The Rural We: Joe Durwin
Pittsfield home historian Joe Durwin does the research to reconstruct the unique story of your property.
Have you ever wondered who inhabited your home before you, or what your neighborhood was like when it was built? You could do the research yourself, or you could call upon Joe Durwin, a house historian. A Pittsfield native, he has conducted research on over 400 residential and commercial Berkshire County properties since 2021. Prior to establishing The Home Historian, he was a reporter for iBerkshires, and wrote columns about the area’s haunted past as well as a local history column, Sagas of the Shire. With a background in anthropology, Durwin constructs the unique backstory of a building’s history, focusing on the social narrative of the people who passed through a property. His reports include a narrative, photos, maps, newspaper articles — and whatever else might turn up in his research.
The biggest overall reason people hire me to do research on their homes is to establish a sense of place. There’s a kind of curiosity about who has come and gone. Sometimes homeowners may be in the midst of renovations, and the research can find information that’s practically helpful in dating when things were built. My profiles offer a true construction date — more than half of the cases I’ve dealt with were initially wrong about that date. Some are even off by decades. I’m able to establish the correct date within a five to ten-year period.
My sources are old maps, vital records, lots of old newspapers. There’s a really rich archival trove in the Berkshires. I’m not sure I could do this in any other county in the US. There are collections at the Athenaeum and Arrowhead. It’s amazing how much can be pieced together. I trace the house back to the deed first, then collect all the names of the owners, and trace them all.
The exciting part is putting together the biographies of people, especially the regular, everyday people. There’s such a nice cross section of people in the Berkshires. My favorite houses to do are the old working tradespeople houses. They’re the most interesting — their immigrant struggles bring extra dynamics to the property. I’ve also stumbled into a number of secret rooms in my research. They’re almost always alcohol related, because hiding liquor was prevalent in the Berkshires.
I’ve researched everywhere I’ve ever lived — did my parents’ house where I grew up, and informal property reports for friends. I think it’s essential to know the background of our places. We’re starting to see that now with land acknowledgments. I’ve done research for several Berkshire Natural Resources Council (BNRC) properties. There’s a huge interest in correcting our backstory and clarifying it from a social justice perspective.
