Sample Project: The Ephraim Fisher House, Orwell, Vt.
In the article Dating Historic Structures, I describe how dendrochronology - the study of tree ring growth patterns - can be used to accurately establish the age of old wood-framed buildings. Here I'll describe in more detail the results of a dendroarchaeological study on the Ephraim Fisher House, an eighteenth-century home located in Orwell, Vermont.
Of the 17 samples extracted from the Fisher house, 15 were hemlock and two were oak. The samples from both species of wood dated extremely well against master chronologies for those species, revealing a rather short period of tree felling to accumulate enough material to frame up the structure (as shown on the partial spreadsheet, “Fisher House Samples Vs. a Regional Dated Hemlock Master Database,” below). The felling began during the warmer months of 1800, when some of the trees were still actively growing, and continued into the late fall and possibly the winter of 1800–1801, after the trees had ceased growing for the season. It is likely that the frame was raised in 1801, as framers preferred to work timbers green rather than dried.
See full spreadsheet, click to enlarge
What was remarkable about this study was the degree to which the samples aligned among themselves (see “Undated Floating Master of Fisher House Hemlock Samples,” below) and with the masters they were compared to, especially the hemlock. The geographic distance between Orwell and the regions where the hemlock master samples were obtained is rather substantial. —W.F.
See full spreadsheet, click to enlarge
