| HISTORICAL OVERVIEW The Town of Rochester grew out of the original Dutch settlement community of Wildwyck1 on the Hudson. At that time, the extended colony had a strong agrarian character, with the initial inhabitation stretching along the fertile alluvial basin of the Rondout Creek. This pattern tended to disperse the population and, as a result, few true towns or population centers developed. Later, in the nineteenth century, as the industrial base of the township grew, this pattern continued with mill sites and small shops being located in the surrounding hills close to the streams that powered them and the natural resources that they used. Tourism, the third phase of development in the first third of the twentieth century, capitalized on the open nature of the township and the diverse natural attractions found in the mountains and valleys. Tourists were encouraged to visit the countryside and escape from the city environment. Today, this same openness of the land is responsible for a new enthusiasm and a rediscovery of the Town of Rochester for weekend vacation and year-round homes. Geography The Town of Rochester is located near the geographic center of Ulster County, New York, an area loosely defined as the Mid-Hudson Valley. Primarily a rectangle, the township of slightly less than 48,000 acres lies perpendicular to the northeast flowing Rondout Creek. The Rondout basin runs across the Town's eastern half to the Hudson River at Kingston, the county seat which is about twelve miles away. The parallel mountain ranges of the Shawangunks on the east and the Catskills on the west at each end of the township bracket and define the more actively settled Rondout Valley. The township is bordered by six other Ulster County towns. The entire southwest line is along the Town of Wawarsing, which was created from the southern half of the original Town of Rochester. Along the northwest is Denning. The name Wildwyck reflects the earlier Dutch spelling of the settlement; later, when the town came under the control of the English, its spelling was anglicized to the more familiar Wiltwick. The northeast line is formed in part with Olive on the northern quarter and Marbletown on the remaining southern portion. The southeast line, which more or less follows the Shawangunk ridge, is made by New Paltz to the north and Gardiner to the south. Significant portions of the township are protected through a network of private and public stewardship land holdings. At the western end of the Town is the 272,000 acre Catskill Forest Preserve which lies within the more expansive but less restrictive 705,500 acre Catskill Park encompassing four counties. To the east lies the private 5,600 acre Mohonk Preserve and the adjoining 11,600 acre Minnewaska State Park. Together, the latter two preserves encompass a majority of the Shawangunk ridge, both in Rochester and the adjoining townships. The geologic character of the Rondout Valley and much of New England stems from an ancient Lower Devonian Period sea over the area called the Appalachian Basin. This shallow inland sea of about 400 million years ago was responsible for the sedimentary shale, limestone and sandstone that comprise the foundation of the region. A later series of upliftings of the sea floor led to the draining of this basin and to the development of the Allegheny Plateau at an elevation of from 5,000 to 6,000 feet above today's sea level. This formation has been dramatically cut back by erosion to shape the familiar river basins and Catskill Mountains, which now average only about 3,000 feet. The foothills of the Catskills spread across the western end of the Town of Rochester rising from the Rondout Valley. The highest elevation is found in the northeast corner above Palentown at about 2,600 feet. The typical peaks in the Town, however, are nearer to 1,000 to 1,500 feet, with numerous ever-flowing streams running down into the Rondout. Most of these waterways have sufficient elevation changes to have made them advantageous for improvement as mill sites in the past. Numerous mills for wood, grain, and paper were located along these stream banks prior to the twentieth century. Here also are found dark sandstone deposits, commercially known as bluestone. This stone was successfully quarried in the past and became an economically important natural resource in the nineteenth century. Further below, in the northeast end of the Town where the terrain drops into the lowlands, there are a number of soft, cavernous limestone ridges with outcroppings that parallel the valley. These ridges were quarried during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as building stone and as source for agricultural and building lime. Later, in the nineteenth century, the limestone was found to contain sufficient clays, with the appropriate silicates, to have been highly regarded as a source of natural hydraulic cement. There are five primary stream systems in the township with secondary named tributaries that drain from the west. The Vernooy Kill is the southern-most; it drains south through Wawarsing from the northwest corner of the Town. Next is the Mombaccus Creek system, with the Mill Brook, Rochester Creek and Sapbush Creek tributaries. The Mombaccus is the largest stream in Rochester and empties into the Rondout just north of Accord. It is fed by the Mill Brook system along with the Vly Brook and Mettacahonts Creek tributaries. Next is the North Peterskill (not to be confused with the Peterskill found on the opposite bank of the Rondout) which drains Lyonsville Pond in neighboring Marbletown. Lastly, there is Kripplebush Creek which makes a brief loop through the township flowing from Marbletown and back again. Near the point where this stream leaves Rochester, it passes through an approximately one-half mile long limestone cave that is mostly under Marbletown. An entrance hole is located on the upstream Rochester end of the passage, known locally as Pompey's Cave. To the east lie the Northern Shawangunks. Here, elevations along the craggy ridge tend to vary between 1,200 and 2,000 feet. These low mountains are of a completely different nature from the Catskills, having been formed some 30 to 40 million years earlier during the Upper Silurian period of mountain building episodes. The range found today is the western half of a large tilted tectonic fold of quartz conglomerate (sometimes referred to as Shawangunk grit) rising from beneath the Rondout and extending southeast leaving large angled slabs that slope with the mountain-side. The now missing eastern half in the adjoining townships was lost to glaciation and erosion creating spectacular cliffs and overhangs. The Shawangunks are unique as a geologic feature and as a habitat. The uplifted white conglomerate forms a distinctive pale cap to the range that is easily recognizable from a distance. Conglomerate is a type of rock made up of fragments, in this case round quartz pebbles, that are held together by a cementitious binder. This composition results in a highly durable non-porous stone that is resistant to erosion and abrasion. The resistant nature of the stone rendered it as an important source of millstones during the nineteenth century. In fact, evidence of glacial polishing and scratching still may be seen despite almost 8,000 years of exposure to the elements since the last glacial episode. Because of this very durable caprock, the mountains possess many unusual environments such as a Pitch Pine Barrens, a Dwarf Pine Barrens and many cave habitats with alpine characteristics. Additionally, there are mountain wetlands with swamps, bogs and lakes. One of the most striking features of these mountains is the series of five "sky lakes" found near the ridge. The lakes, Maratanza, Mud Pond, Awosting, Minnewaska (formerly Coxing Pond) and Mohonk, all possess extremely clear water, mostly as a result of low nutrient levels and extremely limited runoff basins. Of these, only Minnewaska is completely within the Town limits. Mohonk Lake straddles the town line, with the eastern third being in Marbletown along with the Mohonk hotel complex. Additionally, there are a series of perennial streams that drain northward into the Rondout. The four principal ones all pass through Rochester; starting from the south, they are the Stonykill, Saunderskill, Peterskill (from Lake Awosting) and Coxingkill (from Lake Minnewaska). Between the two mountain ranges lies the relatively flat Rondout Basin. The valley rests at about 250 feet above sea level and forms a broad fertile alluvial basin in which are found some of the highest quality soils in New York State, comprised of a number of silt-loam varieties. These highly productive flats, once subject to periodic flooding, were the primary impetus to the initial settlement of Rochester. The creation of the Rondout Reservoir, with the 1930's completion of the Merriman Dam in Wawarsing, and later streambed modifications by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers have now tempered the Rondout's flow to mitigate this cycle. The extended valley has always been recognized as an easily accessible corridor. In addition to the Rondout's gentle flow to the Hudson at Kingston, there is an equal southwestward continuation of the valley along the Beaverkill in Sullivan County which flows south to the Delaware River at Port Jervis. The mildly sloping terrain with few significant elevation changes has been used advantageously (initially pre-dating European settlement) for foot, wagon, barge, rail and automotive transportation. 