This past Tuesday was a snow day for my kids. It was fun for them to be home on a regular day when we didn’t have to run out for a game, doctor appointment or meeting. In a day and age where one is constantly running from thing to thing, a quiet day is a wonderful thing. And what better way to make a kid happy than a snow day. Today, kids find out about a snow day because we get a recorded call from the school. Ours came at 6 a.m. Tuesday. When I was in school, I would wait in front of the TV with the WTOV-TV morning news hoping that Hancock County schools would flash canceled on the screen. If I would see it, I would tell my mom, and she would have to confirm it. Snowbird was my favorite person in school because that meant there was a good chance that I would be staying home.

There is something special about being home. The coziness, familiarity and the security that comes with being in a curated surrounding really makes home special. Home caries lots of emotion and history, too.

A home one grew up in or lived in when they were first married, for instance, will certainly be special. We recently moved into my late grandparents’ house. It is wonderful to be here because I have memories of being here almost all the time as a child, but now I am adding memories of my wife and children here, too. My grandmother hand cut a decal on the mantel in her family room, which has been there ever since I can remember and still is there now. It says “Warm hearts keep warm hearths,” and it’s true that family makes the home.

In our area here, there have been many important places that one could call home. Some of the earliest dwelling places were nothing more than log houses for our earliest settlers. There are still some log structures dotted around our landscape today.

One, in particular, is the log house that was the First Federal Land Office in the Northwest Territory.

This building is located in Steubenville and now is part of the campus of Historic Fort Steuben. The structure was built around 1800 and served not only as a federal building, but as a home to the first registrar, David Hoge, and his family. The building features one room where everything happened — from business, cooking, dining and sleeping. There was possibly a loft in the attic that could have been used for sleeping quarters for the young children of the family. The logs, themselves, are thick virgin timber that, despite being cut around 1800 and are now 225 years old, still are intact. Originally, the chinking, that is the material between the logs, could be made up of mud, sand, moss, clay and plant material. This natural chinking had to be maintained to be effective as the annual freeze and thaw cycle would dry out the material and it would fall out.

Log houses are neat because, essentially, they are a full-sized Lincoln Log set. The buildings could be put up and taken apart without much effort. This is exactly what happened to the land office. The building was moved a few times in its 40 years as a federal building. Finally, it ended up at the end of the Market Street Bridge in 1840, and was incorporated into a brick Italianate home. It was part of the structure of that home for 100 years. I think this is a common occurrence for log houses. As families began to gain wealth, they added on to their homes and modernized their log homes by cladding them in clapboards or surrounding them in brick. Who knows — there may be homes out there in our area that were originally log homes.

As our areas grew, so did the types and styles of homes change. In Steubenville, especially by the first quarter of the 19th century, homes were being built in the latest styles and on grand scales. The one home still standing from the 1820s in Steubenville is the Collier home on Market Street. This home has seen its fair share of updates during the past 200 years or so, but the original building was built in the Greek revival style. Homes built later, in the first half of the 19th century, were built in a variety of styles but popular in town was the Italianate style. There are a few buildings in downtown Steubenville that are still standing in this aesthetic.

Toward the end of the 19th century, the Queen Anne style of home prevailed in our area, and many homes are still standing in this style. One building in particular, I would classify as Queen Anne, is the Hancock County Museum in New Cumberland. This building has all the hallmarks of a good Victorian building of that style. That home was the center for the Marshall family that lived within its ornate walls for more than 100 years. The last owner, Miss Virginia Marshall, daughter of builder Oliver Marshall, wanted the home torn down at her death because she couldn’t bear the thought that the place would be stripped of its character or broken up into apartments. Thankfully, it is now the home to the Hancock County Museum.

Many homes were built in our area in the 20th century. One style that stands out is the ranch style home, the gem of the midcentury design. This type of home usually is one level living at its best. This is a style one might see a lot of in neighborhoods around our cities. My grandparent’s home is a midcentury ranch. As the original owners pass on, these homes are now being enjoyed again by young families.

All in all, it is not the style or size of a house that makes it a home, it is the love on the inside that makes it special. As a kid, it is that feeling of love and security I enjoyed, which made a snow day extra special. I hope its that same feeling that makes my own children want to stay home with us on a snow day, too. After all, it’s warm hearts that keep warm hearths.

(Zuros is the executive director of Historic Fort Steuben)