As the Elmendorf family put its roots down in Hurley, Ulster County, New York, the descendants built stone houses as a nod to their ancestors of Dutch heritage, following those building traditions. This five-bay stone house was built around 1789 and is a vernacular Federal home with Dutch and English building influence. The property exhibits shed dormers and a Colonial Revival portico, but exudes 18th century charm.
One of the oldest extant buildings in Woodstock Village is the old Tannery Brook House. The building (or a part of it) was originally an old grist mill developed by Isaac Davis and it was later turned into a saw mill. Around the end of the Civil War, the structure was home to the village blacksmith operated by John Wigram Davis, then it was enlarged as a barn for wagons and carriages. Later, owner Peter Longendyke operated a boarding house from the building. Around 1904, the New York Art Students League is believed to have had their first summer art class in the upstairs rooms of the building. In 1935, owner Lamonte Simpkins remodeled it as “The Art Shop”. Upstairs Mr. Simpkins sold clothes, shoes and drygoods, while downstairs The Art Shop and Tannery Brook Garden Flourished. The building was rebranded as the Old Forge House, as a nod to its historic use. It remains a vernacular, and important piece of Woodstock’s rich history from sleepy industrial village to vibrant artist community.
One of the oldest extant houses in the village of Ogunquit Maine is this charming Cape house thought to have been built in the 1780s. The house was later purchased by James Winn (1783-1861) and his wife Philadelphia Maxwell Winn (1785-1855), probably about the same time as the birth of their first child, James Winn Jr. in 1808. Both James Sr. and his son in 1846, launched a 161–ton brig out of Kennebunkport with Captain James at the helm. After several trips James Jr. succumbed to an illness that was aboard the vessel and died at the New York Marine Hospital. Over 150 years later, the house, largely untouched, was seemingly threatened by development pressure on the busy highway. In 1980, the home was donated to the town by then-owner, Phyllis Perkins, and moved nearby to a park on Obed’s Lane. It now houses the Ogunquit Heritage Museum.
Thought to be the oldest extant house in Newton Lower Falls, this historic mansion has seen a lot of change over its nearly 300 years in the village. The house believed to have been built around 1755 by John Parker (1687-1761) for his son Ezra (b. 1731) after his marriage. William Hoogs, a ship carpenter from Boston, took ownership of the house in 1781 from his father-in-law (and boss), Aster Stoddard, who had bought it from the Parker family. William Hoogs was a sole-owner of a paper mill in the village and made a good name for himself. The house was likely modified during this period in the Federal style, with a third floor added. The home was possibly passed to his son, also William, who was written about in papers as fleeing town to Canada with the family maid, who was late in her pregnancy and their two-year-old child together. Hoogs had debtors looking for him. Hoogs had a change of heart and sent for his eight children to live with him in Quebec that same year. Sadly, the ship bringing them up sunk on Lake Champlain and all perished. By 1813, the property was purchased by Samuel Brown of Boston, a wealthy merchant who was a strong financial supporter of Saint Mary’s Church. By 1825, he officially bequeathed the property to Dr. Alfred Louis Baury (1764-1865) rector of Saint Mary’s Church. By 1917, the Lucy Jackson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution operated it as a chapter house and a museum for antiques. In 1971, the Newton Redevelopment Authority bought the property and sold it to a developer for conversion into office space, it was rotated 90 degrees to face Concord Street at this time.
Located next to the John Wright House (last post), this gorgeous 19th century home blends the Federal and Greek Revival styles elegantly under one roof. The house was likely built in the 1830s when the Federal style was waning in popularity and the Greek Revival style was THE style for houses and churches in New England. By 1850, the property was owned by William T. Haskell.
Old North Church, formally the First Church of Christ Marblehead, was organized in 1635 by fishermen and mariners who formed a church to relieve them of the burden of travel to Salem in order to receive church sacraments and participate in civil affairs (before the separation of church and state). They met in member’s homes until 1638, when a meeting house was constructed overlooking the ocean. By 1695, a “modern” church structure was built on Franklin Street. The structure was not adequate for the growing wealth and prosperity of the town, as Marblehead emerged from local cod fishing to overseas trade. In 1824, merchant-politician William Reed helped the congregation acquire a large lot on Washington Street. Within a year, the new stone church was built. The stone to build the church was blasted from the ledge upon which it stands. In 1879, a wooden meeting house was built to accommodate an increased membership at prayer meetings. The detached meeting house was added onto in 1951, connecting it to the stone church. The two attached buildings were designed/re-designed in the Colonial Revival style to add to the architectural composition of the old Federal period church.
In 1803, sea-captain John J. Cross (1768-1804) began building a large Federal style house on land he purchased from his success on the open sea, largely working for the Hoopers. Sadly, before the home was finished, Captain Cross and all his men aboard his ship, the “Traveller” died at sea. The home, which was to be finished by the time of his return was left abandoned when news got back to the shore of the ship’s loss. His wife and three children were devastated and likely sold the property not long after. The property was owned later by Edmund Kimball, a sea-merchant who married into the Hooper Family. Kimball did well for himself and eventually owned multiple vessels. After his first wife, Mary Hooper Kimball died bearing him six children, Edmund remarried to Lydia Mugford Russell. The family home across from the town’s common has been very well preserved since and is an excellent example of a vernacular three-story Federal home on the North Shore.
