HERNDON — A stone house that lies on a 180-acre tract of farmland along Route 147 just north of downtown Herndon, harkens back to the earliest settlers in the region.
“I believe a house, probably a log cabin, was built right here in the 1700s,” said Steven Tressler, the homeowner. The stone half of this combination stone-wood house was likely built on the same site in 1813, he thinks. “We found a penny dated 1813 in the original stone wall structure while restoring the house. That’s our evidence.”
The house has been in the Tressler family since 1867, when Steven’s great-great grandfather, Joseph Bower, bought it from the Conrad Weiser family, major Pennsylvania landholders in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Bower lived in the house and farmed the land, eventually passing ownership to his daughter and her husband, Isaac B. Tressler. “That’s how the farm got to our side of the family,” Tressler said.
For much of the 1900s, the house had been a tenant farmer house, rented out by Tressler’s family.
When Tressler and Debbie Sluga decided to move into the house in 1998, they began to restore the structure, which had been severely damaged by flood waters in 1972.
It took a year-and-a-half to get the house in shape.
“Everything on the ground floor had been under five feet of water,” Tressler said. “It took close to $300,000 to renovate the house. We had to start by re-gutting everything that had been ravaged by the flood.” The second floor was “pretty well preserved,” he added. All the floors, upstairs and downstairs, were replaced by yellow pine flooring. The entire house was re-plastered.
Upstairs, in what were once five bedrooms, is a master bedroom (stone side), guest bedrooms (on the wooden side of the house), and den-master library.
The kitchen was completely remodeled in line with a free-standing antique cupboard, which Tressler believes was made by and belonged to one of his ancestors in 1800. It, too, has been restored.
Tressler’s favorite room is the bedroom. The interior walls are all yellow pine planking. He refinished all of it. The ceiling and beams are all exposed.
Sluga likes her kitchen. “I like it because of the cupboards,” she said. “I like the spaciousness of it as well.” She also likes the open, front-rooms and the fireplace.
“I just love this house,” she said. “I grew up nearby and used to ride the bus to Line Mountain High School, so I passed this house all the time. I always liked it. There were always cattle and sheep on the land. I never dreamed I would someday end up living here. And now I do. It’s just awesome.
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1813 penny in original stone wall dates historic home
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