Survey and Photography: Illuminations

Early to mid-June was taken up by the excellent VAF conference in Gaspé, Quebec. Back in Salem County on June 17, I set the drawing work aside to get back to each farm and get my head wrapped around each building and each farmstead by looking at them in detail. I surveyed room-by-room, taking notes on materials, workmanship, finishes, hardware, and clues about alterations and the evolution of each house and barn. Instructed by the survey and by the drawings before that, I went back for a round of careful photography to record the important features and views I had observed.

After eleven buildings, I set to work writing the narrative and found myself up against my deadline of July 31 with no chance of finishing. In typical form, I requested and received a grant period extension from the folks at the New Jersey Historical Commission, my funding agency.

But the good news is...I've discovered some really interesting stuff in these farmhouses and barns. The barns are really surprising me with their age. Two of the farms have barns that were born in the time when carpenters were hand-hewing timber frames, then grew in a variety of ways in response to changes in agriculture and the economy. That gives us a good opportunity to look at changes in farm buildings over a long period of time, knowing that hewing frames was the earliest method of cutting wood. Sawmilling may not have been available or near enough to the site for economical use, or the technology was not yet used for cutting posts and beams. So, these hewn frames could represent the earliest period of the farmstead. Subsequent alterations would reflect changes in farming on the particular farms as well as the larger agricultural context in which these farms existed.

Triangle Farm in Aldine

The hewn frames at Triangle farm include the house, part of one large barn, and a crib house. Considering everything I saw in the house, particularly nails and hardware, I think it was built between the Revolutionary War and 1800. If so, it may be that the two outbuildings were built in the same period, all as the establishment of a new farmstead. The finishes in the house are simple and lack of paneled doors typical of more elite houses, and so may signal a tenant house, especially since before 1817, this farmstead was on a 300-acre parcel known as the "Gamble Farm" on which was a pre-Revolutionary War pattern-brick house which would have belonged to the landowner. Sometime before 1749 William Gamble of Dublin, Ireland had purchased a large tract in Salem County. Left to his son, John, and then to John's son William, this land was occupied by several tenants, as noted in a newspaper notice to them in 1762.

The house today represents an evolution that continued through the first half of twentieth century. Initially a two-story house with a one-story step-down kitchen, with the facade of each section fenestrated in three symmetrical bays, the purchase by John and Rachel Watson in 1830 seems to have triggered the raising of the kitchen wing into two stories with an entire new sawn frame, and the redecoration of the main parlor in up-to-date Grecian-profiled millwork.

 

Watson was a miller who in 1826 had just completed the construction a saw mill nearby, owning the mill and the mill pond property with a partner. The Watson's purchase of this house may have been driven by the mill venture, and their need to reside nearby. One John A. Watson who was this John Watson's father was a shipbuilder in Alloway village held interests in two schooners when he died. The sawmill may represent an enterprise to exploit the abundance of uncleared forests in eastern Alloway Township and lower Pittgrove in the early nineteenth century to provide materials for shipbuilding and other local uses, as well as for export. The rebuilding and remodeling of the house may reflect Watson's socio-economic status as an industrialist and trader, and/or an inheritance upon the death of John A. Watson in 1838.

The milking barn was structured as a three-bay English type, which is characterized by a central drive-through bay where hay from the field was unloaded and stored in the adjacent mows, and where the wood floor was used for threshing grain. A small number of horses, oxen and milk cows were probably keep there as well, as work animals. Though Watson was a miller, he, like most people, farmed for both family subsistence and may have participated in market trade that was growing in that period.

Gable-end of the Milking Barn

West end of milking barn showing hewn framing of the original English barn.

The barn was extended by sixteen feet with sash-sawn joined timbers. It is likely that John Watson, who occupied this farm from 1830 to his death in 1864 is responsible for this extension and the replacement and relocation of rafters for the entire barn. The timbers were probably sawn in Watson's Mill. There is no evidence that this extension had a drive -through bay, so it may have been primarily for the housing of a larger collection of animals.

The next stage was the addition of a two-level shed on the long side, which may have been built for additional hay storage above and either animal pens or a milking area on the first floor. Its circular-sawn timbers and nailed braces suggest a late nineteenth-century period, perhaps that of William Simpkins, a miller and blacksmith who married Watson's daughter Jane and acquired the farm in 1869.

