Where can I find out the history of my house?

Does anyone know where I can get access to the who? what? where? when? and how? of my address where I currently live?

Thanks

I don't know how this works in the US, but in Britian you can go to the public library and find the old directories - phone directories, business directories etc - and also old maps and guide books for the area. They are a good start. Then you have to go to the Public Records Office in your town, which has more of the same plus the old deeds of sale etc.

I think that things are similar in the States, so good luck. I did some research into the house and general areas where I was living (first in Devon, and then in Cumbria, both England). It was really interesting.

The other thing is to talk to the older people who have lived in the area for a long time. They usually love to tell you their memories about their old neighbours and what used to go on in the area. Some of them have long memoires - one old lady told me about a secret passage that used to run from the farm near my house! I think it was probably a medieval drain, but she had heard the old stories, and it was all pretty exciting.