Log house restorer works to preserve Pennsylvania history

Robert Reintgen of Derry Township was doing what he loves to do Monday, bringing a 200-year-old, two-story log house back to life.

It’s one of several similar rehabilitation projects he is juggling this summer.

“The key component is that I am very passionate about it. I really feel I am preserving Pennsylvania history,” said Reintgen, who had a crew working Monday on the Medic family log house in North Huntingdon.

Reintgen, 69, has worked on more than three dozen log houses since the 1980s, and he lives in an 1803 stone farm house on a 64-acre farm that he and his wife, Diane, rehabilitated.

He’s also a retired Derry Area High School history teacher,

Reintgen has built a solid reputation working on log homes.

In addition to the Medic house, Reintgen is working on a log house in Youngstown and a barn in Unity. He just finished a century-old rehabilitation in Scalp Level, Somerset County.

He also worked on a 1700s-era log house at Historic Hanna’s Town, the restored village of Westmoreland County’s first seat of government, now operated by the Westmoreland County Historical Society.

Two years ago, he was involved in installing new chinking between the logs of the Drake Log Cabin in Apollo . The type of mortar closes the gap between the logs and keeps the weather out of the house, similar to what the 208-year-old log home it had centuries ago.

In 2017, he rebuilt a former log springhouse that had been in Whitney, moving it to a Cook Township property along Route 711.

“The standard commandments of historic rehabilitation is to protect the integrity of the building,” said Reintgen, a carpenter who works with a crew on the rehabilitation projects..

For the rehab project at the Medic family house, Daniel Medic of Unity and his sister, Emily Medic Garcia of Frederick, Md., who own the property, said they decided in May 2023 they wanted to take a stab at restoring it rather than demolishing it.

It was in bad shape, having been essentially vacant for about two decades, Medic said.

Before they could consider saving the house, they connected with Reintgen through the county historical society. Reintgen took a look at it and said it was worth doing, Medic said.

What he found was vegetation that had overgrown the house and took about three days to remove.

A covering of Insulbrick — a pseudo brick facing backed by black insulation material — had to be removed to get to the thick log exterior made of chestnut. The attic had to be cleaned of a mess left behind by animals that made a home in the vacant structure. Old plaster covering the logs had to be removed. A kitchen had to taken out and a deteriorating exterior washhouse had to demolished.

One of the challenges of rehabbing a 200-year-old log house in the 21st century, Reintgen said, is to bring it up to building codes that did not exist when the settlers were cutting logs by hand with a broad ax and finishing the logs with an adze, a cutting tool. The house has new plumbing and electrical wiring that is standard for a modern home.

He anticipates finishing the rehabilitation on the Medic log house by Thanksgiving.

The exact age of the house is not known. A family genealogist, Byron Scott, traced the ownership of the farm to a patent for the land that Virginia issued in the 1780s. The Medics’ grandparents bought the farm with the house 100 years ago, and it has been recognized by the state as a Pennsylvania Century Farm.

For the owner of a log house, there comes a time when the desire to restore a family treasure that was in a state of disrepair is weighed against the cost of achieving that goal. Medic said the pricetag for the siblings to have the house functional again will be in the six-figure range.

The farmhouse was home to their grandparents, who raised 10 children and four nieces and nephews in the two-story structure, as well as Medic and Garcia, who were raised by their parents, Daniel and Rose Medic. It contained mementos from its history, including a newspaper dated from the 1894 found in the ceiling, as well as some neat toys, Garcia said.

While the farm remains in the Medic family, they no longer farm the land themselves.

Field corn has been planted by Tom Logan of Hempfield and will be harvested for his animals, Medic said.

The rehabilitation comes as the Medic family celebrated the 100th anniversary of the family owning the farm in the Shafton section of the township. A reunion this past weekend attracted around 300 family members and friends.

“This 100-acre farm is like America to our family,” said Medic, the grandson of immigrants.

Reintgen’s work in rehabbing the family farmhouse is an important part of the celebration of a century of the family farm.

“We’re saving Pennsylvania’s barns and log buildings. They are in need of help,” Reintgen said.