Dating the Tracy House (Apple Creek, Ohio)

Climate Change 2017 is pleased to have been asked to date the Tracy House, Apple Creek Ohio. The log house/cabin is now stored in the soon to be Apple Creek Community Center and Library will be reassembled this coming summer. The date is unambiguous and most of the timber was cut after the growing season of 1826 and it is likely that the house was originally constructed in 1827, one of the first to be built in the East Union Township. A copy of our report can be found here.
The class cores an old growth living tree to help assemble a calendar dated tree ring chronology.

Dean extracts a core from a beam of the Tracy House under the watchful eye of Annette – the TA, as Conner looks on.

Extracting a core being careful to preserve the outer ring of the core (don’t bend the extractor John).

Another successful core extracted.

Graph showing an 100 year overlap between the North East Ohio (NEO) living ring-width chronology and the ring-width chronology from the Tracy House. For the full 230 year period of overlap the correlation is 0.75 – pretty impressive, it shows the power of tree-ring dating and the sensitivity of white oak to climate in Ohio. To learn more about the utility of this data view this.

Special thanks to the Apple Creek Historical Society for working with us on this project.

The group resting after work on a 70 degree F day in February at Browns Lake Bog where they cored some of the remnant old growth oak stands of Northeast Ohio (above). The group getting the run down at Apple Creek (below).