kwendt. you may want to check out Sarah Graves murder mysteries. She solves crimes while trying to maintiane her 200 year old house in Eastport Maine.
And you are right, of course, 400 year old houses in Europe are still being used. Antiques may be 1,000 years old.
I was thrilled to be apart of finding a hide scraper here in Kansas USA that probably was lost before Columbus made it over.