Western Pennsylvanian Log House

Rural American life was not all hard work. Imagine spending long summer evenings on the front porch of Uriah Hupp's log house - a common feature of 19th century homes. This well-preserved example originally stood on a farm in Greene County, Pennsylvania.

This three-room log house from Clarksville, Greene County, Pennsylvania was home to Uriah and Marinda Hupp and their twelve children.

The Hupp family were of German descent. In the 1760s, Uriah’s grandfather Everhart settled at Ten Mile Creek, close to the Monongahela River in south-western Pennsylvania. They were well-known for the hospitality and help they gave to arriving families. Everhart’s wife Margaret Thomas was reputedly the first European woman to settle west of the Monongahela River. In 1811, Everhart is listed as director of a new manufacturing company in Clarksville.

Uriah, Everhart’s grandson, married Marinda Cox in 1851 and they lived in this log house on the Cox family farm. We do not know if Uriah built the house or if it was already there. One of Uriah and Marinda’s sons, Benjamin Franklin Hupp, married Clara D. Kelley. Her ancestors emigrated from Armagh to America in 1719. They were known as the ‘Ulster Clan’.

German and Ulster emigrants influenced one another. Ulster emigrants who settled in Pennsylvania copied the German style of log house building and people from different backgrounds met and married.

Uriah and Marinda’s granddaughter, Anna Crayne, inherited the property. We have four of Anna’s patchwork quilts in our museum collection.

Look for the large roofed porch running along the entire front of the house. Porches are a common feature of American log houses from the 1800s.