Neill Log House

Neill (Neal) Log House
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Pittsburgh Landmark – PHLF
Pittsburgh Historic Designation
Neill (Neal) Log House in June 2019
Location	East Circuit Road near Serpentine Drive in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40.435847°N 79.935606°W / 40.435847; -79.935606
Built	ca. 1795
Part of	Schenley Park Historic District (ID85003506)
Significant dates
Designated PHLF	1970
Designated CPHS	February 28, 1977

The Neal Log House (also spelled Neill) is a historic log cabin in Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was built during the second half of the 18th century and has been most commonly attributed to Robert Neal (Neill), with an estimated construction date around 1787–1790. This estimate is based on architectural evidence as well as the large increase in value of the land during Neal's period of ownership which would indicate he made substantial improvements. However, an earlier date of 1765 has also been claimed in some sources, which would associate the building with an earlier landowner, Ambrose Newton. In 2024, a dendrochronology study determined that the beam over the fireplace, believed to be original to the house's construction, was cut in 1795.

The Neal Log House is one of the oldest surviving houses in the city, and one of only a handful of buildings remaining from the 18th century. The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation placed a Historic Landmark Plaque on the building in 1970. In 1977, it was named a City of Pittsburgh Designated Historic Structure. It is part of Schenley Park U.S. Historic District.

Naming

The house was originally called the "Neal Log House" which is the predominant spelling of the family’s name. However in various documents the last name was spelled Neil and on one document Neill. In 1969 Charles Covert Arensberg wrote a paper entitled "The spelling of Robert Neill who built the Neill Log House in Schenley Park". It is now known that Arensberg made several erroneous assumptions about the spelling of the last name. Unfortunately the 1969 paper was used to submit to the city to change the name from "Neal" to "Neill" in spite of the fact the most common spelling of the family’s name was "Neal".

History

The site of the Neal house was part of a 262-acre (106 ha) tract, sometimes called "Highland", which was owned by Ambrose Newton. Newton was a soldier at Fort Pitt and was listed as a resident of Pittsburgh's "upper town" in a 1761 census. After the Treaty of Fort Stanwix nullified the Iroquois Confederacy's legal title to southwestern Pennsylvania, the land was opened to white settlers. Newton purchased the Highland tract around 1769. When he died in 1773, the property was sold for 63 pounds, 9 shillings. The Martin log house, part of the same tract, has also been possibly attributed to Newton.

The land came into the possession of Robert Neal sometime before 1779. In 1787, he received a land patent from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania which legitimized his title to the property. The purchase price was listed as 34 pounds, 8 shillings. According to the Squirrel Hill Historical Society, Neal probably acquired the tract by squatting, a practice which was tacitly encouraged by local authorities. Squatters who lived on and improved vacant properties were usually allowed to take legal ownership of the land once they had paid for it. Many deeds for properties around the Squirrel Hill area were dated 1787–88, the same as Neal's, indicating that enforcement of property law may have been stepped up during this period with many of the squatters forced to pay for their land.

Tax records indicate Neal owned two horses and three cows in addition to his land, suggesting he was probably engaged in farming. The site of the log house may have been chosen for its proximity to water, as a map from 1872 shows a stream, probably fed by a natural spring, running alongside the house into Panther Hollow. This is likely the same water source that fed the Catahecassa Spring (now disused) which sits down the hill from the Neal house. The house was also near Nemacolin's Trail, which was one of the main routes between Pittsburgh and the east coast.

Neal lived in the house with his wife Elizabeth (Irwin) Neal, their son John and their five daughters, Nancy; Mary, Elizabeth, Jean and Martha. There was also possibly a second son. Robert was the son of John and Margaret Neal who emigrated from Ulster Ireland. On June 8, 1738, John and Margaret Neal purchased 200 acres of land in Paxtang Township, Lancaster County Pennsylvania (now Dauphin County) near Harrisburg Pennsylvania, for “fifteen pounds and ten shillings for each hundred acres” which they called “Neal’s Garden”. They had 8 children, William, Margaret, Robert, John, James, Jean, Eleanor, and Agnes (Nancy). William and John Neal were surveyors and farmers who purchased land and developed homesteads in Indiana County Pennsylvania and Westmoreland County Pennsylvania, respectively. Robert purchased the land in Pittsburgh in what is now Schenley Park developing a wagon trade route along the Nemacolin Indian Trail (Braddock's Road) from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, with his father’s homestead outside of Harrisburg PA as one of the resting points.

In 1795, Robert Neal sold the land to John Reed for a price reported as either 360 pounds, 5 shillings, or 365 pounds, 5 shillings. The large increase in the value of the property during Neal's ownership is taken as evidence that the log house was most likely constructed during this period.

Reed added a second parcel known as the Bedford tract to the property and then sold it to Brentnall Robbins in 1804. In 1813, military officer and businessman James O'Hara bought the tract from Robbins. The land was eventually inherited by O'Hara's granddaughter Mary Schenley, who donated it to the city of Pittsburgh in 1889 to create Schenley Park. The section of the park near the log house became a golf course, with the building itself being repurposed as a maintenance shed.

