Heritage Awards presented at Old Settlers' meeting
By Kevin Schnepp Staff writer

Carroll County residents Richard and Nancy Hicks, Erick and Gayle Peterson and Bob and Elaine Mc- Cain were awarded Carroll County Heritage Awards during the 152nd Old Settlers' Meeting last Saturday. Each family was honored for maintaining and preserving their historic residences.

Loren Hylton, Bill Brown and Ross Brown were also honored for their efforts in saving Adams Mill and Lancaster Covered Bridge during the flood of 2003.

Richard and Nancy Hicks

Richard and Nancy Hicks were recognized for maintaining and preserving their home located at 1992W. CR100N., west of Flora in Monroe Township.

Their home is unique in both its construction and its age. Francis Thompson bought the 159.33 acres of land for the farm from the United States government while Andrew Jackson was president. A relative of Thompson later sold the land to William Allen on Feb. 25, 1850.

Mr. Allen built the house on the property in the form of a cross. Interior and exterior walls were made three bricks thick. There were four chimneys in the house.

Wooden gables around the roof were decorated with "teardrops," many of which deteriorated over the years. The Hicks have collected enough teardops to re-cover the front of the house.

The wood inside the house is yellow poplar. Each window and the floors are lined with wide woodwork. The woodwork was carved from a single piece and made to look like several layers.

Each room has a different design. The ceilings are 10 feet downstairs and 12 feet upstairs. There were 10 rooms in the original house.

The Allens sold the house to Alva B. Ledman in April 1883. Most people around the area today remember the house as "The Old Ledman Place."

The Frank Forry family bought the house in 1920 and it is remembered that the house stood empty for a number of years.

The Hicks bought the house in April 1971. They took out a wall in the kitchen to open up the staircase.

They have removed many layers of wallpaper, but the walls, woodwork and floors remain in excellent condition.

They removed the front porch and balcony and replaced them as they were many years ago, except that the porch floor is concrete.

Most of the landscaping was done the next year, but the couple continues to preserve and improve the appearance of their home as the construction could not be better.

Today the house stands proudly as it did when it was first built. The Hicks have no doubt the house will stand for many years to come just as Mr. Allen intended for future generations to enjoy.

Erick and Gayle Peterson home

In 2002 Erick Peterson received a phone call from his father, Jonah, informing him that the old brick home next to his farm had just come up for sale. Having long admired the house and fulfilling his wife's dream of restoring an old house, they took on the project of complete restoration.

The house was in total disrepair but they looked beyond that and envisioned a restored masterpiece. After more than two years they achieved that vision.

The home, built around 1838, is a rectangular two-story Federal brick design. It features side-by-side front doors. It is the only remaining structure from three of that design built in close proximity to each other at about the same time.

Red bricks kilned locally were uncovered during restoration, including one with a date of 1838 on it.

The home has had several owners during its many long years but hit the jackpot when Erick and Gayle Peterson gained ownership. It identifies with the Peterson family in that it is next to their family farm and is also where Erick's grandparents, James and Isabelle Truesdale Peterson, took to housekeeping when they rented the home in 1923. Later the grandparents purchased a farm near Adams Township school, where Erick's father, Jonah, would grow up.

After consulting an architect, the Erick and Gayle employed local carpenter Vernie Criswell to undertake what was to become a beautiful restoration project.

One of the first tasks was to eliminate undergrowth and brush that had overtaken the home's exterior. Inside, the structure was cleared of many years of makeovers to allow the original design and beauty to be seen and give way to restoration.

During the process three fireplaces were uncovered. Wide poplar floor boards were also exposed and today they glow with the beautiful patina that can only come from native wood.

The sitting room/bedroom at the left front door was once a receiving room for guests during colonial days. The fireplace in that room was exposed and had a more elaborate mantle. The floors of that room were ash.

Built-in poplar cupboards designed with traditional raised-panel doors sit on both sides of all three fireplaces.

Windows in poor condition were replaced with exact replicas using a two-over-two design. The exterior brick was cleaned and tuck-pointed. A new roof was installed. All mechanical elements of the home were replaced with new ones.

A new stairway had to be built to replace the steep, unsafe old structure. The length of the stairway was extended into the room that is used as a dining room.

The fireplace in the dining room still displays the original hooks that held the cooking crane. Doors missing from cupboards were replaced with custom-made replicas.

