Prefabricated housing is not a new idea. In October of 1880, the Waterville Mail, a Maine newspaper, announced that it was "furnishing frames for houses, trusses, floors, roof...The lumber is planed, sized, cut and marked to place, enabling any practical workman to put it together without difficulty." Old shipping records in Maine show there was an extensive trade in prefabricated buildings throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Complete houses were shipped to the American South, Midwest, Far West, and the Caribbean and Mediterranean regions. If you lived back then you could buy a complete "historic" house. But what about now? Even though modular and pre-cut manufacturers don't make new houses based on ``historic'' plans, you can find something even better: a truly antique