Upper level of shed addition

Lower level of shed addition

This became the milking parlor that exists today, possibly in the early twentieth-century when Herbert and Hattie Smith were the owners. When the state began regulating milk production and hygiene on farms, the present setup of metal stanchions, concrete floor and whitewashed interior was installed. These stanchions could date from the 1920s. It seems that in that period also, the "calf barn" was added at right angles to the main barn. It does not appear that the calf barn ever had a drive-through bay like the early barn, but always penned animals and provided extra space for milking below and hay storage above.

Calf barn

Upper level of calf barn

Lower level of calf barn

There is one more farm outbuilding that dates from an earlier period. The "wagon shed" was a drive-through corn crib, or crib barn. It is closer to the house, and also has a hewn timber frame, except for the sash-sawn floor joists.

Crib barn

The cribs were dismantled, but the mortise pockets for stud wall on both sides of the barn allow us the"read" the cribs on both side walls that were used to store corn cobs to feed animals. Like the other barns, much of the first floor framing and cladding has been transformed to concrete block, as weather and rot took its toll on old sills and posts. But enough remains to allow a reading of the original design and use.

Hewn corner post in crib barn

Joists in crib barn showing robbed mortises of the wall studs of the crib

After the field notes...

I've been quiet. The work of measuring the buildings in the field is done (mostly), and my current push is to get them drawn in AutoCAD in my office. It seems less interesting for blogging, but it's challenging and I always learn something about the field methods of myself and others: what works best and what does not; what was missed that I need to go back for, etc. Something always gets missed, so matter how hard you try.

There is other fieldwork ahead of me, too. Such as photographing and taking survey notes on each building's facades and rooms, materials and finishes, structure and alterations, sufficient to write up the CRS (cultural resource survey) forms. As this is an intensive-level survey, I must write descriptive and historical narratives, not to mention an evaluation of National Register eligibility. What is the significance here? What have we learned?

A preliminary AutoCAD drawing of the Corn Crib/Wagon House and Shed at Triangle Farm. I plot the drawing and mark it up with my questions to answer in the field

On the Casper Wistar Farm with the Monday crew

By now, the Monday crew has completed basement and first floor plans and all but one room on the second floor of Casper & Rebecca Wistar's 1825 house.

Our second day there was February 11. Beverly, Stephanie and I completed the basement. Stephanie was initiated on the board, and did great. We alternated on the board by room. We speculated on the meaning of features like fireplace foundations, the extra-deep floor in the northeast room, and the thick, stone bearing wall under the hall. For a corner chimney to be supported by a masonry wall to the floor is unusual; typically they corbel back to the wall. Why did they use so much added masonry? The wall under the hall may be the north wall of the house that predated the Wistar's 1825 creation. We imagined the deep room as storage for roots crops, not far from a closed-off interior stair to the first floor, where a door may have led to the kitchen. Did the double arch-support under the kitchen fireplace signify an extension? Or is it about the difficulty of building only one arch under such a long length? The act of measuring forces you to notice things. It's tempting to ponder such questions while measuring, but that is why we are measuring. The drawings may reveal the answers in the metrics and arrangements of room and features. Also, I will be surveying design, materials, and workmanship in detail at a future time for my architectural description narratives.

Basement field notes

After telling my crew beforehand that we would be working inside the house on February 18, upon arrival I had to tell them we had to be outside after all. I realized that we had not completed the exterior plan on the first day. First things first. Though somewhat disappointed about working in the cold, Beverly and Maria soldiered through it. After completing the three remaining sides of the house, we spent the afternoon measuring the first floor, completing two rooms.

Maria Cerda-Moreno draws.

Beverly Carr Bradway, Maria Cerda-Moreno, and Maggie Culver, proud crew

Maggie supervises from her stoop.

On our next field day, February 25, Beverly, Stephanie, and I finished up the first floor except the rear shed.

This past Monday, March 4, minus both Stephanie and Maria, Beverly, Dave Culver and I completed the shed addition. Here, a protruding wall suggested a chimney. Part of it is utilized as a closet in the kitchen, but a void may contain the remains of a chimney that once ran up the rear elevation of the house. Was the shed a summer kitchen? Was it Suzanne Culver's great-grandmother Flora Hancock's onsite vegetable canning operation before she set up her factory in Salem?

First floor field notes

We then moved to the second floor and completed all but one room. Dave, a retired scientist, was immensely helpful in measuring a curve in the hallway wall, offering ways to mathematically describe the formula with Excel. Well, that would be a new methodology for architectural field work! We were satisfied with a hand-drawn best fit curve to overcome errors in our plumb lines (see Detail "A").

