Scanland-Skeele House

700 Hartford St.

This house is distinctive because it has double galleries, a feature popular in southern homes. Early Worthington merchants traveling to Natchez and New Orleans would have seen this architectural style which reflects a time when porches were a place to catch a summer breeze and to greet your neighbors.

This residence is also one of the best preserved examples of 19th century braced-framed construc-tion in Worthington, and was the home of Captain Skeele. It originally faced Granville Road but was turned ninety degrees and moved slightly south early in the 20th century and it now faces Hartford Street.

The house was originally built for the James and Mary Scanland family ca. 1837, and wagon master Scanland may have built some of the hand-hewn beams himself.

In 1864 Harriet Skeele bought the house for $900 while her husband John S. Skeele was fighting in the Civil War. "Cap Skeele", as he was fondly called, enlisted in the 113th Ohio Volunteer Infantry on August 30, 1862. He rose from private in Company C to captain in Company I. John was one of the town’s most colorful Civil War veterans and well known in Worthington for his endless Civil War stories which ranged from the campaigns of Chicamauga, Chattanooga and Atlanta, to Sherman's March to the Sea.

(Private residence)