example of a self-sufficient pioneer homestead.  Our research has including interviews with those who are related to or knew the Pitsenbargers, and we have found many books which reference the Pitsenbarger Farm.  Learning about the Farm has been an amazing journey, and we hope to continue to discover historical tidbits of info.

PICTURES OF THE PROPERTY