342 McGirts Rd, Daisytown, PA 15427

Possibly the oldest standing structure in historic West Pike Run Township, and one of the oldest surviving in Washington County, Pennsylvania, this property is being offered for consideration after being in only 2 families in over 200 years. This family farm was part of the original 1786 land grant patents and was known as Batchelor's Green. By 1810, the house was built and inhabited Thomas (1787-1860) and Esther (1788-1864) McCorkle Wilson. They would raise their 9 children here. The original house is the current one-room walk-in sandstone basement with 2-feet-thick walls, adjacent root cellar, massive single fireplace, and old-growth hand-cut beams and logs. Shortly after, a horsehair brick and beam cabin was built on top of that, which are the current living room, dining room, and kitchen. Other rooms were added later, including the current downstairs bedroom, the bathroom, two upstairs bedrooms, and walk-in attic. In 1831, the property was passed to Thomas and Esther's eldest son James Wilson. He remained in the home until his passing in 1896. Together with his wife Elizabeth Horn Falconer Wilson, he raised two stepchildren and their nine children. Prior to 1850, the completed current house was covered in stunning wood siding and trim. This was sadly covered by insulbrick in about 1936 and all of this was covered in aluminum siding in 1952. The 1952 'renovation' added the bathroom, but it also blocked all three of the fireplaces, covered all of the hand-hewn wooden floors that exist throughout the house, and changed and blocked most of the windows. It has been the current owner's dream to do a full historical renovation of this well-laid property. He, however, no longer lives in the area. The current owner's great-grandfather John Bercik bought this and four of the current adjacent farms over a period of 40 years after arriving in America from his native Hungary in 1909. John (1886-1977) and Julia (1888-1952) Takacs Bercik raised their six children here. It passed to their eldest daughter Julia Bercik King in 1952, to Julia's daughter Carolyn in 1992, and to Carolyn's son in 2006. The home is situated in the middle of the 18 acres and is not visible from the road. The upper drive way, which was the Old Post Road that pre-dated the National Road, originally continued past the walk-in basement door, back through the now-wooded area behind the house, and took the place of a Native American trail. The front third of the farm is currently pasture but has been used to grow corn, wheat, and alfalfa within in the last generation. The black soil surrounding the home has been used for large family vegetable gardens and fruit for over 200 years. There is a small, shallow natural gas well on the far western side of the property currently maintained by Patriot Exploration. The current contract provides the property 300,000 cubic feet of natural gas per year, of which never more than half has been used since it was drilled in 2005. The original well that has served the home for over 200 years still serves as its water source today having never gone dry in the collective memory of the current family for over 80 years. There is another well that has been drilled on the western side of property "just in case" that has never been utilized. The two main front rooms were plastered, carpeted, and painted in 2016. 175-year-old horsehair bricks are finally again exposed in the living room, and amazing hardwood floors just need uncovered and refinished underneath.