Operated by the Friends of Historic Meridian
Originally built by Johann Grettenberger for his son, Jacob, and family between 1862 and 1865, the house was located on Marsh Road, between Hamilton Road and Grand River Avenue. The house was relocated in 1973.
The house was restored to represent a typical Michigan farmhouse of the period 1870 - 1890. The house includes a parlor used to entertain guests, a kitchen/dining/sitting room that served as the "heart of the house", a parent's bedroom and a small child's bedroom on the first floor. The second floor contains a large child's bedroom which would have housed several children, and a front room that has been set up as a weaving or spinning room.
A portion of the wall in the parlor was left unrestored to show how the building was constructed. After Mr. Grettenberger built the frame of the house, he split logs with an ax to
create "lath boards" to build the base of the walls of each room. As split logs are not consistent in shape, there are gaps that remain between the boards.
Therefore, it was necessary to mix up a batch of plaster to cover the lath boards, to which Mr. Grettenberger added horsehair to increase the strength and durability of the plaster. To this day, you can look up at the section left open and see horsehair protruding from the plaster....140 years later!
So, how do we know when the farmhouse was built? During our restoration, we removed layer upon layer of old wallpaper until we reached the insulation layer. What did our ancestors use for insulation back then? Newspapers!
The "insulation" found in the Grettenberger farmhouse all dated between 1862 and 1865. Hence, that was the time period of construction.
"Waste not, want not" was a credo of our ancestors. You used it, re-used it, and, if possible, used it again.
