EMMETT, Idaho — 30 miles northwest of Boise, take Highway 16 and you will find what is called the Gem of the Payette.
Gem County is 48 miles long, 22 miles wide, and the town of Emmett holds the county seat.
If you drive through downtown Emmett, you can see the history in the store fronts.
Leave main street, head North of town near the Payette River and drive past the Nathaniel Martin home and you might just feel spooked.
It's fitting, given it's gothic revival architecture, but it's also clear that there's history in this home that is safely tucked behind a security fence at the end of Wardwell Avenue.
Standing there since 1879, it's gone practically unnoticed, but this home's history and the man who lived in it are the foundation of the city of Emmett.
"In early 1862 and 1863, when gold and silver discoveries are making this area, this region, attractive to to Euro Americans, to American settlers, there are a couple early settlers who arrive in the Payette River Valley there in the area that we think of now is Emmett and and one of them is Nathaniel Martin," said Dan Everhart, Idaho Historic Preservation Outreach Historian.
Before being known as the city of Emmett, the town was actually named Martinsville.
"He literally gives his name to the town," Everhart said.
Nathaniel Martin started a ferry crossing on the Payette River and was considered a founder of the town.
In 1868, Martin established a post office named Emmettsville, which was later shortened to Emmett, and became the name of the town soon after.
In the late 1870s, Martin took over more than 48 acres and a man, known as Clint Brown, built his home which still stands today.
"According to the Gem County Historical Society, the house was actually built by the local undertaker and coffin maker," Everhart said. "So this man had some skill with woodwork."
Martin shared the home with his son and family and continued running the ferry west of where the present bridge on the river stands.
He died in 1884 and the house was passed down through the family.
It is the oldest house in Gem County and a reminder of the community's beginning, but you wouldn't be able to tell that now.
Gem County Historic Preservation Commission is actively working to protect and preserve the history.
"They finished their most recent historic preservation plan for the county in 2022, so they have sort of a game plan for how they're going to proactively move the needle on historic places," Everhart said.
Until then, the two story home remains a silent witness to Emmett's roots.