Marian Pierre-Louis is a sleuth — or, more precisely, a house historian. She has been doing this sort of deep research into the history of houses since about 2000, discovering fascinating facts about hundreds of homes across Massachusetts and New England.
Pierre-Louis began her career as a genealogist, influenced by both parents being in the field. “When I started to have my children, I got into it professionally.” She says, “My father was also in commercial real estate, which had a strong house component that I’d grown up with as well, so I naturally gravitated from professional genealogy to professional house history.”
Pierre-Louis’ passion is teaching others how to research the history of their homes, which is precisely what she will be doing at the Vineyard Haven library on Sept. 10 at 6 pm. “It’s a selfish endeavor on my part,” she admits. “I can’t research all the houses in New England so I need as many people as possible to make sure that they are getting researched, because that means they can be protected.”
Curiosity is, of course, reason enough to do a house history. But Pierre-Louis gives an example, too, that if a property is in danger, and there is a demolition request to the local historic commission, if there is already a completed house history, it saves the commission the step of having to do the research itself to determine whether to save a property or not.
Show, don’t tell, is what Pierre-Louis is all about. She will demonstrate how to research a house in Vineyard Haven whose identity is currently under wraps: “It’s an amazing house. I fell in love with it right from the current owners, because they are so amazing. Going back in time, it is an incredible street. The great thing about the presentation is that it’s local, so it will relate to everyone on Martha’s Vineyard.”
Her talk is for anyone who ever wondered about the history of their Vineyard home, but didn’t know where to begin. The presentation will outline the main steps to researching the unique history of any house, including how to determine age and style, where to obtain other key information, and how to uncover other fascinating details about both the home and its former occupants.
If you want to come prepared, there is a lot you can do now before undertaking your own history.
The first step in understanding your house is to observe how it appears compared with the houses around it. Stroll through your neighborhood, noticing if all the houses look the same, or if they look like a variety of ages. Elements to watch for include if some are one-story and others two. Is the size of the yards the same, or different? Is there one old house amid new houses?
Likewise, notice outbuildings and exterior features in your yard and neighborhood. Are there fences, barns, stonewalls, wells, or sheds? What do you think these were, or are still currently used for?
While you are out on that walk, stroll through the cemetery closest to your home, searching for names and dates that appear frequently, because one may be a former resident or two of your house. “Before the 1940s, a lot of the people who lived in your house on Martha’s Vineyard probably stayed nearby in the local cemetery.”
Get a sense of how old your house is by its architectural style. A good house guide, such as “A Field Guide to American Houses” by Virginia and Lee McAlester, provides time ranges for particular styles.
There are two clues to determine if your house was moved. If you have an old house, but it’s on a poured concrete foundation, or there is no chimney and fireplace, that’s a sure sign that your home has been moved.
You want to tuck all the above information away for when you start doing your research.
If you decide to dig into your house’s history, the good news is you don’t have to leave town, and can do a lot of research from home or our local libraries, which have access to helpful databases and local history resources.
“You just never know what information you will encounter, which is the fun of it,” Pierre-Louis says.
Just some of what you can discover includes:
- The age of your house.
- How many families lived there.
- The occupations of people who lived in your home.
- How they were involved in their local community.
- Whether a resident was connected to a historical event such as world wars, the Civil War, the Revolutionary War.
- Whether they were a mariner, worked on a whaling ship, or were a ship’s captain.
“I want people to walk away from the program feeling confident they can research their house,” says Pierre-Louis. “And to be excited about doing it. If you like reading mysteries or doing sudoku, this is the perfect thing for you.”
“Discover the History of Your Vineyard House” takes place on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 6 pm at the Vineyard Haven library. For more information, visit bit.ly/VHPL_YourHouseHistory. For more information about Marian Pierre-Louis, see northeasthousehistorian.com.