SUNBEAM—Yeah, it’s hard enough to trace the history of country farmhouses anyway, let alone one that has at least three additions, been consumed by grasses and weeds for three decades and has about a dozen or more so-called experts weighing on details.

Suffice it to say that the Dyer Farm, off Sunbeam Road here, falls into the above category.

But few would argue this point: The house on the 2,100-acre farm in southeastern Southampton County is falling down. Whether the wooden frame house — replete with enormous beams, handcrafted joints and a curious set of windows on the second floor

— is 330 years old, 230 years old or 20 minutes old, it is in need of immediate help. And it got some recently.

Bob Goodrich, who owns Restorations by Goodrich and has done work at numerous historic locations in the area, was entrusted to shore up the falling roof, a sagging foundation and clear the surrounding land of overgrowth.

Beyond that, the house has been &uot;mothballed,&uot; with protection nailed to keep vandals from shooting bullet holes in the few remaining windows and securing the doors to thwart unwelcome guests.

&uot;We found a lot of snake skins,&uot;

Goodrich said.

However, the guesswork as to its history continues.

What is known are the owners. Two sisters, formerly named Beale — Alice now in Arkansas, and Nancy in Louisiana — formed Prange Properties LTD and own the property. Their father bought the farm in about 1932, according to their brother, James Beale of Franklin.

Although no one in the Beale family lived on the property, timber has been sold from the property, and land has been rented to others to farm, according to Beale.

But, Beale said, there are no immediate plans for the property that in years past has been the source of any of the county’s historically biggest crops: peanuts, corn, cotton and soybeans.

That said, the debate remains lively as to the history of the house. Many of the clues today relate to past building methods, some court records and some local lore.

Goodrich said he believes the main portion of the house dates to about 1740 because the nails used were handmade, which would predate the manufactured variety by about 100 years.

Goodrich, however, is alone in his assessment.

Walter Franklin Drake, something of a historian of Sunbeam, where he lives, figures the house to have been built around 1845 or so.

And the late Laura Holman Rawls, who gave a narrative and slide show years ago, said the house, near the intersection of Sunbeam and Monroe roads,

was one of the three original homes built in Sunbeam. Her research has the house being built sometime between 1842 and 1850.

For now, the goal was to secure the building. Part of the foundation was raised and secured, and pieces of the roof replaced.

&uot;It’s a part of history,&uot; said Goodrich. &uot;It should be preserved.&uot;