3 Kiviat, Erik, The Northern Shawangunks: An Ecological Survey, (New Paltz, NY: The Mohonk Preserve, 1988.) Among these silt loam soils the most prevalent is Unadilla, with numerous other varieties in lesser quantities. Pre-European Settlement The lands of the Rondout Valley area were occupied by the Delaware Indians or Lenni-Lenape upon the arrival of the Europeans. More often, they were referred to as the "Esopus Indians" or Delawares, in English, and the Algonquins, which was their French name. Numerous groups lived in what is now Ulster County, all being Munsee, a principal sub-group of the Delawares. They were not, however, the first to settle the area. Three basic Indian habitations have been described in the Hudson-Delaware area. The first were the Paleo-Indians of whom little is known and who are periodically identified by scattered discoveries of their characteristic clovis projectile points. They are believed to have subsisted on wild plants and large, now extinct game when they arrived, as the glaciers began their final retreat; they remained until around 6000 B. Subsequent habitation during the Archaic period (6000 to 1500 B. C.) was characterized by a semi-nomadic culture more dependent on small game with "no knowledge of agriculture and [which] made no pottery. They did some of their cooking by the hot stone method..." In hunting they adapted a spear-throwing device. The Munsees, whom the Europeans encountered, were a woodland oriented group who had learned to domesticate plants, make limited pottery, and developed an array of specialized tools. The Munsees were a semi-permanent culture that established villages and traded with neighboring groups. They were one of three divisions of the Delawares and used a wolf totem as their symbol. Five basic groups (or tribes) of Munsee were described in the region of Ulster County during the early seventeenth century. Of these, there were two in the Rondout Valley area, the Warranawonkongs, the principal band, and the Warwarsinks. These names were recognized by the European settlers in association with the geographic area where a particular band lived. Early descriptions of their communities describe palisaded "forts" or villages with wigwams (a New England terminology) inside. Villages or forts were often sited near a stream with open area for cultivation around it. When the land was depleted, after ten or so years, the village would be relocated to an appropriate and usually nearby site. To provide for agricultural space, the Indians would clear the surrounding area by burning. In the freshly opened areas, the Indians planted a combination of corn in hills with beans added several weeks later. In this manner they allowed the corn to act as support stakes for the beans. Plots are described as being of various sizes, with one larger area of up to two hundred acres at a principal settlement near Kerhonkson. This last cited settlement is commonly called the "Old Fort" in historical accounts. In a well constructed argument, Fried has located this settlement on the Wawarsing-Rochester town line just north of Kerhonkson9 in the area of Pataukunk, possibly just in the Town of Rochester. This village is well described because it is the site to which the Indians retreated after the June 7, 1663 burning of Hurley and Wildwyck, commonly referred to as the Esopus Massacre. The fort was said to have been surrounded by three rings of palisades set in a quadrangle; to the north and south were gates. Within the compound there were ten dwellings or wigwams. The site was at the foot of a hill and near a creek which washed near one corner of the fortification; below it a flat tableland was spread out with plantings. Directly around the fort were over one hundred storage pits of corn and beans. In retaliation for the Esopus Massacre, the recently abandoned fort, surrounding fields, and grain storage were all destroyed over the two day period of July 29 and 30, 1663, by a militia of over two hundred men led by Captain Martin Cregier. The Settlement Period (1663-1703) The first-known written description of the Rochester area comes through the journals of Captain-Lieutenant Cregier. Cregier, as the burgomaster of New Amsterdam, was placed in charge of the Esopus militia shortly after the massacre. During his six month tenure in this position he kept a daily log. Two translations of this important, "Description of Maize", journal are available. Of particular interest is his description of the march into the then unknown territory of Rochester and Wawarsing townships. His written notes, as well as the first hand experience and verbal accounts of the men who accompanied him on the July 1663 expedition, must certainly have sparked later interest in the region. The group took two days to travel to the site of the old fort near Kerhonkson. They remained there a few days to raze the settlement and then returned home to Wildwyck in one day's march. In that brief time, many men must have had an opportunity to assess the potential of that new land. The first settlement of Rochester is a speculative matter. But by the time the Rochester land patent was granted on June 25, 1703 (forty years after Cregier's march), there was already a solid contingent of established residents, numbering 334.11 In fact, numerous early deeds with the Indians were executed prior to the establishment of the patent. The issuing of a Town patent and a Town name was perhaps viewed as a matter of governing convenience, since both Marbletown and Rochester were well inhabited upon their establishment as townships. This act allowed for closer regulation and administration on a local level and recognition of a single name. The patent specifically says "...the said town of Mumbakkus [sic] from henceforth [shall be] called and known by the name of Rochester in the County of Ulster, and not otherwise." Prior to the Town patent, a number of individual patents were granted by the Kingston trustees and the Governor. The earliest significant one is the 400 acre Anna Beck patent of November 19, 1685. That patent confirmed her husband's purchase in the preceding year of land in southern Wawarsing from the Indians. While this grant is not in today's Rochester, it is an important illustration of the movement south from Kingston (Wildwyck) and the new villages of Hurley and Marbletown that had been laid out in 1669 and 1670. Settlement in Rochester before this is unlikely, since there was initial reluctance to leave Kingston for the closer outposts of Marbletown and Hurley after the Indian troubles. However, with the defeat of the Esopus Indians, the easing of social tensions between the Dutch and English, and the disbanding of the English militia in 1669, the Kingston community had already begun to look outward. The New Paltz patent was granted on September 29, 1667 and numerous other grants were also being approved, mostly in Hurley. During this early period in Rochester, there were only a small number of land grants given out. The Kingston trustees (as the closest governing body) issued some: March 25, 1680, to Ariaen Gerritse Fleet, 46 acres; March 24, 1685, to Leonard Beckwith, 290 acres; and May 14, 1694, to Tjerck Claesen Dewitt, 290 acres. Other land titles are found in Albany and also demonstrate an interest in this area. Most of the titles from this later group date from the mid-1680's, and deal with sizable tracts of land around the Mombaccus Kill, ranging in size from 160 acres to 386 acres. It is not known if these particular early lands were immediately settled, but others soon were. Captain Joachim Schoonmaker, one of the three original trustees, is often singled out as having led the first settlers into the present-day Rochester. This is thought to have occurred around the time of the Anna Beck patent. Early meetings of the Town trustees, which included Schoonmaker, Moses De Puy, Col. Henry Beekman and assistants Cornelius Switts and Teunis Oosterhoudt (all apparently being residents except Beekman), were devoted in part to parceling out land in the new township. The records of 170317 partly reveal the extent of the settlement that preceded political recognition. To define the new parcels, existing lands and their owners were often cited along with a prominent water course as the only landmarks. While these do not provide an exact description of the land, they do offer a glimpse of its inhabitants. The population records would indicate a number of families, possibly forty or fifty, spread out through Wawarsing and Rochester. In addition to the presence of numerous established plots of land, there is also mention of both a saw mill and a corne-mill [sic] located on the Mombaccus Kill (most likely today's Mill Hook or Boice Mill Falls areas). The establishment of the mills, whose purpose would be to service a community, more than anything else demonstrates the firm establishment of a settlement in Rochester. The first homes and buildings were apparently simple wood structures. However, no examples of these earliest structures are known to survive. Some early descriptions of their construction are available, and were related as being of plank construction sunk into the ground.18 However, they most likely were considered temporary, or semi-permanent residences until more substantial buildings could be built. The description of the first Hurley settlement burning completely to the ground in 1663 suggests that the earliest homes there and elsewhere were predominantly timber and that few stone dwellings had as yet been built. Today, the stone house stands as the symbol of the early habitation in Ulster County and Rochester. The Agrarian Community (1703-1827) The eighteenth century settlement was typified by the development of a highly successful commercial agrarian community. The legal formation of the Town in 1703 establishes a point in time when Rochester changed from a settlement to a recognized community. Area farmers became prosperous exporters of agricultural produce by working the rich Rondout Valley basin. To support this thriving group, small mills of all varieties were soon built on the nearby streams. Their primary link to the home settlement of Kingston and their export link to the Hudson was most often referred to as the Kings Road or Highway. This crucial artery followed the easy terrain of the Rondout and passed through the other farming hamlets of Stone Ridge, Marbletown, and Hurley on its way north to the river port. The early descriptions of this improved route refer to it as the Old Mine Road. This name derives from the earliest explorations into the interior in search of precious metals that were never found. Its location, however, is said to derive from an earlier Indian path leading out of the Minnisink region of the Delaware River Valley, into the Kingston area, and then along the Hudson to Canada. It is possible, although undocumented, that this may be the route that Cregier followed in 1663. The church was a major factor in the social organization of the early community, and the Dutch Reformed Church was the only organized religion available during the early development of the area. Early church records indicate an active population in Rochester and a strong church organization. Typically, a church was first organized as a congregation, the edifice would then follow after funds and/or a minister had been secured. The earliest records pertaining to Rochester are a 1741 pledge list for a Dominie (minister), a 1743 contribution list for Dominie Mancius (of the Kingston Church) from the Rochester Church, and a 1767 subscription