As you enter the Balthis House, you might have the sensation of stepping into a custom-built antique — for that is what these lovingly built old structures are.
We in modern times are accustomed to mass-produced housing materials and homogenous, standardized real estate developments.
It is a shock, if a pleasant one, to be suddenly transported back to the 1700s. The older houses breathe, flex, creak, and echo ambient noises in a way newer houses do not.
Built prior to 1787, the Balthis House is the oldest surviving house on the oldest street in Front Royal. The Balthises were blacksmiths, and operated continually for 68 years, providing agricultural implements, tools, andirons, hinges, latches, and cooking utensils. They also shaped mold boards, ironed threshing machines, rimmed wagons and carriage wheels, and shoed horses and oxen. The Balthises sold to the Gilkey family in 1906, and the Gilkeys continued as blacksmiths, plumbers, and tinners.
The house changed hands a number of times after that, gaining additions, and finally being restored to anti-bellum condition by Dr. Bernard Samuels in 1951, who added salvaged mantels and other materials from other buildings on Chester Street. Warren Heritage Society purchased the Balthis House in 2000. Original outbuildings are still behind the house and are part of the tour.
Come take a tour! Read more here. Your tour can be self-guided or from one of our staff. (We do not charge, but we do accept donations.)