An interesting side note is that O'Hara rented the property to the Burchfield family, who owned a lot of property in Squirrel Hill South. Adam Burchfield was born in the Neal house. His grandson, William, married Elizabeth Stewart, Robert Neal's great-great-granddaughter. The Burchfields were executives of Horne's department store for several decades. Robert Neal and his wife Elizabeth (Irwin) Neal, his son John and his wife Jennie (Hamilton) Neal, and several of his daughters and granddaughters are buried in the Allegheny Cemetery.

Connection with the Lewis and Clark Expedition

The historic connection between the Neal Log House and Lewis and Clark’s Expedition is believed to have taken place in May of 1803, when Meriwether Lewis traveled to Pittsburgh to launch the keelboat he had constructed up-river from Pittsburgh. Several months later, he began his trip down the Ohio River from the Point, the confluence of the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh and early Gateway to the West. From here, Lewis traveled to the Falls of the Ohio at Clarksville, Indiana, across from Louisville, Kentucky. Soon after, he met up with William Clark. It is said that “When they shook hands in Clarksville, the Lewis and Clark Expedition began.” More crew members were added and they traveled to winter quarters outside of St. Louis, in final preparation to journey west. This was all after earlier preparation on the rivers of Pittsburgh, where their keelboat was first constructed and launched. May of 1803 was Lewis’ second trip to Pittsburgh, having traveled earlier as a young Virginian volunteer to put-down the Whiskey Rebellion. On both trips, he journeyed from Maryland to Pittsburgh on the ancient Nemacolin Indian Trail, later called Braddock’s Road. There is also evidence that Lewis later traveled with two wagons, by the Neal Log House, on his last 4 miles overland to the Point. Early travelers on the Nemacolin Trail through what is now Schenley Park would water their horses at Snyder’s Springs, source of the historic Catahecassa Fountain at the Neal Log House.

The Neal Log House is historically important due to the fact that it is one of only a few eighteenth-century structures remaining in Pittsburgh and the oldest existing residential structure in Pittsburgh. Interestingly, of these, three others are in or near Squirrel Hill. They include the Martin log cabin on Overlook Drive in Schenley Park (1769-1774), also built by Ambrose Newton; the Woods house at 4604 Monongahela Avenue in Hazelwood (1790); and the house that was once a stagecoach stop at 423 Kaercher Street in Greenfield (1800).

First restoration

In 1935, the house was surveyed by Charles Morse Stotz for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). Stotz noted that the roof, gables, and floor had been replaced and that the whole building was "in an extreme state of dilapidation."

In the late 1960s, the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF) was seeking funding to restore the Neal house and open it to the public. Before the project was able to get started, one end of the house collapsed in August, 1967. PHLF was then able to secure a $50,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to help rebuild the structure.

Beginning in summer, 1969, the house was rebuilt as authentically as possible. Stotz, Hess & MacLachlan were the architects for the project. The building was disassembled and each piece was numbered. The house was then rebuilt, replacing the rotted wood with new logs which were hand-cut and aged to match the originals. Original wood was also reused where possible. The restoration team used period-correct techniques as much as possible, including attaching the rafters with wooden pegs and chinking the walls by hand. Modern electrical and heating systems were also installed, though designed to be inconspicuous.

An archaeological dig conducted during the reconstruction uncovered approximately 19,000 artifacts.

Second restoration

The log house was reconstructed a second time in 2023–24. The house was lifted in order to replace all four sill logs, which had rotted. The restoration also included replacing the roof, repointing the masonry, replacing the chinking, and securing door and window openings to prevent animals from entering.

The house currently sits preserved in Schenley Park with a fence around it (though it is open to the public periodically). The log house is also featured on the cover of A Guidebook To Historic Western Pennsylvania by Helene Smith and George Swetnam.

Architecture

Measured drawing of the Neill house created for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in 1935

The Neal house is a one-story, gable-roofed building constructed from hewn oak logs on a fieldstone foundation. It contains a single ground-floor room with a loft. Architectural historian Charles Morse Stotz wrote that the house is "of typical Pennsylvania type log construction, with the corners carefully notched together and chinked with stone and clay," also noting that the "shaped and beveled projecting ends of the roof rafters are worthy of especial notice."

Most of the logs have been replaced since the house was originally built, but were cut to match the originals. Some of the original logs were reused during the 1969 reconstruction, but not necessarily in the same places. The roof, gables, joists, and floor have also been replaced. The house is held together by means of notches and pegs rather than nails and the floor is constructed from split logs, known as puncheons, with the flat surface oriented upward. The loft was originally accessed by a ladder, but stairs were added in 1969.

The house has a fieldstone chimney which is positioned inside the exterior walls and protrudes through the roof. This arrangement was somewhat unusual, as it was more typical for log cabins to have the chimney built on the outside. Another unusual feature is that the chimney has two separate flues which are connected to two side-by-side fireplaces, one large and one small. According to the Squirrel Hill Historical Society, the main fireplace was probably for cooking, while the smaller fireplace to the left could have been used during the night in order to save firewood. The fireplaces and chimney are original and have never been disassembled. The lintel beam over the fireplace, which was dated to 1795, is also original.

There is at least one small "loophole" window, about 1 foot (0.30 m) high by 2 feet (0.61 m) wide, on the east side of the house. The Craftsman magazine reported that this type of window was used as "constant danger of attack by Indians compelled the settler to build for defense as well as comfort." Most log houses in the area later had their windows enlarged, making the Neal house example noteworthy. Another window on the front of the house was indeed enlarged at one point.