list for a Rochester parsonage.This last entry closely follows the 1766 appointment of Dirick Romeyn as pastor to the Rochester, Marbletown and Wawarsing churches.20 A series of Dutch Reformed Churches to serve the Rochester community were all built on the location of their successor, the Rochester Reformed Church on Route 209 in Accord. They began with a log church which was replaced with a stone building erected ca. 1743, which stood until 1818 when it too was replaced. The predominant residential architecture of the agrarian era was the one-story stone house. While a few houses can be documented to a given year with date stones, most cannot; style often provides the only clue towards discovering the period to which they may be attributed. It is evident that stone construction was popular throughout the agrarian era. This may have derived from familiarity with this technique or from a concern for safety. Indian problems were still common and were a major concern as late as the Revolutionary War. While most of these problems were in southern Rochester (now Wawarsing), they were still close by, and so would have provided good reason to continue using masonry construction. The 1798 New York State assessment of homes valued over one-hundred dollars provides some important insight into the local building traditions. While the tax role for Rochester is not known to survive, Marbletown's does. These two communities are very similar in their rural agricultural nature and were at comparable periods of development. Because of these similarities it is possible to draw general conclusions about Rochester's architectural history from the Marbletown data. Of 174 Marbletown houses accounted for in the list, over two-thirds (sixty-eight percent) were of stone. Nineteen percent were frame, five percent were log and the remaining eight percent were a combination of materials. The earliest form of stone dwelling is the one-room single story house. A good example of this style is the rear wing of the Dirck Westbrook house found on Old Whitfield Road. This house is attributed to be one of the earliest Rochester homes still standing and possibly dates from the end of seventeenth century.23 These small homes were one to one-and-one-half stories high and nearly square in plan. A projecting beehive Dutch oven, as seen on the rear (north) hearth wall of the Westbrook house, was a standard feature of many early homes that is now often absent. Overhead, the second floor garret typically served as a storage and/or sleeping loft. These small masonry structures are now often hidden, or are seen as being appendages behind later and larger stone homes. Two basic adaptations to the early one-room stone house are identifiable. The first is the linear extension of the single room plan along the axis of the roof ridge at the same scale. Two examples of this style are the Lodewyck Hoornbeeck house on Route 209 and the Van Wagenen house on Lucas Avenue. A second and later version is the expansion with a larger multi-room plan of from one-and-one-half to two stories along the front. These are usually perpendicular to the original structure, as seen at the Westbrook house, but may also be linear as seen at the Krum house on Boodle Hole Road. Each of these types is well represented in Rochester. In all, there were between seventy and eighty-six stone houses in Rochester, of which fifty-eight survive today. Of these, three have actually been torn down and rebuilt. Stone construction continued strongly into the early nineteenth century in Rochester. Once popular throughout the Hudson Valley during the eighteenth century, it endured almost exclusively in Ulster County. As late as 1798, stone was still the material of choice for home construction in neighboring Marbletown. Of sixty-five houses listed as new or not yet finished, forty-one (sixty-three percent) were of stone. In fact, a new form was appearing at this time. The two-story stone house form was beginning to spread into the rural landscape. The 1798 tax list of Marbletown lists five such houses, four of which were recorded as new. In Rochester, the Jacob Hornbeck house on Boice Mill Road is a good example of this trend. A more unusual formof this is the extensively rebuilt 1805 two-story gambrel roofed Philip Bevier house on Route 209. The gambrel, although popular throughout the Hudson Valley, was seldom used in Ulster County or Rochester. With the coming of the nineteenth century, the building tradition was beginning to change. The Marbletown list indicates that, of the forty houses that appeared to be under construction and listed as not finished, twenty-four (fifty-eight percent) were of stone construction. While this is still a significant segment of the new homes being built, it is a reduction of ten per-cent and an indication that building patterns were slowly changing. No eighteenth-century homes of frame construction have been documented in Rochester. Although frame construction was the norm for outbuildings, it was typically used far less for residential structures. The 1798 Assessment for Marbletown only records thirty-three frame homes equaling nineteen percent of the housing stock valued over $100. Of those, over half (seventeen) were new or not yet completed. It is not unreasonable to project a similar division of homes in Rochester. Using the totals available from Marbletown, one would expect between fifteen and twenty frame houses to have existed at the time of the Rochester assessment, of which one-half might be expected to have survived. One home that may reflect this era is the frame house on the east side of Route 209 just north of the Town line at Kerhonkson. Frame construction was considerably less expensive and faster to build than the traditional stone house. Frame also allowed more variation in form and style, although the early homes tended to continue in the established style. The Enderly house in Kyserike on Lucas Turnpike is one such example. This house which dates prior to the Canal era illustrates the transition to frame construction. Wall and floor construction follow the earlier patterns by using beams instead of joists between floors and including a hearth fireplace. Later adaptations (after the Canal) would drop these features. Log homes were also commonly built during the eighteenth century, despite the fact that only one of these is known to survive in Rochester today. The 1798 Howard Anderson took down the stone walls and rebuilt the shell in the 1940's. All that remains of the original construction is the two-story circular stair and the gambrel roof which were propped up during the renovations. The number is arrived at by assuming there were at most from 70 to 75 stone houses in Rochester; this infers a total housing stock of 109, of which 19%, or 21 were frame. Marbletown tax list and a 1795 newspaper advertisement for a "good log home" confirm they were being constructed. Although the advertised farm was located on the Lurin Kill [sic] in what is now Wawarsing, this type of house would most likely have been found scattered throughout the less settled or developed areas. Additionally, the log homes described in the 1798 Assessment were all of the lowest valuations, none much more than the one-hundred dollar cut-off. This would indicate that more log homes of lesser value could be found as well. Because they were less secure than the stone houses, it is also likely that they were of a more temporary nature, especially during the eighteenth century. The discovery of a log structure in neighboring Marbletown that had until recently been clad in clapboard suggests that examples do exist in Rochester and await discovery themselves. The smokehouse is the principal domestic out-building that survives today. The majority of those that remain are all stone-built with a wood shingle roof. The few others that remain have at the very least a substantial stone base with an upper frame section. These structures had no chimney. The smoke was intended to remain inside as much as possible; what did escape seeped out through the roof and eaves. Farming was the principal occupation of this period in Rochester, and the barn was the principal farm structure. Two basic types were constructed: the Dutch variety and the English. The Dutch model is most easily recognized on the outside by having the barn doors centered on the gable end. Within, there is a standardized "H" frame that is made up of three massive hewn beams and defines the central alley. Animals were kept off to the two sides under the long extending roof. By contrast, the English style moves the main entry around to the center of the side wall. In both cases there is a large central threshing floor that takes up the entire bay. Regardless of the style, the barn was usually removed from the house and often found on the opposite side of the road in the earlier configurations. This separation offers one principal benefit in that it isolates the structure from the house in the event of a barn fire, which was not uncommon. Today, few early barns of this era survive. Those that do remain often have become enveloped by subsequent expansions and may be difficult to recognize from the exterior. The granary was also a principal outbuilding which could be found on each farm at one point. Today, few of these structures remain. The predominant feature of these buildings is the slatted side wall to provide ventilation. One of the earliest examples in Rochester is found on the Lodewyck Hoornbeeck farm opposite Queens Highway on Route 209 north of Kerhonkson. Later examples evolved the drive-through process whereby a wagon could be pulled into the center of the structure for loading or unloading. The Canal Era & Commercial Expansion (1828-1902) In 1828 the Delaware and Hudson (D & H) Canal began service from Honesdale, Pennsylvania to Kingston (actually Eddyville), New York, where it connected with the Hudson River. The privately financed Delaware and Hudson Canal was a major engineering feat in its day and was the third major canal to have been completed in the United States. It was preceded only by the publicly built Erie and Schuykill Canals, each of which was opened only three years earlier in 1825. The principal purpose for creating the waterway was to transport coal bound for the New York City market. However, numerous secondary freight markets also developed along the Canal and they spawned an era of tremendous industrial growth throughout Ulster County and elsewhere along the route. Commercial and population centers arose along its course, typically