Historic York home dates to 1761

Logs crackled in the walk-in fireplace at the Cookes House in York Friday morning, warming a tea kettle that hung near pots and other cooking instruments from the 18th century.

Wearing a tri-corner hat and colonial garb, Michael Helfrich fit right in with the scene. He demonstrated how to use a tea-pourer and spoke of cooking venison stew over the open fire.

Two hundred-or-so years ago, a fire would've been burning there all day. Now, the fireplace is more for entertainment, Helfrich said, a good setting for roasting chestnuts and talking about the history of its surroundings.

Helfrich purchased the Cookes House, along the Codorus Creek off West College Avenue, late last year. Though the Lower Susquehanna riverkeeper is known through

the community for his work to preserve local waterways, he has another passion that's evident in his home purchase: history.

"I'm a big York historian," he said. "Ever since I was a little kid."

The Cookes House, built in 1761, is the third-oldest house in the city. Originally owned by Johannes Guckes -- later known as John Cookes, Helfrich said -- the house was rumored to have been used as a tavern when the Continental Congress was in York in 1777.

Helfrich has been researching the history of the house, particularly the legend that pamphleteer Thomas Paine stayed there.

Bits and pieces of historical record point to Paine staying at the house, Helfrich said, though there isn't any solid proof.

For example, a biographer wrote of Paine staying in a stone building southwest of town, Helfrich said. The Cookes House would have been the only such house, he said, using an 1850 map as proof.

Additionally, delegates who arrived early snagged housing downtown. But because Paine arrived in 1778, Helfrich said, "it would make sense that he wouldn't be able to find housing downtown."

"It's still very circumstantial evidence, but I really feel it's building," he said.

Helfrich is reading everything he can from the period,

namely diaries and letters from members of the Continental Congress, resources he doesn't think have been completely mined yet.

Meanwhile, he's been fixing up the house, adding a functioning bathroom, for example. The house was gutted sometime about 1904 to turn it into a duplex, he said, and then restored to its 18th century appearance around 1980.

At that time, the house was nearly rebuilt from the ground up, Helfrich said. Though items such as the fireplace were rebuilt, it was done based on historical research, he said.

Helfrich has been tracking down Revolutionary War-era items to add to the house, whether it's an 18th-century bottle or brass pot. He hopes to open his home for living history-style events, not regularly like a museum, but for whenever he can have an open house or invite other history buffs over.

And he's going to keep looking for the nugget that solidly ties Paine to the house.

"Then we get the statue out front," he said.

If you go

What: Open house at the Cookes House

When: 3 to 6 p.m. Nov. 15

Where: Cookes House, 430 Cookes House Lane, York, behind Martin Luther King Park in York. Parking will be available at the park.

What: Articles of Confederation Celebration

When: 2 to 4 p.m. Nov. 15

Where: Colonial Court House, 205 W. Market St., York

Why: The event marks the adoption of the Articles of Confederation by the Continental Congress on Nov. 17, 1777, said Daniel Roe, coordinator of educational programming for the York County Heritage Trust. The Colonial Courthouse will be open to the public. Several period music groups will perform, and the York County Bar Association will perform a play related to the Articles of Confederation. The winners of the Trust's annual essay contest will be announced. Visit www.yorkheritage.org for more information.

Online

For more information on Thomas Paine's connection to York, visit Two hundred years after Paine's death, the pamphleteer is due a marker in York.