This house on Lydia is typical of vernacular farmhouses found on North Florida’s plantations at the time of the Civil War, where life was generally rustic and with few amenities. This house is L-shaped with decorative vergeboards, collar beams, and pendants in the two gables. The porch and the dormers were added after the turn of the century, as was the rear wing. The approximate date of the house is confirmed by the presence of beams and joists cut with a circular saw, which was not used in this area prior to the mid-1850’s. The roof was originally covered with wooden shingles, or shakes, which were also circular saw cut. The structure of the house shows an early example of balloon framing, and old-fashioned cut nails were used in its construction. This structural evidence dates the house between 1855 and 1870, making it the oldest known building remaining in Riverside.
