THE OLDEST FRAME BUILDING IN AMERICA 



237 



vanized by the so-called "Hot-dipped process," although 

 it is difficult for the ordinary purchaser to distinguish 

 these from the very lightly galvanized nail, the zinc 

 coating of which is so thin as to be of little permanent 

 value. It is a recognized fact that steel rusts more 

 readily than iron. In no case should the heads of the 

 nails be driven into the shingles, for this weakens the 

 wood. Experience shows that in buying shingle nails 

 first cost economy usually means long run extravagance 

 and often danger. Further specifications are concerned 

 with proper rafters, roof boards, shingle preparation, 

 staining, joints and laying. When the importance of 

 these matters is appreciated it is easy to realize why 

 some roofs have not been successful and consequently 

 why the owners have sought to discredit wooden 

 shingles. 



A recent movement undertaken by the Shingle Branch 

 of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association is a step 

 forward in helping the home builder to compare the 

 cost of wood shingles with substitutes. An agreement 

 has been reached by the members of this association 

 whereby red cedar shingles are to be put up in a new 



form of bundle, each bundle to be stamped with the area 

 of roof which the shingles will cover. On the basis of a 

 five inch exposure to the weather one bundle will cover 

 twenty-five square feet of roof, or four bundles to the 

 Square. It is easy to figure therefore that with a four 

 inch exposure it will take five bundles to the Square. 

 Five of these bundles are to have the same number of 

 lineal inches as the old one thousand shingles unit. The 

 association has also gone strongly on record against the 

 manufacture and use of the thinner shingles requiring 

 six butts to make two inches. 



With the defects of construction overcome the final 

 decision rests with the home builder. It is up to him to 

 judge whether the beauty, permanence, economy and 

 safety of a wood shingle roof do not make it superior 

 to any other form of roofing within the amount he has 

 to expend; and every man who thus acknowledges the 

 permanent place of wood in home construction will be- 

 come an enthusiastic recruit to the cause of forestry, 

 through which means alone his own choice of roofing 

 may be made continuously available for the home builders 

 of the future. 



THE OLDEST FRAME BUILDING IN AMERICA 



BY WILLIAM C. POOLE 



HOW long will wood last? How can it be protected 

 from decay? What wood is best to use? These 

 are only a few of the many questions confronting 

 builders of today. 



America is new as compared with other lands. The 

 difficulty in cutting and sawing timber in early Colonial 



days, and the 



custom of us- 

 ing brick in 

 England led 

 many Colonists 

 to build with 

 brick and stone, 

 so that com- 

 paratively few 

 of the early 

 buildings were 

 built of wood. 



The old 

 Quaker Meet- 

 ing House, in 

 Easton, Mary- 

 land, is among 

 the oldest, if 

 not the oldest, 

 frame building 

 standing in the 

 United States 

 just where it 

 was built and THE OLD frame meeting house 



as It was This quaint old frame meeting house at Easton, Maryland, claims distinction as one of the oldest build- 



built without ' ng9 ' n tne United States, as it was erected in 1683. It is interesting to note that this was the first 



place of worship attended by Mrs. A. Mitchell Palmer, wife of the ex-Attorney General, whose parents live 



any Cnange, ad- on the same Maryland farm where her ancestors lived when they helped to build this meeting house. 



ditions or subtractions, and with a perfect authentic record 

 without a break since it was built, between 1682-4. An oc- 

 casional replacing of the shingles on the roof.'and replacing 

 of some of the weather-boarding, is all the repairs it has 

 had. Its frame, inside wood work, and some of the weath- 

 er-boarding are the same as when built about the same time 



time that Wil- 

 liam Penn, who 

 visited the 

 building, was 

 trading with the 

 Indiansandlay- 

 ing out Phila- 

 delphia. The 

 white popula- 

 tion of the en- 

 t i r e country 

 then was not 

 half as many 

 as now live in 

 one of its third- 

 class cities. 



The old con- 

 tract for the 

 building reads : 

 "To agree with 

 ye c a r penters 

 for ye building 

 of ye said house 

 60 foote long 

 and 44 foote 

 wide, and to 

 be strong, sub- 