around the locks where boats were forced to stop. The construction of the Canal began in the summer of 1825. When finished three years later, the hand-dug channel had 110 locks and was 108 miles long with a stream of water four feet deep and thirty feet wide. This was sufficient to handle twenty-ton barges, but these soon proved inadequate. Three successive enlargements of the Canal, beginning in the winter of 1842-43 and ending in 1852,30 were undertaken in order to operate larger and more efficient boats of at first forty tons, then fifty, and finally one hundred-and-thirty tons. The final configuration saw the bed enlarged to handle six feet of water and involved a major reconstruction of the banks with new dry stone walls, enlargement of the locks and the incorporation of four new suspension aqueducts designed by Roebling. The ten-plus years of reconstruction provided considerable work in the towns along the way, both to laborers working on the canal bed and to boat builders supplying the new and larger barges. The Town of Wawarsing, formerly the southern half of Rochester, set out on its own in 1806 and soon matured into the nineteenth-century industrial center of southern Ulster County. The villages there of Ellenville and Napanoch developed into strong commercial centers noted for their glass and iron works respectively. Rochester, in spite of industrial development around it, continued in its ways as a farming and small mill community. Overall, there was little centralized community development in the township. Rochester's flat terrain along the Rondout meant that only three locks were needed to pass through the township. In addition, the siting of the Canal between the Shawangunk Mountains and the Rondout Creek severely limited access throughout the township. Consequently, the growth of communities along the towpath was limited in comparison to the other townships and only two modest communities developed. Only two covered bridges spanned the Rondout in Rochester, neither of which was on a principal road, or provided access to a principal community. One was in Alligerville at Lock 21 and another at Port Jackson, now Accord, just to the south of Lock 23. In addition, Lock 24, just south of the town line, fostered the hamlet of Kerhonkson in Wawarsing; the northward expansion of this village extended into Rochester, however, and contributed modestly to the township's growth. Rochester's population over the initial construction period of the late 1820's and the later years was significantly out-paced by areas around it. From 1825 to 1830 the township grew at a modest annual rate of 1.7 %, to 2,420. Meanwhile, Ulster County as a whole was growing at almost three times that rate, at 4.6 % annually and Wawarsing, the former weak sister, was expanding at 7.9 % a year and for the first time overtook Rochester in population. This trend continued throughout the nineteenth century. By 1875 the population of Rochester had only grown to 3,927 at an average growth of 1.5 % a year, while the county was growing at 3.5 % annually. By and large, Rochester and the County were not seeing an influx of new people. The 1875 census reports that Ulster County had the third highest percentage in the state of county-born indigenous people at 71.65 %. Rochester's population, however, had a considerably more indigenous nature, with 95.5% of the inhabitants having been born in Ulster County. This is even more pronounced than the 88.7% indigenous population found in 1855. Rochester's slow growth rate and predominant indigenous population indirectly documents the township's inability to progress from the agrarian base and the small cottage industries that were common there. In fact, Rochester lost its post office name designation, which was officially changed to Accord on July 13, 1826.31 Although not documented, it is assumed that when the fast growing City of Rochester, on the Erie Canal, changed its name in 1822 from Rochesterville,32 it began a campaign for the eastern New York township name and won four years later. Industrial statistics that were sporadically collected during the nineteenth century also record a low level of industrial activity. The following table enumerates the businesses found in Rochester in 1855 with the number of employees. The paper mill is not indicated, however, and is conspicuous in its absence. 1855 BUSINESSES IN ROCHESTER33 Business Number Employees Business Number Employees Grist Mills 4 4 Cooper Shops 3 6 Coach & Wagon Shops 4 11 Saw Mills 8 18 Boat Builders 1 18 Millstone Makers 2 6 Blacksmith Shops 4 10 Carding Mills 1 3 Charcoal Makers 1 5 Rochester never developed any true industrial centers with a supporting population. None of the Town's streams were capable of supplying either the fall or the volume of water necessary for a large mill community. Instead, mills and industries were scattered about the township and followed the earlier eighteenth century traditional pattern of reliance upon the land. Saw mills, paper mills and grist mills sprang up on the small streams from the mountains. Often, operation of a mill was contingent upon an adequate water supply and thus they could not run so regularly as to provide a stable livelihood. Work in a Rochester mill was therefore not a full-time occupation and was typically supplemented by farming. Today, none of the water-powered mills in the township remain. Evidence of other part-time endeavors is visible however. Of these, lime kilns and hoop shops are seen most often. A number of lime kilns in various states of repair survive from the nineteenth century. To date, seven verified kilns and six reputed ones have been identified in Rochester; of these, the Jerome Enderly Kiln (# 906) on Whitfield Road is in the best state of preservation. The chief product of these structures was agricultural lime. This contrasted sharply with lime production in High Falls, Rosendale and Kingston where water lime (hydraulic cement) was the chief product. Despite identical rock formations, the limestone in Rochester was not situated well. The best grades of limestone were either not thick enough or too inaccessible to be mined efficiently; they were too far from the Canal to be easily shipped, and they were too far from reliable water power to run the stone crushing mills. As a whole, Ulster County used 48,676 bushels of agricultural lime in 1855,34 more than three times the quantity applied in any other county. Interestingly, none of these agricultural lime kilns are reflected in the 1855 census, indicating their small non-industrial nature; the quantities used, however, do reflect the availability of the raw material and lower cost of production associated with the small operations. Mill Hook is the only area of the Town that ever approached an industrial center status. It began as having been the earliest recorded mill seat in the township, but never developed into the traditional mill town, as the water power was too sporadic. At its peak it boasted three simultaneously operating mills of various natures concentrated at the confluence of the Mombaccus and the Rochester Creeks. Nineteenth-century maps indicate a saw mill, a grist mill, a fulling mill and a paper mill as having been located there at different times. Of these, the paper mill first established in 1854 by Andrew S. Schoonmaker (1824-1894) was the most successful and important. Schoonmaker eventually sold out and moved his business interests south in 1883 where he founded the larger and more successful Rondout Paper Mill of Napanoch, which continued to operate into the 1950's. The Mill Hook paper mill, under the new name of Davis & Young, only ran until the end of the nineteenth century, producing a single product of brown paper from rye straw.35 Rye was one of the four principal grain crops in Rochester at that time and thus the straw would have been a plentiful and cheap raw material. Alligerville was one of the true success stories of the nineteenth century. The small hamlet was something of a boom-town that grew around the activity of the Canal. The community contained a broad mix of commercial activities including the Forbes Hotel, the Harnden brothers' brickyard, stone yard and boat shop, Peter B. Davis's mill and wagon shop, Isaac Davis's sash and blind works, and a number of small stores and blacksmith shops. Secondary occupations were an important means of supplementing a rural family's income. Barrel hoops were one product that became a significant enterprise on the hillsides of Rochester. These hoops were primarily used in the making of barrels to contain cement . The hoops were shipped either by wagon or Canal barge to the cement works in Rosendale and Kingston. Mill stones were also shipped out on the Canal from Accord and were known generically as "Esopus Stones." The name is thought to have derived from the Esopus Millstone Company of Kingston which is known to have marketed the stones around 1875.36 These were highly regarded stones that were widely distributed, with one having been documented at Phillipsburg Manor in Westchester County. Agriculture continued to be the dominant economic force throughout the nineteenth century. The 1845 census reported that fully sixty-eight percent of the people were farmers. And while records indicate that industrial pursuits such as saw mills and grist mills declined in number from 1835 to 1865, they also show that the number of acres improved for farmland increased by forty-four percent to 20,645 acres. By 1875 over one-quarter of the improved farmland in the township (5,658 acres) was being plowed. With the opening up of the mid-west via the Erie Canal, wheat was no longer a dominant crop in the Hudson Valley. Crop production shifted and was now divided fairly evenly between Indian corn (1,385 acres), oats (1,471 acres), buckwheat (1,161 acres) and rye (1,364 acres). However, dairy farming continued as a strong endeavor, with butter as the principal product; in 1874, production came to 105,724 pounds from 1,213 milk cows. Other major farm products that year included 211,615 pounds of pork and 28,842 bushels of apples for fruit (as opposed to cider). An analysis of the agricultural statistics of 1875 also shows that by the latter half of the nineteenth century a general consolidation of the farms was occurring both in the county and the township. The smaller family farms were disappearing, and larger, more efficient farms were taking their place. In Ulster County, the most significant increases were taking place in the number of farms over 100 acres in size; the decreases