Second floor field notes

Diversion: Opportunity on the edge of obliteration

The Sinnickson-Clancy House as it appeared in 2006. It was a well-known sight on Salem-Pennsville Road. The front block was added circa 1850 to a late 18th century hall-plan house. Such early frame houses are rare to find unaltered. It was vacant for many years and I had wanted to get inside to document it. Never did.

After meeting to confer over her Wistar wagon shed drawing this morning (Feb 9), Beverly Carr Bradway, Sharon Washburn and I set off on a mission to record the remains of the Sinnickson/Clancy farmhouse in Pennsville. Its demolition was on pause over the weekend, and now was a window of opportunity to record before it was totally inaccessible under fill. "It can't take long, it's just the foundation." Famous last words, as we spent four hours on a sunny, mildly cold afternoon measuring and photographing.  

North end of the Period II, circa 1850 section. Brick piers once supported a chimney.

We found the hole empty and scraped pretty clean of architectural material from the house. It was stone and built in two periods.

Looking south into the Period I basement (left). Period II basement was attached as an ell.

One fragment of a basement window frame in the rear section suggested an eighteenth-century origin. The opening had been bricked up in the past, but on the interior, one side of the oaken frame with three pieces of wooden grille bars still attached stood as evidence.

Bricked-in basement window frame with fragment of wood frame.

Wood grille bars are a sign of an early house.

Both sections were built of the same stone (not the native Jersey sandstone, but schist possibly from Pennsylvania) and whitewashed on the interior. The older, Period I section was 18x20 in plan, its broken east wall discernible where the two sections joined. At the west end was pile of brick and stone rubble that was the ruin of a large fireplace support. 

Looking toward the Period I basement. Sharon Washburn gathers fragments of architectural evidence.

We dug and clawed enough debris away to discover a fallen brick relieving arch, tell-tale of an early chimney support. After exposing the limits of the whitewash on the wall, we measured the dimensions of its extents at the back wall. It was seven feet wide and two feet deep, enough for a five-foot wide cooking fireplace. There was probably a winder stair above the space in the right-hand corner.

Debris from fireplace support in Period I section after digging for signs of its original location.

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Me photographing the foundation. Photo by Beverly Carr Bradway.

Faded into the past.

Crew II: Training at the Casper Wistar Farmstead

1825 Casper Wistar House

Today (Feb 4) I began the training aspect of the grant project. I have dreamed of having trained, local building recorders to help me document the built landscape here in Salem County and southwestern New Jersey (I must include Cumberland County in my study area, being the other part of John Fenwick's original tenth portion of West New Jersey, other wise known as Fenwick's Tenth or Fenwick's Colony). So I included a training componenet in my project proposal this time.

The idea today was to have two crews of three begin documenting the Casper Wistar Farmstead, with two experienced crew chiefs on the boards (recording measurements and drawing the building) and the others running the tape measure. Beverly manned the board at the wagon house with Dave and Maria measuring. I took the house with Stephanie and Suzanne.

Wagon House

I am blessed with such a talented group. Beverly is headed for the University of Delaware's Historic Preservation Program next Fall and took the recording training last Fall. Maria is a registered architect who has measured many buildings for historic restoration projects, but wants to learn "the UD way." Stephanie, who I met on one of the county arts tours at her table in Alloway, had studied the related discipline of archaeology in college. Dave and Suzanne are the owners of the Wistar House, which they have opened for tours several times in the past. Dave is a past president of the Salem County Historical Society, and is currently the Mannington Township Historian.

The crew: Dave and Suzanne Culver, Beverly Carr Bradway, Stephanie Long Fazen, and Maria Cerda Moreno.

With temperatures in the high 20s F, we worked outside until lunch. Once warmed up, we succumbed to the offer for a tour through the house, which took the rest of the afternoon. However, having that understanding of the house and its history will help us as we start measuring the interior. The house has some very unusual amenities. One is a portion of the basement that has a floor about four feet deeper than the rest of the house. Its historic function is unknown. Another is the closet of feather bed racks in the attic. Though this gracious Federal style house dates from 1825, the existence of one corner fireplace suggests that a portion of it dates from before the Revolution. Whose house was it?

