'Oldest wood-frame house in U.S.' -- not quite, say the tree rings
BEVERLY, Mass. -- The Beverly Historical Society has long touted the Balch House in the city as the oldest surviving wood-frame house in the nation...
Two scientists concluded in a long-awaited report that the house was built around 1679, and not 1636 as the historical society has claimed.
Beverly Historical Society director Stephen Hall said the organization will probably drop the claim...[but] said he was not disappointed by the revelation. "I’m never disappointed in the truth."
The historical society commissioned the dating study in February 2006 after officials with the Fairbanks House in Dedham questioned the Balch House’s status as the oldest wood-frame house in the nation. The Fairbanks House makes the same claim and backs it up with scientific evidence that dates the house to 1637/8.
Two scientists from the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory in England determined the age of the Balch House through tree-ring dating on the home’s timbers.
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Two scientists concluded in a long-awaited report that the house was built around 1679, and not 1636 as the historical society has claimed.
Beverly Historical Society director Stephen Hall said the organization will probably drop the claim...[but] said he was not disappointed by the revelation. "I’m never disappointed in the truth."
The historical society commissioned the dating study in February 2006 after officials with the Fairbanks House in Dedham questioned the Balch House’s status as the oldest wood-frame house in the nation. The Fairbanks House makes the same claim and backs it up with scientific evidence that dates the house to 1637/8.
Two scientists from the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory in England determined the age of the Balch House through tree-ring dating on the home’s timbers.