were in the number of smaller farms between 20 and 100 acres. Of 486 farms counted in Rochester that year the distribution was: one farm of over 1,000 acres; one of 500 to 999 acres; 139 from 100 to 500 acres, 126 of 50 to 99 acres; 95 of 20 to 49 acres; and 124 under 20 acres. The consolidation of farms also reflected a consolidation of wealth, as seen by the new and more prominent homes being built. The arrival of the Canal in the Rondout Valley coincided with the introduction of the Greek Revival style of architecture and a proliferation of frame homes. With the general acceptance of wood-frame construction, the era of stone construction slowly came to an end. By 1855, when dwelling materials were next recorded in the census, there were 617 homes in Rochester, of which 422 (sixty-eight percent) were frame and only eighty-six (fourteen percent) were stone. In a little less than sixty years, the ratio of frame to stone homes (two to one) had reversed itself. Masonry construction had been almost completely abandoned in the township. The exception to this is the fashionable Harnden brick home in Alligerville, built in the early Canal days between 1830 and 1850. The brick came from the Harnden Brothers brickyard in Alligerville on the Canal. Those who lived in the early stone houses and who had the money remodeled and improved their homes during this period. The nineteenth century was a prosperous time for Rochester as evidenced by the consolidation of farms, the building of fine new homes and the expansion of existing ones. Many of the previously built one-and-one-half story stone houses were modified during this period by raising the roof to add a full or almost full second story. These houses are easily recognizable by their raised roof, with four to six foot high clapboard or shingle walls above the stonework. Early public education is symbolized by the one-room schoolhouse. By the late 1790's, six schoolhouses, some built of stone, appear to have been scattered throughout the township in the larger settlements;41 of these, none are known to remain. During the 1850's and thereafter, the earlier schools were replaced and additional ones were added to serve the smaller communities. In all, sixteen school districts were finally established and given one-room facilities. All of these sixteen schoolhouses exist today, although a number have been severely altered. The most intact of these is the recently restored Palentown school (ca. 1870) of District Number 10 in the northwest corner of the township. Rochester has a long religious history extending back to the early settlement period. The Dutch Reformed Church which was the dominant religion in the eighteenth century continued as the primary church of the nineteenth century. However, by 1855 it had been augmented by the Methodist Episcopal faith.42 Since Rochester was experiencing little immigration into its borders and was largely an indigenous population, there was little pressure for the integration of new religious denominations. Instead, Rochester developed a series of satellite churches during the late 1850's and 1860's that grew out of the central congregations in Accord, Port Jackson and the Clove. The Reformed Church was augmented by facilities in Alligerville (built 1858-59), Cherrytown, (built 1857) and Mettacahonts. The Methodist Church paralleled the growth of the Reformed Church and developed affiliates in Alligerville (built 1857 and now gone) and Cherrytown ( built 1857). Despite the presence of the D & H Canal, the Kingston-Neversink Turnpike (Route 209) was still an important transportation route. Canal travel was reliable for heavy materials but was never truly accepted for passenger travel. Canal travel was often uncomfortable and usually too slow for the post office, or for travelers who wished to arrive at their destination quickly. To fill this need, horse-drawn stages plied the main road daily, except Sunday, in 1849 between Ellenville and Kingston, with scheduled stops at Accord and Kyserike. The trip took about six hours. Accord was one of the scheduled stops along this route and thus developed a small hotel business along the main road. Similarly, post offices were located along the principal route. The Mendleson Hotel which also served as the post office for a time in the 1870's, islocated across from the school on the main road and is a surviving example of both of these uses. The Railroad Era & Tourism (1902-1940) In 1902, the Ontario and Western (O & W) Railroad extended service from the Ellenville terminus to Kingston through Rochester. Trains had first come to Ellenville in 1871 and with them a small but thriving tourist industry had begun to develop. With the expanded service through the Rondout Valley, the tourist trade flourished and would be an important economic factor. The new line, officially called the Delaware Valley and Kingston Railway Company, followed roughly the course of the old Canal bed and provided direct access to New York City via Hoboken. By the 1880's the end of the Canal era was apparent. Railroads had begun to take much of the coal traffic; they were cheaper and more reliable since they were not closed down by winter weather and could operate the year round. Finally, the last load of coal to leave Honesdale by canal departed on November 5, 1898. The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company struggled to continue operations after this but was unsuccessful. In 1899 the service was cut back to Ellenville, but continued for only two years until 1901 when it was again reduced to High Falls, thus finally eliminating the Rochester section. Meanwhile, the railway was making plans for a new line which would follow the route of the old Canal. To facilitate the building of the railroad, the O & W purchased the D & H Canal right-of-way from Summitville, N. Y. through Accord where the run was straight and flat. Many of the Canal's features through this section were dismantled and used to build the O & W's infrastructure. New bridge abutments were built from the locks' cut stone, and mile markers were adapted from the snubbing posts and set track-side; many of these markers, however, have since been removed by individuals and are now found far from their original locations. In the flat area of southern Rochester where there were no locks, the old Canal bed was filled in so that the tracks could be laid on top of the right-of-way. This action continued north to Accord, where the rail lines then parted from the Canal and crossed to the west bank of the Rondout. With the introduction of the railroad, a new focus on tourism developed in the hamlets along its way. However, even before the advent of the railway, tourism had started, after the Civil War, to be an influencing factor in the Hudson Valley and in the Town of Rochester. Summer escapes to the mountains had become a popular excursion, especially from New York City. Steamers and rail lines along the Hudson delivered guests into the mountains and in the process were making resorts more accessible to the common man. The most famous of all these was the Catskill Mountain House overlooking the Hudson River further north near Saugerties. The resorts offered breathtaking scenery and cool mountain air to help people escape the hot confines of the city. The resort areas offered a mix of boarding houses and grand hotels that catered to a broad range of society. As the numbers of these establishments grew, the railroads began to publish illustrated brochures touting the inns and the landscape to encourage passenger traffic. The Shawangunks, although not as well known as the Catskills, also offered a number of resort options early on in the era. The first local resort hotel was Lake Mohonk Mountain House (N.R. listed 1986) which was opened by the Smiley brothers in 1870 on Lake Mohonk in the Town of Marbletown. Nine years later, in 1879, Alfred Smiley moved south down the mountain ridge into Rochester and opened Cliff House high on the bluffs overlooking what was then known as Coxing Pond. Soon after, Alfred Smiley renamed this Lake Minnewaska. His brother, Albert K. Smiley, remained at the northern site as the proprietor of Mohonk. As Quakers, the Smileys offered temperance hotels where one could contemplate nature in a wholesome environment. They soon laced the mountain tops between their two hotels with over one-hundred miles of gravel paved carriage roads and rustic shelters at strategic locations to view the valleys below. The beautiful lake-side locations of their hotels soon attracted many guests and numerous expansions quickly followed. A second Minnewaska inn, Wildmere, was opened in 1887 to accommodate the heavy trade. At first, the hotels were seasonal and operated from late May until late October. By 1925, the pair of Lake Minnewaska Mountain Houses could accommodate about five-hundred and fifty guests and Mohonk could handle another four hundred and fifty. The activity on the mountain created a great demand for workers. The hotels became an important economic contributor to the valleys below in Marbletown, Rochester and New Paltz. The residents of Alligerville and the Clove Valley in Rochester who commuted up the mountain prospered with the resorts as their lives became intertwined with tourism. In 1955, the Minnewaska Hotel properties were sold to Kenneth B. Phillips, a former manager under the Smileys. Phillips immediately began improvements by adding a nine hole golf-course in 1955 and a small downhill ski area called 'Ski Minni' in 1957. After struggling for a number of years and selling large parcels of land to the Palisades Park Commission (for the Minnewaska State Park), Phillips filed for bankruptcy around 1977. Today, all traces of the Minnewaska Hotel complex buildings are gone. Cliff House, which had never been winterized, closed its doors for good at the end of the 1974 summer season and burned to the ground on New Years Day, 1978; Wildmere remained open a few years longer until November 4, 1979 and stood vacant until it too burned to the ground in the summer (June 12th) of 1986; Ski Minni lodge, the last remaining Minnewaska complex, was lost to fire as well on April 13, 1981, and finally ended the resort era at Minnewaska. Plans had been circulated to create a new hotel complex on the lake, but they were never realized. Instead, the lake and surrounding mountain were acquired by New York State in 198_ and incorporated into the existing Minnewaska State Park around Lake Minnewaska to the north and Lake Awosting to the south, thus reassembling the Minnewaska property