You can tell you're in the West - our house was built, theoretically, aroung 1890, and isn't even considered particularly old for this neck of the woods.

My parents' house is far older than that, probably about 150-200 years old, I'll ask Dad. When I was a kid, they had the house insulated and discovered in the process that the northeast corner post was a tree trunk, just planed on two sides, with the bark still on the rest of it!

For the heck of it, I'll ask Dad when I see him if he has any ideas what your "thing" is!