During their 43-year marriage, John and Shelby Ruch have lived, talked and walked through history.

"We both grew up in old houses. We just love history, that's all there is to it," Mrs. Ruch said.

The couple have resided in three old Butler County houses, the most recent being 290 Little Creek Road in Jackson. The four-bedroom, two-bath property (MLS No. 831035) is listed for $289,900 through Deborah Ann and Jay Myers of Coldwell Banker (724-282-0350, ext. 510, or www.pittsburghmoves.com/myers.team). An open house will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. today.

The center-hall Colonial on 3 acres is a generous slice of regional history. In the early 1800s, it belonged to Samuel Swain, a settler who raised sheep for Abraham Ziegler, a Lehigh County Mennonite who paid him 37 1/2 cents a day. In 1815, Mr. Ziegler bet big on Pennsylvania farmland, paying $100,000 for 9,000 acres in Western Pennsylvania owned by the Harmonist Society, a sect founded by the charismatic preacher George Rapp.

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Jackson Twp.:
At a glance

• Website: www.jacksontwpbutler.org
• Size: 21.2 square miles
• Population: 3,645 (2000 census)
• School district: Seneca Valley (senecavalley.schoolwires.net)
• Enrollment: 7,369
• Average SAT scores: 521 verbal, 526 math, 517 writing
• Taxes for 290 Little Creek Road: $1,957; Municipality: $352 (7.875 mills); School district: $117 (100 mills); County: $1,488 (23.628 mills)
• Bet you didn't know: Jackson had a cameo in George Romero's classic "Night of the Living Dead." The opening sequence of the 1968 horror flick, where a girl is being teased by her brother in a graveyard, was filmed at Evans City Cemetery on Franklin Road.

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The home is two miles from Harmony, a section of which was designated a national historic landmark district in 1974. Old Economy, the last home of the Harmonists in Ambridge, is also a national historic landmark district.

The original part of the home, which dates to around 1820, contains a large kitchen with a red-brick fireplace and a loft above it for sleeping. Nearly two centuries later, the 12-by-11-foot space is still a kitchen with blue cabinets, a black iron chandelier and a stenciled wood floor.

That 17-by-12-foot loft bedroom, still located above the kitchen, features a sloping ceiling and dormer window that overlooks a brick patio. Mrs. Ruch used this space as an office while working as a free-lance writer. She is the author of "Window on the Past: A Look Back at 19th Century Life in Harmony and Zelienople." Last year, Arcadia Publishing printed her history of Harmony, part of a series called "Images of America." Her husband is president of Historic Harmony, which owns and operates the Harmony Museum and seven additional historic properties.

In 1982, the couple paid $87,000 for the property after returning to Western Pennsylvania from Randolph, N.J., with their young sons, John and Christopher.

"I wanted to live near a small town but yet be kind of in the country," Mrs. Ruch said. "It's very quiet in here because the walls are very thick, and I liked the neighborhood."

The brick used to build the home was fired on the property, she said. Jackson was settled by Mennonites.

"We have big sandstone steps up into the kitchen and up into the larger part of the house. They are all worn down where generations of people have walked over them."

The windows were replaced years ago, but the sills are quite deep. The trim on the sides of the windows flares outward, which Mrs. Ruch said is typical of Mennonite houses in the area. The previous owners, Harold and Stella Ellis, bought the house and 200 acres in the 1950s, leaving it intact while doing a sensitive restoration.

"They put on a new roof and covered it with slate again so it looks original," Mrs. Ruch said, adding that she and her husband did not alter the home substantially.

Last year, the Ruches installed a high-capacity septic system and new water heater. Although the property has public water service, there's also an original 17-foot-deep well on the land that can be used for outside work. The home has an energy- efficient boiler with hot water baseboard heat.

The 20-by-12-foot dining room features a large decorative brick fireplace that has been closed off but could be reopened, as could the fireplace in the kitchen. The green and white walls have original plaster, wainscoting and a bit of stenciling; a pierced tin chandelier lights the space.

Off the kitchen is a 12-by-10-foot space that Mrs. Ruch believes was originally a porch that was later enclosed. The space could easily serve as a laundry room.

"It was our everyday eating room. We kept our shoes and coats at one end."

A full bathroom, located off the kitchen, was redone in the 1980s.

Two staircases lead to the second floor; one is accessed from the kitchen and the other is in the center hall.

"It was very convenient, having two stairways."

Upstairs, a 20-by-12-foot master bedroom features hardwood floors and two closets. The master bath was redone in 2008 with new plumbing, flooring, commode and shower surround. Also on the second floor are two bedrooms, both measuring 12 by 10 feet.

There's a large attic reached by a staircase. The basement has three rooms with concrete floors. There's space for a laundry and a pool table.

Outside the house and across a large brick patio is an enclosed 25-by-12-foot summer kitchen with a concrete floor. A new roof was installed on it last year.

"There are two big doors that open up in the back so you can put a garden tractor in there. We thought we might make it into a guest house," Mrs. Ruch said.

There's also a storage shed, where the couple stowed several tractors.

The nearest supermarket is two miles away. and the borough of Harmony features many small shops plus a park with a swimming pool.

In the past three years, six properties have sold on Little Creek Road for prices ranging from $75,000 in January 2009 to $400,000 in June 2010 (www.realstats.net). The property containing the house has an assessed value of $14,880 (www.co.butler.pa.us/butler, click on GIS Maps).

Doug Oster writes a blog, "Growing With Doug," exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.