to its former size. Access to the Mohonk and Minnewaska hotels came primarily through the New Paltz station of the Wallkill Valley Railway. Alternative transportation was available via Hudson River Day Boats which docked at New Paltz Landing. Other early connections were made through the Rosendale station on the same line and the Ellenville and Kerhonkson stations of the O & W. A secondary tier of inns which developed out of the boarding houses grew from the increasing tourist trade at these stations. Accord, which is about mid-way between these stations, contained two listings in the 1894 O & W booklet of inns. One, operated by Charles Terwilliger, was a farm house on the Rondout Creek that took in ten guests, and, the other, which held twenty-five guests, was run by J. C DuMond. When the railroad finally came through with stations in Accord and Kyserike, the fledgling industry took off. Tourism became the primary industry in the early twentieth century. Numerous boarding houses, bungalow colonies, and camps sprang up throughout the township. Typically, guests would stay for prolonged visits lasting from one month to the entire summer. The family would rent a room or cottage while the husband would remain in the city and commute up on the weekends. If space was tight, the husband might stay in a private home that took in guests. Later, as the car became a more common-place possession and roads were improved, people began to look towards buying a summer home rather than taking rooms. The boarding houses evolved from private homes that took in a limited number of guests into larger structures that were built solely to accommodate guests. Trowbridge Farm in Kyserike is good example of this type. This large, now abandoned boarding house on Lucas Turnpike began as a residence and grew into a well established small hotel. The White House in Granite is an example of the boarding house as it later developed. This three story stucco building, which has recently been converted into apartments, was built as a boarding house in the 1910's. It, like many others, fell idle after the tourist trade evaporated following World War II. One of the few boarding houses that did survive this post-war transition is the Granit Hotel in Granite which began taking in guests under the name of Orchard House. While the original building is still intact within the hotel, it is now hidden by numerous modern additions. Bungalow colonies were also a popular summer retreat for the tourists. They were inexpensively built and also inexpensive places to stay, and provided an individual unit to lodge in. While a good number of these were built, few survive today that still remain in active use. A third level of the tourist economy was the guest house. With the large influx of tourists, many farmhouses divided the upstairs loft areas of their homes into small guest rooms. Typically, these houses could set up and furnish from two to four rooms which were often partitioned with beaded wainscot brought in on the railroad. The 'Brick House' on Route 209 is one example of this activity where the third floor was improved for the family so that the better, second floor rooms could be rented to guests. Another example is found across the road in the Lodewyck Hoornbeeck house. Here, guest space was added by constructing large shed roofed dormers. This expansion is in marked contrast to the nineteenth century solution of raising the roof to create a full second story, and may be attributed to improvements of roofing materials which allowed for flatter roofs. The tourism that grew in the early twentieth century generated a new prosperity in the Town of Rochester. New homes and businesses were built on the impetus of this economic factor. Additionally, second homes were also being built for the first time. Tourists, who had come to like the area, began to buy existing homes and to have new ones built in the contemporary fashion. As a result, there was a general surge in new housing stock but little increase in the permanent population. The Craftsman and Bungalow Styles were the styles of choice during this period. Dimensional lumber of standard sizes and two-by-four construction made these houses extremely economical to build. Plans for these houses were also easily available through catalogues or by magazine advertisement. Concentrations of these craftsman style houses around Accord and Pine Bush are typical. More refined versions, such as the two-story colonial revival house at Cross Lumber (built 1914) in Kyserike, or the Louis Fredd house on Pataukunk Road, were also available. The influx of new people and fresh ideas at the turn of the century brought a new set of social and civic organizations into the community. One of the more notable additions was the introduction of a Jewish population. Until this time, the Dutch Reformed Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church had dominated the religious life of the community. The introduction of tourists (who, by and large, were the first large infusion of new blood into the community since the settlement period) brought for the first time a new set of religious values into the area. Although no population statistics are available, the synagogues found in Granite and Accord demonstrate a fairly modest new Jewish population that had discovered the area and intended to continue returning. The automobile also has had a pronounced effect upon the township, the most significant of which was the improvement of the local roads. The most lasting change has been the removal of the covered bridges which once were prevalent in the township. These were replaced and supplemented by steel truss bridges, steel beam bridges and concrete beam and deck bridges. Today, many of these same bridges have been replaced as well. Gas stations and garages also were built as the car became more accepted. Howard Anderson's Garage on Route 209, William Anderson's Ford Dealership (later a roller rink) building in Accord, and VanDemark's Garage on Route 209 are some examples of these activities. The railroad also had an effect on the agricultural community in Rochester. The most important aspect of this was the opening of creameries to receive, pasteurize and ship milk at the Kyserike, Accord and Kerhonkson stations. The Kyserike creamery was built soon after the railroad opened and was one of the first plants of its type in the valley. The plant was built by the railroad and operated by the Rondout Valley Dairy Cooperative. The introduction of this plant made a profound impact upon the area farms; for the first time it was practical to produce milk for consumption. Prior to this, butter had been the chief dairy product of the farms. Now, milk could be collected at the creamery and transported by rail, while still fresh, to the New York City market. Later, in 1926, after shipping disagreements with the railroad, a second Kyserike dairy (now gone) was opened by the Cooperative group which came to be known as the Shawangunk Cooperative Dairy. A third dairy in Accord was operated by the Dairyman's League to service farmers from that market. With the new expanded milk market, the dairy herds were enlarged and new barns began to appear on the landscape to accommodate them. One common version of this was the tall gambrel roofed barn with the pointed hay-hood at the gable ends. This configuration allowed the cattle to be housed on the ground floor with hay storage above; the lower pitch of the gambrel was close to vertical and provided more storage space. Additionally, silos were becoming more prevalent. Silos were used primarily to hold corn ensilage (also called silage); feeding ensilage allowed farmers for the first time to produce milk year-round since the cows no longer went dry in the winter. The storage of the silage thus enabled farmers to generate income during the normally slow winter months. The first popular silo form was the vertical stave silo which was developed around 1894. The wood stave silo was held together by horizontal iron hoops, or bands, and was capped by either a conical or a peaked roof. Although very popular and common, few survive today, since most either deteriorated or were replaced by more modern masonry or steel structures. Accord, as one of the two railroad station stops in Rochester, soon developed as the center of business and civic activity in the township. Up to this time, Alligerville was equally as settled and perhaps a larger community. Accord, as an official name and community, gained prominence through its designation by the O & W was the named station stop. This act by the railroad finished Port Jackson as a community name. However, this process had really begun with the demise of the Canal. The largest business to develop in Accord was Anderson's Feed Mill. The mill developed and prospered as a secondary outgrowth of the expanding agricultural market in the township and soon became a prominent supplier of mixed feed to the area dairy farms. The grains and other products sold there were brought in on the railroad, reducing the need to grow a broad range of crops and instead focusing on individual products. Other businesses and civic organizations followed. Some that developed were a Grange meeting room on the third floor of Anderson's Feed Mill; the Weissman store; and the Turner & Cohen store. ARCHITECTURAL OVERVIEW The history of the Town of Rochester may be loosely divided into three principal contexts: the development and expansion of a rural agrarian economy from the seventeenth century to the middle of the nineteenth century; an overlapping commercial economy primarily relating to the D & H Canal during the nineteenth century; and the rise of a middle class summer resort area centered on the railroad in the first half of the twentieth century. Masonry Houses Rochester and the surrounding townships of Ulster County are unique in New York State for the number of early stone houses and their state of preservation. In all, fifty-eight dwellings have been recorded in the Town that are either all stone or principally stone. The form and configuration of these homes developed from simple vernacular roots in the eighteenth century, into standardized and accepted architectural expressions of the day at the conclusion of their popularity in the first third of the nineteenth century. Over the course of this evolution, the basic techniques of the masonry wall construction remained constant. A typical wall is about twenty-two inches thick and is laid up by erecting a pair of dry-walls back to back with a mortar mix of