The McAllister house is believed to be the oldest standing farmhouse in Manitowoc County.  Originally located on Plank Road in Manitowoc Rapids, the home was built by Hiram McAllister, one of the first settlers of Manitowoc County who came to the area in 1837.  After working his 178-acre farm for many years, McAllister returned to New York State in the 1870s.  Other owners of the property included John Landreth, Henry and August Eberhardt and Agon Haupt.

 

The walls cannot talk, but we are fortunate to have a first-hand account of the experiences of a young August Eberhardt, who lived in the McAllister House in Manitowoc Rapids from around 1882 to 1897, when his son Henry took over operation of the farm. 

 

After retirement, August and Amalia Eberhardt moved to the city of Manitowoc.  August, being well known and respected as a pioneer of the area, was asked by the Manitowoc Post newspaper to share some stories of his earlier days.  The following is an excerpt of the account of his arrival in Manitowoc County that appeared in the February 28, 1907 edition of the Post:

 

“On August, 1852, my parents and four brothers emigrated to America.  On August 18th, we boarded ship.  It was a small, two-master, named MARIE…

 

On September 23rd we arrived in New York...from there by ship to Detroit, then again by railroad to Chicago…again by ship to Milwaukee, where we arrived on October 3rd.  We landed at the South Pier and there was our fellow citizen Dusold, now deceased, and he took us to his inn.  We had our first breakfast in Manitowoc with him, and I can still remember exactly, it consisted of potatoes in their jackets, fried bacon, and coffee.  We now went to Schuette's Store and asked father Schuette whether he perhaps knew where my brother-in-law Thiele lived…  

 

Yes, said father Schuette, they have already bought from us, but exactly where they live, I do not know.  He sent for druggist Leubner, and Leubner's son was our guide and went with us, naturally on foot.  Father Schuette told him he should go three miles west and three miles south, then we would come to Teitgen's.  There we found the little schoolhouse…then we asked whether or not somebody would know where Thieles lived. 

 

The old Kieselhorst told us Thieles had lived with them for three weeks until they had made their house ready.  So we went with Kieselhorst…west along a road where only one wagon could go through. When we arrived at Kieselhorst's farm, we met Ernst Pleuss, Kieselhorst's brother-in-law, who worked at Kieselhorst's then.  He had prepared a beautiful noon meal and it tasted good.  

 

That afternoon we still had a mile to go, namely to the south, but only a footpath, until we arrived at Thiele's…the joy was great when we saw brother-in-law and sister again.  My sister said, "Boys, in America you can still accomplish something."  They had only a small log cabin…We boys slept above, under the roof, where a hole had been cut in the gable in the south side of the house and over which we hung a big German sack; so then we climbed up the ladder in the evening and crept into our bed.  Since it was now winter, snowing and storming, about two inches of snow lay on our bed in the morning.  Again, the second evening after our arrival, as it began to get dark, the wolves began to howl in a nearby marsh. 

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Oh, we thought, those seem to be very peculiar neighbors that we have here.  Well, we were exactly in the middle of the wilderness."

 

On May 1st, 2013, the McAllister House opened at Pinecrest Historical Village, following a successful $200,000 campaign to transform the building.  Each year, thousands of visitors will cross the wide plank pine floors and explore history inside the walls of hand split lathe that once provided shelter to Manitowoc County pioneers such as Hiram McAllister and the August Eberhardt family.