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Archaeologist will help determine if 130-year-old house was built using materials from Native American site

At first glance, the stone house doesn’t look like much.

The two-story structure nestles at the bottom of a muddy pasture on Highway 89 west of Orleans. The roof is crumbling and full of holes. The ceiling between the two stories has collapsed, and the floor is covered in dirt and debris.

It doesn’t look like much more than an old shed, but the stone house may be an important key to the area’s history.

“Initially, we did a self-guided history tour brochure for Harlan and Franklin counties. During the course of that, our historical society and museum director, Ernie Kuhl, showed me the stone house and told me the legend — and it’s more than legend — that the stones had been stolen from a nearby stone figure of a man,” Harlan County Tourism Director Pat Underwood said.

The stones for the house are believed to have been taken from a nearby American Indian stone artwork that was approximately 25 feet long and depicted a man holding a spear or medicine lance and a shield and wearing a medal around his neck....
Read entire article at Kearney Hub (NE)