This is the premier of a line of hand-crafted birdhouses
by young artisan and craftsman, Ben Murch of Covenant Farm Woodworks.
This is a Spittin' Image of the last home of Patrick Henry at Red Hill.


Click on photos for larger images.

 
Left: Ben Murch's Spittin' Image Birdhouse; Right: Patrick Henry's Home at Red Hill

 

This birdhouse is an exact replica of Patrick Henry's last home at Red Hill, in beautiful Charlotte County, Virginia. It's only a few miles from Covenant Farm. The original home was added onto several times by Henry's ancestors, but was burnt to the ground in 1910. It was rebuilt to be like the original home without the additions.

 

This birdhouse was purchased by The Christian Heritage Center in Staunton, Virginia, and is on prominent display at their museum. We are now affiliated with the Christian History Society of America producing replicas of historical church buildings across America.

Unlike most of Ben's houses, because every detail is painstakingly re-created from an original model, it took three times as long to build this, as it does a conventional folk art birdhouse. Over 30 hours of work went into this creation.


Ben hand crafted the foundation and chimney from Southern yellow pine, transforming it to the look of old brick with intricate hand-painting and etching. The siding is crafted of oak planks, as are the windows, porches, shutters and steps. The dimensions are 12"x30"x16" high.

    
Left: Ben Murch's Spittin' Image Birdhouse; Right: Patrick Henry's Home at Red Hill

Even the contour of the ground
is identical to the Red Hill property.
The base of the birdhouse
is removable, for cleanout in
between bird families.

 

 

The roof on this house is made of
natural cedar shakes. Each shingle
was hand cut, and installed on the
roof just as it would have been on
the actual home. The roof was stained
to match the color of Patrick Henry's
home, but over time, the stain will fade,
and will be replaced by the cedar's own
natural weathered look.


No effort was spared in Ben's attention to detail, including the plaque at the front door of the house. You will notice that the basement vents are NOT present in his replica. These vents were added in the reconstruction of the house in modern times to protect the house from basement mildew and rot, but would not have been present in Patrick Henry's original home.

While the photo angles are hard to replicate exactly because of buildings and shrubbery at Red Hill, you can see that every aspect of this house was diligently and carefully recreated.