The Byers-Eckels House

A two-story house stood on this lot by 1846, and after Anthony Byers purchased the property in 1851 it evolved into an Italianate Victorian house that retains much of its architectural integrity, including long windows and shutters, original doors, rear double-stacked porches, and early interior millwork. An unusual feature for a Newville house, a dumb waiter running from the lower-level kitchen to the street-level dining room, was removed in 1985. During the Confederate occupation of Newville in 1863, lead weights were taken from the family's tall case clock for ammunition, but the family's silver, pewter, and woolen blankets escaped theft because they had been buried in the rose garden. The property remained in the family for nearly 100 years: Anthony Byers's daughter Virginia inherited it after her parents died, and her son Deemer grew up there, with his family occupying the house until his wife, the former Becky Bricker, died in 1950. Among later residents in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were Virginia Byers Eckels Seitz, the town's first telegrapher, and her husband B. Frank Seitz, an actor, playwright, poet, and local Adams Express agent known as a resident eccentric throughout the Eastern Seaboard. In the 1980's the house was occupied by Bettine Field Carroll Reisky De Dubnic, great-granddaughter of Marshall Field, and in 2008 it was owned by Craig Kennedy, a teacher, author, and historian.

Newville, Pennsylvania · United States