What is the most fireplaces you ever had in your home?

[armanidog]

My grandparents in Durham, NH had 5 fireplaces in their home built in 1735. I grew up in Florida so we had a cardboard fireplace to hang our stockings on each Christmas.
My current house has 4 fireplaces of which I only use one chimney with a insulated flu inside for my stove.
Well here in NE Georgia there is a house built in 1911 for sale:
"Historic home in downtown Crawford priced to renovate back to it's former glory. Some renovations have been done in the last decade including plumbing, electrical, HVAC, roof, and liquid foam insulation in all the walls, attic, and crawlspace. The foyer gives a taste of the many unique features that run throughout the home including original heart pine floors and gorgeous solid wood doors with original hardware. Spread out on the first floor with a formal living and dining on either side of the foyer, followed by a large eat in kitchen and bedroom with an enormous mudroom/laundry room and second downstairs bedroom plus full bathroom. A large screened porch flanks the back of the home and overlooks the new deck and the acre lot and barn. Upstairs has 3 oversized bedrooms and two full baths. There are 8 fireplaces with antique mantles and grill work. Only 15 minutes from Athens and 20 minutes from Watkinsville, and near the future Firefly Trail this home has so much potential. Priced at only $61 a sq. foot your sweet equity can really pay off!"

152 Park Ave, Crawford, GA 30630 | realtor.com®

View 30 photos for 152 Park Ave, Crawford, GA 30630, a 5 bed, 3 bath, 3,684 Sq. Ft. single family home built in 1911 that was last sold on 12/21/2021.

www.realtor.com

I can't imagine how much wood they burned in the winter and for cooking. No power tools. and hauling wood up to the bedrooms, no thanks. The interesting thing is my house had the exact same wooden surrounds and mantles for its fireplaces. I took two of mine down so far. On their backs it has stenciled "Sears, Roebuck, and CO ".
It is definitely a house for young folks to spend their lives renovating and doing maintenance.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Three here. Use one.

 

[begreen]

It was not uncommon in older colonial designs for there to be a fireplace in every room. The construction usually wasn't insulated and the windows didn't seal well. With most rooms having doorways there was little convective heat circulating, so a bunch of room heaters is what sufficed. Often, several rooms were only used occasionally and were closed off in winter to conserve heat. In our old pre-revolutionary homestead in NYS, some of the houses had dirt basement fireplaces. In the bitter cold of winter, the family would live down there, using the earth berming of the basement walls to make it a little easier to heat. It was a tough life back then, especially if one was of modest means.

 

[EbS-P]

In 1911 if you had a house like that you weren’t the one gathering firewood. Some of those are coal fireplaces which would make sense for the era. No idea about the market in that part of the country but around here that would be a steal at that price unless it has considerable and costly issues. Lead paint comes to mind.

 

[ctyankee]

3 and have used 2. The transition to stoves from open fireplaces in the 19th C was mainly motivated by dwindling wood supply. Hard to imagine now, but as some on here know, the forests we see today were cleared land. This is in the East. Open fireplaces, at least one being used 365 days a year, consumed massive amounts of wood. Seasoning of wood was not thought about. Cut it and burn it.

 

[weatherguy]

I only have two but I have been in houses that have 8 like Begreen just described, they were room heaters back then since there was no central heat.

 

[clancey]

That's a beautiful house and wish that was here but way too big for me but beautiful regardless and would be a wonderful investment for someone especially the young...thanks for sharing...You should have saw the piece of "junks" that I have been looking at (yesterday)--terrible and prices--just as terrible...I lived in a house with two fireplaces one in the den and one in the living room but my late husband took care of all of that because I was afraid of fire--now I am wood burning--wow,,,clancey

 

[bholler]

3 and have used 2. The transition to stoves from open fireplaces in the 19th C was mainly motivated by dwindling wood supply. Hard to imagine now, but as some on here know, the forests we see today were cleared land. This is in the East. Open fireplaces, at least one being used 365 days a year, consumed massive amounts of wood. Seasoning of wood was not thought about. Cut it and burn it.

Many areas also transitioned to coal around that time as well. Which is why the majority of antique American stoves are coal stoves not wood.

 

[armanidog]

Many areas also transitioned to coal around that time as well. Which is why the majority of antique American stoves are coal stoves not wood.

"Every few weeks, John Ord does something unusual for most people living in 2019 — he stops by a local hardware store in rural northeastern Pennsylvania to buy coal to heat his home.

He recently spent about $56 to buy 400 pounds of coal. That will keep his 2,400-square-foot house a toasty 70 to 72 degrees for a couple of weeks."

For The Few Who Heat Homes With Coal, It's Still King

Nearly 130,000 homes in the U.S. still burn coal for heat. Despite decades of decline and concerns about climate change, companies in the coal home-heating business are optimistic about the future.

www.wuga.org

 

[Woodsplitter67]

My family had a 200 yr ole stone house with a fireplace in every room. the basement with earth floor had a large fireplace with a swing out iron hook to hang pots on. No running water we had a had a well off the side door you had to hand pump your water. No bathroom you had chamber pots and an out house. The house was located on a small river stocked with trout and had bass in it. The house had 6 fireplaces As a kid I spent months there in the summer and occasionally in the fall and winter. The house is since gone as it was willed to a family member and he sold it. I still go up there frome time to time and I take my kids fishing in the same stream that I used to fish with my dad..