I agree with the Don's assessment. You could try the hophornbeam for braces if it's big enough. One of Sobon's books lists out some of the northeastern woods, and their attributes. Ang there's a fairly recent article by Will Beemer in Timber Framing on the same issue.
With all that hardwood, I'd recommend planing the timbers to show all that cool wood. And sexiness is just the relative factor of...I'm gonna put this ugly piece of locust in the basement as a sill, and I'm gonna put this sexy piece of locust in my kitchen so everyone can see it. By the way, locust will lose that toxic green color from when it's freshly milled, and turn a very nice orangy color.