A porch was built off the dining room to replace the dilapidated structure that had to be removed. The beaded board used on the ceiling was recycled from the abandoned Adams Township School.

Erick planed down 1,700 board feet to remove layers of paint and to expose the beautiful natural wood. The boards were also used on the ceiling in the screened-in porch.

Slate that separated the restroom stalls at the school was inset into the floors in front of all the fireplaces.

Erick's father graduated from the school, which added a bit of nostalgia to the project for the Peterson family.

The need for a new kitchen was evident. A new structure was added using a "dog-trot" type of hallway to connect the old with the new. The new structure was designed to fit well with the original home and features a garage on the bottom and screened porch on the side. A sink island overlooks the cozy family room.

Paint colors chosen throughout the house recognize the grayed, peaceful, rich European hues that early colonists used in décor.

The house was carefully turned back into a home of warmth and graciousness similar to what it undoubtedly displayed at its original completion.

Bob and Elaine McCain home

The early 1800s brought an influx of settlers from Ohio into Indiana when congress granted the land to be sold. Francis McCain of Warren County, Ohio entered land in the land office in Crawfordsville in 1829. It was the first land entered into what would become Carrollton Township in Carroll County. The family still holds the original paperwork which has the signature of Andrew Jackson on it.

Francis journeyed back to Ohio and married Mary Ann Brown. Their first child, James McCain, was born in Ohio on May 20, 1832. Shortly after that, the family came to Carroll County to live.

A log house was constructed on the hill overlooking a meadow and Deer Creek. A Native American encampment was along the creek at the time.

Family stories tell of tales of the young mother taking leftover food and setting it at the bottom of the hill. The Native American children would retrieve the food and by next morning the empty pans would returned to the same spot.

A house was built over the original log structure and served the family until WWI when the footprint of the Dutch Colonial house we know today took over.

In the basement of the present home, original logs are still visible.

When Bob's father, John, passed away, he became the fifth generation of McCains to own and live on the land. Then Bob and Elaine began a major overhaul of their home.

It was a huge task as the home is not small by any means. The large home has 17 rooms, all of which were refurbished. The renovation also included replacement of 72 windows. Beautiful oak woodowork and hardwood floors were refinished. Walls were expertly repainted in beautiful hues and a new kitchen was installed.

In the sunroom a Hoya Carnosa vine gently twines itself around the room. The beautiful, long-living plant came from the original Camden State Bank.

Bob's cousin Ann Burton implemented her artistic skills and handpainted the vine around the border of the dining room walls, adding a very striking symbolic touch.

During renovation carpenters found dates of April 1917 through July 1918 written on the original framework on the north side of the Dutch Colonial part of the house. Ironically, the couple began their renovation work in July 1997 and finished it in November 1998, 80 years after the colonial section was added.

The home and adjoining fields have been the roots of the McCain family for over 179 years. During the depression, apples from the orchard were stored upstairs. Bob and Elaine said on a damp day one can still smell the apples.

The home was recognized not only for its preservation, but also for the strength the family had to maintain and keep the land despite hardships that had to be endured. Honored for saving historic structures

Bill Brown, Ross Brown and Loren Hylton were recognized for their effort in saving the historic Adams Mill at Cutler and the Lancaster Covered Bridge on CR500W, near Owasco.

On July 4, 2003, the county received 10 inches of rain and another three inches two days later.

Bill and Ross received word the mill was in trouble along with a home located nearby. Upon checking, it was found that something had to be done.

They took railroad ties and steel rods and drove them in the ground hoping to shore up the bank of Wildcat Creek so it would not rush full-force into the mill.

Simultaneously, the ground on which Bill was standing was swept away. Had it not been for the other men he would have drowned.

The men saved the mill and the home next to it through their efforts. The next day, concrete slabs were placed in the millrace to stop the flow of water.

Bill and Ross were also concerned about Lancaster bridge. The situation there was becoming critical. The north side of the bridge was being pushed up by trees floating down the flooded creek. Water was being forced through slits in the walls as powerful as a fire hose and the bridge shook violently.

The men decided to add weight to the bridge. Bill called Hylton to bring a tractor and front loader. They ordered nine tons of stone and the men worked from midnight to morning spreading stone over the inside of the bridge to keep it from being swept away.

After the bridge was loaded down, the bridge stopped shaking. The work was very dangerous as the bridge could have been swept away at any time.