Oh, Marblehead, why are you so pretty? The town of Marblehead was originally called Massebequash after the river which ran between it and Salem. The land was inhabited by the Naumkeag tribe under the sachem Nanepashemet. Epidemics in the early 1600s devastated the tribe’s population leading to it’s colonization. In 1635, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay established the town of Marblehead on land that belonged to Salem. The citizens in Marblehead were less devout and conservative than others in Salem, and they incorporated as their own town in 1649. Now… the name. Marblehead is believed to have gotten its name by settlers who mistook its granite ledges and cliffs for marble. The mistake stuck as the namesake. The town thrived as a fishing village, with many fishermen and sea-based jobs, with homes built on small lots along the warren of narrow streets. This home sits on Washington Street, one of the major streets in the Old Town. The home was built around 1810 for John Goodwin on land formerly owned by his grandfather. The Federal style home sits atop a raised stone foundation and has been excellently preserved.
Reverend Abel Fiske (1752-1802) was born in Pepperell, Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1774. Four years later in 1778, at 26 years old, he was ordained as the successor of Reverend Jonathan Livermore at Wilton, New Hampshire, where he remained until his death. During his time in Wilton, Rev. Fiske built this Federal style home for his family. The house is a short walk to the old church where he gave sermons to the growing rural community.
One of the finest Federal homes in southern New Hampshire is this residence that sits in the middle of Wilton Center. The home appears to have been built for Richard Taylor Buss, or another member of the Buss Family who settled in Wilton in the 18th century. By the second half of the 19th century, the property was owned by George A. Newell, who built a gorgeous Victorian era stable on the property. Swoon!!
Located next to the Blanchard House, the old Wilton Center Baptist Church stands as one of the only brick buildings in Wilton Center, New Hampshire. Baptists in town originally met and worshipped in nearby Mason, NH, but eventually began services in town. By the 1820s, a new edifice was needed, and the members pooled resources, largely from wealthier members for funding for a new church. The Federal style brick church is stunning with its recessed arched panels surrounding the windows and doors, and its steeple. The building has been converted to residential use.
The oldest portion of this beautiful brick farmhouse in Cavendish, Vermont, its rear ell which was built about 1796 by Aaron Parker Jr., the son of one of Cavendish’s early settlers. Aaron married Susan Sherman in 1796 and likely had a home built here where they could start their family. Sometime in the 1810s, Aaron built the brick main block to which it is now attached. The blind arches and simple transom window above the door were common in brick Federal homes in this region at the time. The Federal style really took off in popularity in New England after the 1797 architectural pattern book, “Country Builder’s Assistant” by Asher Benjamin, who was a resident of nearby Windsor, VT. This home remained in the Parker family until the Great Depression, when it was sold off. The home remains extremely well preserved and is a great example of a rural Federal-period farmhouse in Central Vermont.
Oliver Tarbell and his wife Sandy erected this stunning brick Federal farmhouse in Cavendish around 1830 for their ever-growing family. The couple had thirteen children who survived infancy, so even this large home was likely stuffed to the gills and hectic! Oliver appears to have built the home, incorporating his ancestral home onto the rear of this brick house, as a rear ell. The house recently sold in 2022, so of course I had to gawk at the amazing interior photos…
In the early 1780s, Leonard Proctor and Salmon Dutton and their families, moved from Massachusetts and settled in present-day Cavendish, Vermont and gave their names to the two major settlements on the Black River, Proctorsville and Duttonsville. Leonard Proctor was born in Westford, Massachusetts and fought in the Revolutionary War at a young age. He settled in Cavendish in 1782 and built a modest house/tavern, and underwent developing the village in his name, Proctorsville. By the early 1800s, Leonard was a highly esteemed member of town and had the funds to erect the finest Federal style manse in the village, to showcase the stability and wealth of his community. The home exhibits scalloped cornice moldings and the carved wood flowering vines springing from urns on the upper pilasters that have a folk/Federal quality that stands out as a very unique design detail. Carved Adamesque bell flowers that flank the door suggest Asher Benjamin’s Windsor influence. Elliptical sunbursts above the pilasters, elaborate guilloche friezes, and the broad semielliptical attic light have a later Federal character. It is possible that Leonard had this house built, and it was “modernized” by one of his heirs.
This beautiful farmhouse in Cavendish, Vermont is located along a winding dirt road and has ties to one of the town’s original family’s. A home was built here in 1785 and changed hands numerously over the first few decades of its existence. The farmhouse that was built also served as a tavern for travellers along the newly laid out Wethersfield Turnpike. It is possible that the cheap land and rural character of the new town was appealing to some, but reality away from true commerce may have made many sell the farm after a few years, which could explain why the property was bought and sold so often early on. The property was purchased by Jonathan Atherton, a Revolutionary War veteran, farmer, surveyor and lawyer, who acquired large landholdings in Cavendish. In 1821, Jonathan Atherton was sued in court by his neighbor, Jedediah Tuttle for beating Tuttle’s wife Lydia. In order to finance the bonds, Atherton mortgaged all his real estate in Cavendish to his brother Joseph, and Elihu Ives, Jonathan Atherton Jr.’s father-in-law. Atherton St. lost the case and had to pay a fine. The property was eventually inherited by Stedman Atherton, the youngest son of Jonathan, who seems to have demolished the old homestead and constructed the present home on the site. The original dwelling was also the childhood home of Henry B. Atherton, a staunch abolitionist and soldier in the American Civil War, who later served as a lawyer and state legislator for New Hampshire, and his sister Eliza (Atherton) Aiken, a Civil War nurse who has been referred to as America’s own “Florence Nightingale”. The old Atherton farmstead was recently renovated.
Buildings of New England 