The Northeast House Historian website
House History research is one of the most fascinating and satisfying activities. You can do much of it from your home computer or you can let it guide to explore out in the community and beyond.
By doing house history research, you will learn about the ordinary and extraordinary people who used to live in your home. You will gain a greater understanding and connectedness with your community. You’ll discover old photos and maps that will take you on a journey into the past.
By doing house history research, you will learn about the ordinary and extraordinary people who used to live in your home. You will gain a greater understanding and connectedness with your community. You’ll discover old photos and maps that will take you on a journey into the past.
Some people think they need to live in a house built in the 1700s in order to do house history research. If you think about it, a house built in 1920 is already over 100 years old. The truth is, research can be done on any age house. The older the house, the more history there is to find.
The Northeast House Historian website will introduce where to the process of researching the history of your house. You’ll learn where to find the deeds to your house, how to chain a deed, and locate other sources of information such as the US Federal Census records, maps and tax records. And you’ll learn how to find the stories that bring the history of your house alive.
Marian Pierre-Louis, House Historian
Marian Pierre-Louis has been researching the history of houses for over 25 years. She has researched hundreds of houses across Massachusetts and New England. She contributed a chapter to The Stories Houses Tell – A Collection of Little Compton [RI] House Histories (2015) and again in a new volume (2022) A Second Collection of Little Compton House Histories. She also wrote the Old House Secrets series in the Medway & Millis Local Town Pages. For two years Marian was a volunteer docent (during the time of curator Meaghan Siekman) at the Fairbanks House, the oldest timber-frame house in the United States.
Marian focuses on teaching home owners and history fans to research the history of their own homes or the homes in their communities. Her hope is to leave a legacy of many house historians across the Northeast so that the history of homes will not be lost.
She also focuses her time on writing to preserve the stories she uncovers in her many research projects.
Marian gladly accepts speaking engagements but she does not take private clients.
