House Tales: How to trace your home's history

Donna and Chris Geiger write in to say that when they moved from Plainview to Northport 26 years ago, the sellers told them that they’d heard that the home had once been in a magazine. “We thought at the time how interesting it would be if we could find the article, but never pursued what at the time seemed impossible,” says Donna, 58, a retired pension administrator.

About a year later, a friend of Chris’ parents came to visit. When she walked in, she said,
"I've seen this house before." The friend loved houses, and had an extensive collection of old Ladies Home Journals at home. Days later, she showed the Geigers an advertisement for Armstrong floors, with pictures of a home interior. “It was our house!” says Donna. Well, almost: The 1948 ad, which the Geigers have framed and hung in their living room, included an address for readers who wanted a copy of the plans – apparently the very plans that were used to build the Geigers home in 1949.

“We have always been curious to find out about other houses that may be out there like ours,” says Donna. Armstrong couldn’t provide records of who may have purchased the plans, but Donna has begun making headway with Internet searches. She’s located the same picture on a vintage home website, but hasn’t yet found anyone else whose home was built from those plans.

Want to learn more about the history of your home? “If Our Houses Could Talk,” an exhibit that will open Sept. 19 at the Northport Historical Society, illustrates the process with a display of a number of completed searches. Admission is free; a $3 donation is suggested. Candace Hamilton, chair of the exhibit, offers these tips for tracing the history of your own home:

Start at home

Before digging into any records, look for visual clues, suggests Hamilton. “Start with looking around the house, at the structure, the architectural style, built-ins that are obvious, like wide-plank floors or beams. Look around at what your house actually says to you.” And don’t stop with the interior. “What are you finding when you dig outside in the garden?” These things can help narrow your search.

Define what you want to know

It’s hard to find a starting point before you’ve figure out your goal, says Hamilton. “Do you only want to know when the house was built? Or do you want to know who lived there and what they were all about? That can take you in another direction or a more thorough search,” Hamilton says.

Try local sources

Sometimes the previous owner or neighbors will have old photos or stories about the home’s past. Check your local library – Northport library has an extensive collection of oral histories, for instance, in which trained museum volunteers interviewed the area’s oldest residents. The local historical society may have old maps that will help determine how long the house has been there, as well as an inventory of historical homes in the area.

Dig deeper

If you’re really obsessed, you visit the records room in your county clerk’s office. There you’ll find huge books of old deeds. The process of tracing previous owners is slow, but when you’re done there's the fun part: You’ll have a list of names to search for in the gossip pages of old community newspapers.

Do you have an interesting story to tell about your home? E-mail us at realestate@newsday.com.