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hunter1828 — Parker Homestead
Published: 2008-03-17 03:44:22 +0000 UTC; Views: 500; Favourites: 20; Downloads: 1
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Description
This is the homestead of Nelson and Rosa Ellen Parker built in 1910 near the Jefferson River, west of Three Forks, Montana. This was their third home in the area. The first, in 1890, had been a refurbished miner's shack. The second washed away when the Jefferson flooded and they barely saved their family. The Parkers lived in this sod-roofed home on 160 acres of hardscrabble southwest Montana land for several years before they moved to a larger home in Three Forks.In 1939 the Jewett family bought it and lived there through the end of WWII. Members of the Jewett family still live and farm nearby. In 1985 the family leased the property to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to preserve as a State Park. This is the original structure, only modified by the two families that lived in it in the first half of the 20th Century, though the structure was archivally stabilized in 1998.
Canon EOS 350D Digital Rebel XT
Canon EFS 18-55mm lens
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Comments: 22
The photo is certainly more interesting when told it's history and it was very interesting too. It would have been a hard life. Was this built near a town?
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Thank you. It's about ten miles west of the town of Three Forks.
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So they would have been quite isolated.
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Indeed. Even today it's a sparsely populated area.
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Very cool picture. I love historical stuff like this, really does get to me. Fascinates me.
Take care
don
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Love the roof...& the way things were environmentally friendly yet built to last.
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Thanks much, Gloria! Life was hard back then, and though it seems simpler to us today in the modern world, this house was built to last.
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I wonder if they said this line alot,
"I'm going to go move roof, be back in a bit."
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Very nice shot, but I think it's time to mow the roof...love the history of this house! They just don't build them like they use too
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Great image and thanks for providing the info, gives it life. How many of our homes built today will still be around in 100 yrs.?
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Thanks much!
Good question. We look at old homesteads like this and think they are rustic and shoddy, but they had to be sturdy to withstand the extremes of the Old West, be it Montana, Nebraska, or Texas.
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Knowing the story behind it makes this picture more interesting. It makes me appreciate the nice townhouse my wife and I have, right in the heart of a German city...
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No kidding. I hope Mankind can find a happy medium where all those modern conveniences don't come at such a hefty environmental price.
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When I worked for the National Park Service I did a lot of living history, both as part of the job and on my own time too. A lot of people often asked me, "wouldn't you have liked to have lived back then?" They were always surprised when I said, "No, because when I'm done today I can go home to an air-conditioned house, a hot shower, a stove, a freezer full of food..." Life was rough back then. There's a reason the average lifespan was only in the 40s for a long time.
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Looks like the grass on the roof needs a little fertilizer
Great shot, I was going to say take it from a corner and shoot to the sky with the big tree in it. Now I see why you shot this, it really shows the hard life it has had.
Excellent!
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I tried shots from a couple other angles, but with one angle I would have gotten a modern picnic table in it, from another angle I would have gotten a modern chainlink fence in it on the hillside behind. I didn't think about your suggestion, though.
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If you ever find your self there again explore the corners, I still really like the shot up got.
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