Reclaiming Old Houses 
by Chas. Edward Hooper 
Photographs by the Author 
Editor’s Note. —So many people are seeking the old house as the ideal country home that the subject bears much more than a cursory treatment. Mr. Hooper’s wide 
experience in dealing with the problems of remodeling old homes makes him especially fitted to give the practical instruction necessary to make the undertaking the delightful 
sticcess that it is in so few cases. For the first time the whole subject will be fully developed. The first article dealt with the choice of a house, and told what one should 
know before purchasing—what is good and bad and the test for determining a satisfactory site and building. The second illustrated what is to be done in a practical ex¬ 
ample. The third explained consistent hardware. This concluding article describes the construction of suitable Fences and Enclosures. 
T HE function of the fence is, besides that of an enclosing bar¬ 
rier, one of boundary. So that if your fence in itself be 
not lasting or exact in its location, it should be supplemented by 
a stone bound-stone, plainly marked and duly recorded in your 
plan on file. The stone-wall and snake-fence are examples of the 
indefinite and crude bounds and while they may do well enough 
as barriers for lands of little value, their use on cleared and more 
valuable lands is not ordinarily advisable. The snake-fence is, 
in fact, from its character, 
outlawed as an iter-boundary. 
There are others of a like 
rambling and indefinite nature 
which are sectional, such as 
the stump-fence of Maine. 
These, however, have their 
use as interior barriers. 
Old-time bounds were 
vague and passing; an oak 
tree cannot be expected to 
last forever. Many fences, 
which were evidently in¬ 
tended to run straight, on the 
contrary described most beau¬ 
tiful curves. Thickness of 
growth or perhaps more often 
a rough land contour where 
one frequently lost sight of 
their line and consequently 
their direction, was largely to 
blame for this. Such old 
lines it is best to preserve as 
they exist; their location has 
probably established them, 
over and above any descrip¬ 
tion. 
The laws of a State regu¬ 
late the character of a fence 
— that is, certain materials 
have to follow certain lines 
and be of a certain height to 
cover the law relating to a 
“legal” fence. Before build¬ 
ing or rebuilding, this law is 
a good thing to be familiar 
with. It is also understood 
that each party to the bound¬ 
ary shall maintain his half of 
it and to erect it, if it does not 
not already exist. You car 
only exact of your neighbor, 
for his half, a legal fence; if 
you desire something different you must make up the difference 
in cost— perhqps maintain the whole thing. 
A boundary line has no width and therefore the modern wire 
fence comes nearest to locating it exactly; the wire being on the 
line and the posts on the property of the maintainer. This is the 
scheme of all similar fences, but with the stone wall, the center is 
commonly the line, which fact gives either party the right to add 
stone to it, an important consideration with the old-time farmer. 
A fence or barrier on the highway is supposed to be located en¬ 
tirely on the property of the abutter; but our records show that 
the public thoroughfare was constantly encroached upon. We 
wonder at the narrow streets of Boston, yet they were ample as 
laid out. Our forefathers stole lands from the highway and in 
many rural districts the practice has not been discontinued. 
Perhaps it might be well to say a word regarding the common 
old fences one may find ; and 
probably the oldest are the 
stone wall and the rail fence, 
the latter being the older. The 
sort described in our early 
records was the common form 
in which the posts were 
pierced to receive the rails. 
Where one has such in fairly 
good condition, and of some 
length, it may pay to keep and 
repair. It is not, however, a 
good model to rebuild on. We 
have spoken disparagingly of 
the stone wall and. in so do¬ 
ing, had in mind the common 
result of the hasty throwing 
together of all sorts of stone 
from the field. If the wall is 
really built, it may last in¬ 
definitely, provided the public 
will let it alone. There is, 
however, the common tres¬ 
passer who will use vour land 
as a thoroughfare and pull 
down enough of your wall to 
make his passage easy. There 
is also the rabbit hunter. This 
last nuisance, upon finding his 
chase sheltered in your wall, 
will demolish indefinitely in 
dislodging his victim. Poison 
ivy finds shelter in it and is 
almost impossible to dislodge. 
Of course it stands to reason 
that any wall laid in part ce¬ 
ment mortar, no matter how 
roughly done, is superior to a 
dry wall. Such, however, is 
an item of expense. It can, 
however, be laid to imitate a 
dry wall by keeping the mor¬ 
tar back from the face of the 
masonry. Or, if the top of the wall be relaid in mortar for 
about a foot, and the side pointed at leisure, it will foil both the 
general public and the rabbit fiend. It is a common practice to 
extend a masonry foundation about three feet below the surface 
of the ground to avoid heaving by frost, and such, of course, is 
the best practice; but with the stone wall, its length makes such 
treatment very expensive. The old wall had, usually, a large 
When New England was at the height of its Colonial magnificence, such 
detail as this Salem fence displays was common 
(92) 
