The Booth Homestead, also called the Booth Home Place, is located at 8433 Wheeling Township Road in

Guernsey County Guernsey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,438. Its county seat is Cambridge, and it is named for the Isle of Guernsey in the English Channel, from which many of the county's earl ...

, Ohio, United States. Named a historic site in 1979, it was built for one of the area's largest landowners. While young, James Booth emigrated from England to

Coshocton County Coshocton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,612. Its county seat is Coshocton. The county lies within the Appalachian region of the state. The county was formed on January 31, 18 ...

, where he settled in the vicinity of

Newcomerstown Newcomerstown is a village in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, United States, east-northeast of Columbus. In the late 1770s, this was the largest Delaware Indian village on the Tuscarawas River, with 700 residents. Chief Newcomer (''Netawatwes'') was ...

. In 1843, aged eighteen, Booth arranged for the construction of the present house; he may have done the work himself, or he may simply have paid for the labor of others. Booth's design mixed traditional building styles with influences from the popular Greek Revival style of architecture. Shaped like the letter "L", the house possesses a facade divided into five

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

, of which the middle contains the main entrance.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 1. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 551-552. James Booth was among Guernsey County's leading landowners; at his peak, he was possessed of more than . Upon Booth's death, his heirs shared his property between themselves at apiece, with his son Milton Booth inheriting the homestead. He managed the property until his premature death in 1907, when it passed to his sister Mary Jane and her husband Jasper Little. Several years later the property came into the possession of Frank Booth, a grandson of James Booth. It remained in his hands until his death in the 1970s, when it passed out of the family. In 1979, the Booth Homestead was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, qualifying because of its historically significant architecture. Critical to this designation was its design's employment of both classical motifs and the vernacular architecture of the area.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Guernsey County, Ohio Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Houses completed in 1849 Houses in Guernsey County, Ohio 1849 establishments in Ohio