Thomas Arnett House Floorplan

The following diagram was drawn after a visit to the house in May 2000 following directions to the site by Wayne Arnett.


I'm uploading this plan and photos September 30, 2000, having seen Jay Nafzger's 1999 write-up on the web (thanks to Ray & Wayne) about his 1993 trip to the site. Other pages have some photos of the house.

The following are some additions, corrections and questions:

According to Jay's notes, the cinder block addition was constructed about 1930. Jay's website goes into more detail about the ownership and present location of the house.

Although I didn't "step it off" it looks like the house is more like 50 yards from Craig Creek rather than 20 yards. The house is located on a high bank and, according to the present owner, has never seen flood waters get into the full basement.

Neither Jay nor I have been into the attic or the basement. [Jay mentioned rodents; I feared snakes] But according to the present owner the basement is full with the same 7+ foot ceilings and a fireplace. Fearless Wayne did venture into the attic: "I did climb the stairs from the second story to the attic. Having been a scoutmaster for 13 years and taking my boys rock climbing, the climb up a stairway of unknown stability (really just a ladder to the attic) did not scare me. Being from Arizona snakes and rodents are no big deal either. In the attic I looked out the slits that were left in the stone walls. They were wider on the inside, suggesting the purpose was to be able to place a rifle through the slits. The timbers that hold up the roof were obviously the originals. I could see the marks of the logs being hand hewn. Running my hand down the slices in those logs that were shaped by the hands of my 5th Great-grandfather was part of the bonding that occurred between my ancestors and me on that occasion."

A cinder block chimney was added to the west facing wall about 1930 and used to vent a small stove on the first floor. It appears that the original chimney on the east wall has been removed when the tin roof was replaced. The fireplace on the east wall is INSIDE" the outer wall, as was the chimney.

The "spiral staircase" mentioned in Mr. Nafzger's account is actually a square staircase WITHIN the east wall to the right of the fireplace.

The present owner indicated that the early owners of the house would use the two small windows in the attic (on the east wall only) to protect against Indians coming up the river. Craig Creek flows right to left or west to east in front of the house, and Doris had heard speculation that the Indians would be drunk when coming back up the creek. But there is probably some other better explanation why only the east wall has the windows.

The ceilings are fairly low...only about 7 feet 10 inches.

The stone (possibly granite ?) in the top of the east gable has the "T ARNETT" carved into it. The carving was done by a professional. In the early account of the house the inscription was stated to be "ARNOTT" but the name is clearly "ARNETT." Neither Wayne nor I could make out a date of 1786, but this was obscured by vines, and a soon-to-be-uploaded photo by Marge Fox shows the 1786 date clearly. [According to Marge, the vines have been cut away from the house by Sept 2000.]

Although many of the windows have been broken, there are many which appear to have been original.

The house needs work but would be a worthwhile preservation project. On one occasion many years ago, when the county was planning to levy a property tax on the structure, the present owner indicated her husband considered getting a bulldozer to push the whole building into the creek to avoid the tax.