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HVVA
NEWSLETTER, May 2005 FROM THE JOURNAL Saturday, May 7, Aifter our short monthly meeting in Ulster County, at the Marbletown Firehouse, we car-pooled and drove down Route 209, The Old Minnisink trail, to Accord in the Town, of Rochester, to visit a regional type of 18th century, story-and-a-half, stone-ended frame house. Part of the Stone Ridge Library and the Hardenburg house on DeWitt Mills Road are of a similar stone-ended type. This Rochester example we would visit, the _/Cohe/Perceli (Uls-Roc-15), began as a 7-bay, 2- room house. There was evidently water damage to the front and back frames of the house and these sides were reconstructed in the 1960 so that from the road it is unrecognizable as an early house, but on the main floor the beams are exposed, and in the cellar the beams and fireplace supports give a good idea of the building's original and very classic proportions for a late 18th century Ulster County Dutch farm house, be it of stone or wood or of a combination. The six internal anchorbeams on the main floor all measure 12"x7" and are finished and beaded on both lower edges with a quarter-round molding. This consistency of the beams is characteristic of late 18th century houses that have adopted'the English jam bed fireplace. The six internal beams in the cellar are all rough hewn and measure about 12'x9". According to the fireplace supports in the cellar, the 4-bay room on the north end had an 8-foot wide fireplace and the smaller room to the south had a 7 -foot wide hearth and an enclosed stairs to the loft. It would be interesting to know how these two rooms were used.
Gerorge Van Sickle of Marbletown submitted the following 1684 deed for land in Monbacus, in the Town of Rochester (*). It begins, "Appeared before me, Wm DlaMontagne." The land was sold by Harmon Hekan to Thomas Quick who was to pay 800-scheppels of winter wheat to be paid in four-years. The first payment of 1,500 gilders to be made to Charles Teunesen, and in February 1686 the second payment, and so on until it is paid in full.
The deed was signed by Jacob Rutgersen and Leveryen Ten Hout. Harmon Hekan and Thomas Quick, like the natives who put their clan marks on land deeds, made their marks on the document, probably because they were illiterate as were many in the early years. (*) Deeds Vol 3, Dutch Records of Esopus, translated by Dingman Verstee in 1885-1888, Paul Klapper Library, Queens College.
We drove back to Marbletown to a small stone house in the village of Stone Ridge, The Sally Tack Tavern (UlsMar-28). that from 1917 until her death in 1964 was a country place for Emily Crane Chadborn; a friend of many well known artists and writers of her time, Gertrude Stein and Hemingway among them, and an activist with Eleanor Roosevelt in the war against opium. From 1965 until his death in 1992 the house was home to Bill Walton, the Federal Commissioner of Fine Arts who was a Washington fixture through several administrations. The house reflects the work of Miron Teller, a local architect with a feeling for and an understanding of local vernacular architecture, who worked on the house in the early 20th century. He seems to have maintained important original fabric and made additions and changes that imitate the old look but sometimes covered it. He can fool you with his style and ability to hide the plumbing. He fooled me with a double Dutch cellar door with wooden hinges and authentic looking hardware. The 18th century stone house consists of two sections. It had been thought that the back section was original but we concluded that the original part was that closest to the road. It be_an as a two-room, story-and-a-half, side-hall house. The most indicative feature of its mid-18th century date is the size and distribution of the three internal anchorbeams in the main room. The beam at the right on which the brick smoke hood rests measures 14"x8.5". The center beam measures 12.5"x8". The other beam was not measured but they are often less than the center beam.
We could see no evidence of trimmer beam mortises on the hood
beam that Sally Tack Tavern (Uls-Mar-28) Village of
Stone Ridge, Town of Marbletown, Ulster County, NY The
drawing on the right is a plan of the main floor of the original
house showing its two-room side-hall plan, and the cellar of the
late 18th century addition with two bake ovens to the sides of
the fireplace. These are conjectured by the survival of two oven
clean out chutes emptying into the fireplace.
(above) HVVA members enjoy the architectural views behind the Tack Tavern. (right) a stone addition, the work of Myron Teller.
The drawing to the left is a center section of the original house interpreted as if it had a Dutch jambless fireplace. The large beam to the right on the main floor, supports the brick smoke hood. The hood is extended down and terminates with a crown molding shelf to display decorative plates. It is assumed that there was some sort of cradle in the cellar to support the hearth Copyright © 2005. Hudson Valley Vernacular Architecture. All rights reserved. All items on the site are copyrighted. While we welcome you to use the information provided on this web site by copying it, or downloading it; this information is copyrighted and not to be reproduced for distribution, sale, or profit.
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