lime, clay, straw and horsehair. This fragile mortar was protected from the weather by the periodic applications of whitewash over the outside walls. Cement mortar, which did not arrive in Ulster County until 1827 with the D & H Canal, was thus not generally used or available. Many but not all of the earliest houses are typically built of cut, or quarried, but unfaced limestone, especially those in the low-land areas of the Rondout Valley. Later homes, and those further up-land into the surrounding hills, have higher concentrations of fieldstone. This may be a reflection of the materials available from the plowed fields and/or the proximity to exposed limestone ridges. As a rule, the oldest stone houses are found along the better land that is associated with the alluvial basin of the Rondout Creek. Kyserike and Accord, two of the earliest farming communities in this fertile area of the Town, have some of the oldest stone homes. The hilly middle upland areas of the Clove, Mettacahonts and Whitfield also have some of the highest concentrations of stone houses in the township and are the general limit of their distribution away from the Rondout. Isolated examples in the more remote areas, such as Liebhardt, are the exception. Up until the period following the Revolution, the stone houses in Rochester were all vernacular and lacked any significant exterior detail. The earliest form of the stone house was a simple one-and-one-half story building with one or two rooms and a gable-end hearth. Architectural expression was limited to a hearth mantel and perhaps a built-in cupboard. The two room version of this style was often provided with a small frame partition. All of the other features, such as doors and windows, were limited by cost and function. The houses were often unbalanced; the door was seldom centrally located, and instead was usually located under the eaves, off to one side. Early expansions of the initial stone dwellings were executed by adding one or more rooms linearly at the gable end with an additional gable-end hearth. Houses of this period frequently retain the former exterior stone walls between rooms. These additions are evident on the outside by the conspicuous seams in the stonework and are easily identified by the untrained eye. "As a consequence of this evolutionary pattern, there may be two or even three doors on the same side of the building." As the form matured, so too did the craftsmanship; "tooling increased and the stone houses ultimately consisted of blocks, carefully cut, smoothed and fitted. They also increased in height." Architectural detailing also became evident. One of the highest architectural expressions of the stone house in Ulster County was the two-story Georgian. The first local example of this house form was the 1772 Wynkoop-Lounsbery house (N.R. listed 1988) in neighboring Marbletown. However, this style did not come to Rochester for at least another thirty years, until after the turn of the century. This house type, which became popular throughout Ulster County, was built in the Georgian double pile style. One brick and five stone examples survive today; a sixth stone example was dismantled and rebuilt as a one-and-one-half story dwelling. The form is typified by a central hall and stair with four rooms, a pair to each side around it on each floor. However, unlike the true Georgian house, the Ulster County interpretation of this style does not include the typical paired chimneys at each gable end; instead, the local versions in Rochester either retained the centrally located chimney of the earlier period at each gable-end, or brought the two gable-end chimneys forward from the ridge to the front roof pitch. The front exterior facades stressed balance and bilateral symmetry, reflecting the classical tastes of English architecture that were being accepted in the United States at the end of the eighteenth century. The Georgian style and the subsequent Classical Revival extended their influence into the vernacular construction of the area as well. A number of stone houses built around the turn of the nineteenth century incorporate the traditional stone one-and-one half-story house with the symmetry, balance, and cornice detailing associated with the Classical forms. While these early houses typically lack many of the elaborate architectural accessories associated with the style, such as pilasters, quoins, and cornice medallions, they are furnished with modest side-lighted door-frames and heavy articulated cornices, features which personify the vernacular New England cottage style. Others took the expression further by incorporating eyebrow windows into the cornice. This style was extremely popular at the time and is seen throughout the Town. However, the style also marked the end of the era of stone house construction. The smokehouse was a specialized structure that was associated exclusively with the eighteenth and early nineteenth-century house. Originally, almost every house had one, but today only a few survive and all are found with stone dwellings. The smokehouse is a small one-story dependency used for the smoking and curing of meats. In Ulster County and in Rochester there are two types: one has all stone walls, the other has a stone base to about half-height and a frame upper half. Both types are capped by a small gable roof and have a full-height door in the front gable. Despite a strong tradition of building with masonry, the use of brick in the interior townships off the Hudson was unusual as an exterior wall material. Brick nogging in the walls of timber-frame houses was fairly common, but only four residences were constructed with a finished brick in Rochester, and a fifth had only a brick front. All of these houses were built during the first third of the nineteenth century (with the possible exception of the ca. 1840's Italianate Harnden house in Alligerville, and all were sited in the prosperous Rondout Valley area. After about the 1830's, new masonry houses were no longer built in Rochester or Ulster County until the twentieth century. Work on the existing stone houses during this intermediary period consisted primarily of expanding with wood frame construction. The principal means of accomplishing this was to raise the roof level with an intermediary frame section built above the stonework, or to add a frame addition, either in the linear tradition, or perpendicularly. Stone house construction did not see a revival until after the turn of the twentieth century. Then, the rebirth of stone as a building material came with new architectural styles and new construction techniques. The discovery and use of strong Portland cements made it no longer necessary for stonework to be coursed and laid flat, in effect to hold itself together. Cobblestone construction made use of round stones that did not stack well; cement, however, made their use possible. This technique was new to Rochester and was used for some wall construction in the upland areas, but was used more in foundations, especially on porches. There are a few pure cobblestone houses in the Town: two are found on Store Road in Mettacahonts and one in Yagerville, but they are not common. Other techniques such as stone veneer and the hybridization of cobblestone with traditional stone-work were also experimented with. Frame Houses The early frame houses seen in the Town of Rochester today echo the same styles and forms found in the stone houses, especially in those built during the first half of the nineteenth century. The lack of documented examples of frame houses prior to this period makes a comparison of the settlement period architecture difficult. The earliest known wood dwellings are one-and-one-half story heavy timber frame houses, usually with five bays and a central door. Of these, there are two houses on Route 209 in Kerhonkson that, by their roof line and overall form, suggest a somewhat earlier date than other frame structures in the Town. The most extensive early frame residence still found in the Town is the Classical (or Greek) Revival style eyebrow house. This is one of the few national styles found in the Town. The style is widespread throughout the area and is well represented in both stone and wood. The frame variety, unlike the stone, is not limited in its distribution and is far more prevalent. The highest level of this style is found in Alligerville in association with the commerce on the D & H Canal. Two houses in particular stand out: the P. Aldrich house above the Canal and the S. Schoonmaker house on the opposite bank of the Rondout are excellent well preserved examples. A third example in Accord, the DePuy house, is also a fine representation of the style. A more pervasive interpretation of the style was the one-and-one-half story, side gabled house with classic detailing. The typical example has a balanced five-bay front with a central door. Above, there are corresponding eyebrow windows in the frieze of a heavy overhanging cornice. Most have corner pilasters, and perhaps a front porch. These homes tend to be found out of the communities, in individual settings. Fine examples are broadly spread about the Town and reflect early nineteenth-century prosperity in many walks of life: the Alligerville parsonage , a Mombaccus farm, and a mill dwelling. The Classical Revival house is also well represented in a more vernacular interpretation of the style. Most of these examples are found in community settings like Alligerville and Mettacahonts and reflect worker housing. These properties are not associated with farms and open land as are their more rural cousins. Instead they are found on small plots of land with perhaps a shed or a small horse barn. The largest concentration of this type is found along the tow path in Alligerville which was a small, but active commercial port on the Canal. A second, less dense collection is found in Mettacahonts. Elsewhere, there are scattered examples, some with eyebrow windows such as houses in Liebhardt and Whitfield and others without. The plank house is an important variety of the heavy-timber frame house. These homes, of which little is known, seem to have been built primarily in the early nineteenth century. By all outward appearances, they resemble all of the other contemporary frame houses of the period. However, they are under-sheathed with a layer of heavy plank (usually vertically) over a post and beam timber frame and finished with clapboard. The ca. 1841 Zweiffel House-Napanoch Female Seminary in Napanoch, Town of Wawarsing (N.R. listed ca. 1980) is one of the few