The John Shastid House is a historic house located at 326 E. Jefferson St. in Pittsfield,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. John Shastid, a settler from New Salem, built the house in 1838. The

timber-frame Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

house is a well-preserved early example of the construction technique in Illinois. The house was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2003.

History

John Greene Shastid, the builder of the house, was born in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

in 1798. By 1828, he and his family had settled in Illinois at the

Sangamon County Sangamon County is located in the center of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 197,465. Its county seat and largest city is Springfield, the state capital. Sangamon County is included in the S ...

town of New Salem. Seeking economic opportunities in sparsely-settled Pike County, Shastid and his family moved to Pittsfield in 1836; at the time, the city had only six other houses. Shastid built his house two years later, where he lived with his wife Elizabeth and his four children. Shastid worked as a farmer and eventually held public office, serving as Pike County Sheriff for eight years. Elizabeth died in 1863, and John Shastid died in 1874; while their children had moved elsewhere by this point, the family owned and rented the house until 1927. According to John Shastid's grandson Thomas,

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

visited the house while conducting legal work in Pittsfield. Family legend holds that on one such visit, Lincoln ate an entire pot of one dozen broiled

pigeon Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

s prepared as a family dinner. The house's connection to Lincoln was likely influential in its early preservation. The Shastid House was listed on the

on June 26, 2003. The house is now owned by th
Pike County Historical Society
which provides tours by appointment. The Society also operates the Pike County Historical Society Museum in Pittsfield.

Design

The John Shastid House is a

timber frame Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

house, a style which used wooden beams for structural support. The house is built from squared beams connected by mortise and tenon joints, the characteristic method of timber-frame construction; the style differs from both log cabins, which used rounded logs, and balloon framing, which typically used nails and smaller beams. The beams were hewn rather than sawn, an unusual technique that likely resulted from Pittsfield's lack of a sawmill in 1838. Well-preserved timber-frame houses are rare in Illinois, and the Shastid House is the only surviving example of the method in Pittsfield.

References

External links

Shastid House
- Pike County Historical Society {{DEFAULTSORT:Shastid, John, House Museums in Pike County, Illinois Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Pike County, Illinois Historic house museums in Illinois Houses in Pike County, Illinois Houses completed in 1838

History

Design

See also

References

External links