Endangered Places 2011 generously sponsored by:
Josiah Burnett House
Statistics
- Built: 1860
- Architect: likely the Burnett family
- Designation: Eligible for National Register
- Significance: Gothic vernacular architecture, Settlement Era
- Current Status: Although the house is in the caring hands of the Jacknife-Zion-Horseheaven Historical Society, its condition is deteriorating and is in need of a vision for it to survive into the future. Weather and wear have taken their toll and incompatible additions and siding have masked the history that lies beneath.
History
An impressive 151 years old this year, its something of a miracle that the Lucy and Josiah Burnett House still stands at all. Thanks to the Urban Growth Boundary, it remains as a reminder of Oregon’s earliest settlement era.
Josiah Burnett came to Oregon in 1853 by wagon train over the Oregon Trail and the Barlow Road. On his way to Roseburg, Josiah stopped at the Philip Foster Farm in Eagle Creek where he met Lucy—daughter of the farm’s owner. Lucy and Josiah married and moved to Roseburg. But Lucy’s father wasn’t so thrilled by the distance, so he offered the couple 40 acres of his land in Eagle Creek.
History continued...
The local historical society, Jacknife-Zion-Horseheaven, purchased the property in 2000 to preserve another segment of the Foster family’s history. Along with the 1884 Foster house, the reconstructed 1840s store and cabin, and the circa 1860 barn, the 1860 Josiah Burnett house completes a spectrum of structures where the Fosters worked and lived in Eagle Creek.
The Burnett House is currently rented to tenants to provide the income necessary for the historical society to keep the house in their ownership. Little has been done to the property in recent decades. New siding and incompatible additions mask the 1860s fabric that lies beneath, making the house a great candidate for restoration and continued use.
The Society is asking for our help in raising the visibility of the Burnett House—one of the oldest in Clackamas County—so it can live on for another century and a half.