The land here goes back to Bartholomew Wyatt, the English Quaker immigrant of 1690 who purchased 600 acres of land in 1692/3 and 250 acres of wild marsh in 1708. He built a log house near Mannington Meadow and Puddle Dock Creek (not far from this house) and later a brick house a half-mile north on Mannington Creek. He left the 850 acres to his son, Bartholomew in 1726. This Bartholomew (II), in repayment of a debt, left his son-in-law, Richard Wistar, 691 acres of land, meadow, and wild marsh in 1765. Richard Wistar was the glassmaker of Wistarburg, well-known as the first successful glassworks in the English colonies. Richard, who resided in Philadelphia, left a 640-acre portion, to his son John, who settled there with his wife Charlotte Newbold, apparently in an existing house on a different site. John left his son Casper Wistar a 151-acre farm in the tenancy of one Jonathan Knight, who probably occupied the older section found in this house. Casper and his wife Rebecca Bassett Wistar rebuilt the existing house on this site in 1825, displaying the construction date on a downspout scupper.

1765 Survey of Division of Lands between Bartholomew Wyatt, Jr. and Richard Wistar. The Salem River winds on the left, and Mannington Creek at the top. Puddle Dock Creek is the small stream at the bottom. Some of these property lines survive in the lands parcels of today. (Salem County Historical Society)

More details to come...

Second Day: Twenty Degrees Warmer and Dropping...

Wyatt Farm in Mannington Township, September, 2012.

On Thursday, January 31, measuring continued at the Wyatt Farm with Becky Sheppard, Cate Morrissey, (Lord) Alex Till, (Lady) Alex Tarantino, Keisha Gonzalez, Jenn Nichols, Ginny Davidowski, Michael Emmons and myself. Cate's and my crews worked in the house, completing the basement plan, first floor framing, and first floor plan. After lunch, Cate's crew moved to the barn and mine moved to the second floor of the house. Becky's crew labored all day in the cold granary. I took no photos, as I was in the measuring groove!

At lunch, the group gathered in the kitchen to eat, enjoying conversation in the presence of the very large and ancient cooking fireplace and hearth. A question I hope to resolve is, what period is this portion? Did it come first, or was it always the kitchen wing of the double-pile section? The interior of the fireplace shows evidence of change, such a second bread oven.

There is a very worn tread on the stairs to the second floor that Mr. Hancock used to slip on nearly every day, it is said. Upon exploring the layout of the house Professor Sheppard found the same step and took Mr. Hancock's traditional tumble, but no harm done (thankfully!).

Also dropping was the temperature. Starting around a bearable 49 degrees F in the morning, it dropped into the thirties by mid-afternoon. When brain freeze began to set in, the day was called at about 3 PM.

Thursday was a good window between a warm day of rain the day before, and a cold day of snow the next. Moving right along...

Next week, we hope to finish at the Wyatt Farm.

Fieldwork Begins at the Wyatt Farm

CHADsters and me

Yesterday, a very frigid day in New Jersey, I and my fieldwork assistants from the University of Delaware Center for Historic Architecture and Design began work at the Wyatt Farm. Considering the warming trends of late, this week has been especially cold with temps in the low 20s (-7 to -3 Celsius for my Canadian friends). The names of these intrepid folks deserve mention: (from left) Keisha Gonzalez, Alex Tarantino, Virginia Davidowski, Alex Till, Melissa Blair, Cate Morrissey, Michael Emmons, Prof. Rebecca Sheppard, and me.

We split into three crews of three and measured the footprints of the house, barn and granary. Becky Sheppard's brave crew stayed out all day working on the granary, while the rest of us moved inside the house and worked on basement and first floor plans.

Granary/Corn Crib/Wagon House

According to Becky Sheppard, who has studied agricultural buildings all over Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania, this granary (which means a building used to store grain), or corn crib/wagon house (because it has two corn cribs built in and two drive-through bays), is unusual (by comparison to those areas) in that it has a cellar. A key question is, why? What was it used for? Suzanne Culver, who grew up here, says that in her lifetime, it was used for storing seed potatoes. Was that its use from the time it was built? Why is it constructed of stone, not brick? Indeed, what was grown on this farm over the many decades of its existence? Research is needed to tie this building with agricultural production records for this farm over time.

The foundation of the house is stone, so perhaps the granary dates from the time of the house, but when was that? Suzanne's mother remembers a date in the wall of the basement, "1788." We could not find this evidence, so it may have gotten covered by a layer of mortar applied in 1963 (so thoughtfully documented by the children of the house, who recorded their names and ages in the wall under the kitchen fireplace). I think the house is certainly as early as 1788, but more likely earlier. In any event , it has a curious evolution that our drawings will help us figure out.

Frozen toes drove the CHAD folks back into their cars at 3 PM and back across the river, heater on full blast.

Next week...back to the Wyatt House. Hopefully it will be a warmer day.