known and dated local examples of this construction type. Three of these houses were identified in the Junior League survey and are included in this survey; further investigations will undoubtedly yield more of these dwellings. The nineteenth-century frame house is seldom seen represented outside of the simple vernacular form. The most common expression of this is the gable-front and wing frame house. These homes were built extensively in both the one-and-one-half story and two-story modes. This style may also be seen as an addition to an earlier stone house. The exception to this vernacular expression is the more formal Colonial Revival house in Pine Bush. This two-story house goes back stylistically to the classical Georgian ideas of balance and symmetry, although it still lacks extensive ornamentation. The twentieth century frame house architecture is well represented in the Town with a number of styles. One of the more prevalent is the two-story, hip-roofed house, often referred to as a four-square. "Decoration of the [four-square] is usually minimal; indeed, the house type is notable for its exterior simplicity and lack of decoration." The style was marketed widely by Sears, Roebuck in the 1920's and sold ready-cut. It is possible that these and the many bungalow style houses came in on the railroad. The highest concentration of these houses is found in Accord and along Route 209, not far from the station. A few others are found distributed about the town on farms and elsewhere. Also prevalent during this period is the one and-one-half story gable front Bungalow style house (not to be confused with the cottages of the bungalow colonies). The twentieth-century stucco house is an important sub-group of the stick-frame dwelling. Rochester has a number of traditional stucco buildings from the early twentieth century, that are scattered about the township. These homes are built with a light stick frame, are clad with wire-lath, finished with cement stucco and typically painted. Of these, there are a very limited number which were never meant to be painted. These homes are stuccoed with a unique and distinctive blend of crushed, colored glass aggregate. The glass chips are left exposed on the surface, and may have been cleaned with an acid wash after the initial construction to receive the full benefit of the unusual aggregate. The only known example which makes use of this unique material is the house in Accord at the northwest corner of Main Street and Granite Road. Unfortunately, this material has recently been covered over with vinyl siding. Farm Buildings The working farm is in a state of constant change. As the business of farming changes, so too do the structures and buildings that are the essence of the business. For this reason there are few pure examples remaining of a given style or form. Many barns reflect a progression of styles as additions were made over time. This evolution is much more pronounced in barn structures than in residential construction. Often, it is possible to see three or four different eras of expansion and construction in one barn complex. Many of the barns of all eras of construction have been lost; this is especially so with the earliest Dutch and English styles of the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century. Fire, neglect and the sale of the structures for their materials have all contributed to their depletion. The earliest barn type in Rochester is the Dutch style which dates from the settlement period into the early nineteenth century. This barn is characterized by the Dutch "H" frame which consists of two principal posts and a principal beam at midheight. This configuration divides the barn into three aisles: a large central threshing floor and two side aisles under the eaves for livestock. The barn length is variable and is determined by the number of bays formed by the "H" frame. Few examples of this style survive; two examples that do are the Middagh barn and the Krom barn, both of which have been added onto a number of times. The later English style barn is also found extensively in the township. This construction shifts the principal posts to the outside of the barn eliminating the low side aisles found in the Dutch style. A secondary feature of these barns is the raised side walls under the eaves which expands their second level hay storage capacity. The gambrel roofed barn was introduced in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Although the specific shape took many forms, the overall intent of the design was to take advantage of the more vertical lower roof pitch for increased hay storage. These roof types were built with trusses built up with the newly available dimension lumber (two by fours, sixes etc.). These barns are widespread through the Town and are found on some of the oldest farmsteads as well as the newer ones. The granary was an important agricultural support-structure during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. While grain storage facilities are often evident in the barns themselves (by the slatted siding), "the practice of employing separate buildings as granaries appears to have been in response to the expanding agricultural production of American farms."The granary was used to store a variety of grains. It was typically outfitted with bins for loose grain storage and a pen with wood-slat sides for ear corn storage and drying. Despite the formerly large number of farms in the township, very few granaries survive. Possibly the earliest in the Town is found on the Lodewyck Hoornbeeck farm in Accord. This structure consists of a one-and-one-half story frame building with an opening under one end that can accommodate a wagon so that grain might be lowered through the floor. A later version of this structure found in the Town is elevated on timber legs to allow a wagon to be driven beneath the entire structure. Of the three remaining stilted granaries, only the Baker farm retains its original elevated legs, the others having been cut down. A structure similarly related to the granary is the corn crib which was developed especially to hold ear-corn. The corn crib, with its narrow design and ventilated sides, permits a slow even drying of the corn. The sole surviving example of this structure in Rochester is found in Cherrytown. The structure is built to slant outward at the top to provide maximum protection from the weather and has slatted sides for air circulation. In the 1880's, "...this type of corn crib was referred to as a Connecticut corn house and identified as the common type of corn storage facility throughout the east." By the twentieth century, however, a new structure, called the silo, had been developed to keep both the grain and the corn stalk. The silo has come to be a modern trademark symbol of the traditional farm. This structure is relatively new, however, and came into being near the end of the nineteenth century. The initial form of this construction was a wooden cylinder made with vertical wood staves that are banded together with horizontal iron hoops. A number of these early silos survive today and are found in the secondary agricultural areas of the township or on the smaller subsistence farms. The larger farms in the primary agricultural areas along the Rondout Creek replaced the early wooden forms with the larger and more durable masonry and steel structures. Public Buildings Schoolhouses and religious buildings are the extent of the public and civic structures in the Town. Of the twenty former schools and ten former churches, only one institution, the Rochester Reformed Church of Accord, is still used in its former capacity. The majority of the other structures have been converted into residences. A second, smaller group lie abandoned or are used for storage. The satellite churches of the mid-nineteenth were built mostly of wood in simple style (the exception is the brick Reformed Church in Alligerville, ). One that featured more architectural expression than any of the others was the Cherrytown Reformed Church ) which was built with Gothic overtones and is now used as a residence. Three schools have been maintained and are currently used for Town business while a fourth is being used as a firehouse. A list of the burial grounds within the town has been compiled but is not included in this report. Sixty-three cemeteries and family grounds were identified with an estimated 7,470 inscribed headstones. The number of plots range from one in some of the smaller family grounds to over 2,500 in the Pine Bush Cemetery on Route 209. Commercial Structures Mills were important in the history and development of the Town during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Unfortunately, only one structure remains from the industrial past, a small frame building on Canyon Lake Road that is associated with the Westbrook house. Commercial Structures Mills were important in the history and development of the Town during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Unfortunately, only one structure remains from the industrial past, a small frame building on Canyon Lake Road that is associated with the Westbrook house. There are other former sites, many of which have not been recorded in the survey, two that are known to have existed were the DeWitt sawmill on DeWitt Road and the Hornbeck grist mill on Boice Mill Road. The largest mill complex at Mill Hook on Mettacahonts Road is now totally obscured. Hoop shops are one form of industrial endeavor that does survive today. Although the industry has long been dead, these remnants hang on. The hoop shop is typically a small one-story frame building, often seen with a disproportionately large stone chimney at the rear. Most of these small one-man operations are found in the up-land areas of the Town and are an important part of its history. Other shops such as the S. DeWitt cabinet shop are identifiable from historical maps. The twentieth-century tourist buildings were principally made of frame. The larger and more prosperous boarding houses such as the Granit Hotel and the White House were stuccoed to appear more refined. Bungalow cottages grouped into colonies were often associated with the a boarding house. These simple one-story frame structures were typically raised one to two feet off the ground and built with one room and an open front porch. |
| (SparrowHawk Affaires known as "ELMROCK & the J. Sahler House" sits on a 5 acre parcel, 3 acres in the town of Rochester and 2 acres in the town of Marbletown) |
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