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HomeMy Public PortalAboutStonyBrookRd_524, BRE.62Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.12/12 FORM B  BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Photograph Locus Map N Recorded by: Eric Dray, Preservation Consultant, for Organization: Brewster Historical Commission Date (month / year): June 2017 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 25-63-0 Dennis BRE.C, G BRE.62 Town/City: BREWSTER Place:(neighborhood or village): West Brewster Address: 524 Stony Brook Road Historic Name: Sears, Constant and Deborah House Uses:Present: Residential Original: Residential Date of Construction: ca. 1830 (maybe older) Source:Deed research Style/Form: /Saltbox Architect/Builder: Unknown Exterior Material: Foundation: Ashlar stone (rebuilt) Wall/Trim: Wood shingles/ Wood Roof: Wood shingles Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: One-story, cross-gable cottage (rebuilt 2009) Major Alterations (with dates): New foundation (likely 2009) Condition: Good Moved: no yes Date: 2005 (moved 10’) Acreage: 1.06 acres Setting: This house is located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Stony Brook Road and A. Percie Newcomb Road. The house is set tight to the corner and fronts on Stony Brook Road. The house is surrounded by foundation plantings, a small lawn and a wood picket fence. A broad clamshell parking area opens onto A. Percie Newcomb Road. The surrounding area is a mix of modest 20th century residential development and open space, giving this house a uniquely visible and somewhat isolated setting. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 524 STONY BROOK ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 1 BRE.C , G BRE.62 Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. This house is a rare example of a ½ Saltbox (a second modest example is found at 178 Stony Brook Road, BRE.429). Similar to a ½ Cape, this two-story house is three bays wide with an off-centered entrance and evenly-ranked windows. The saltbox roof form extends down to the first story on the rear elevation. The foundation appears to have been rebuilt using mortared ashlar stone. The building elevations are clad in wood shingles with plain cornerboards. The roof is also clad in wood shingles and has a very simple cornice, comprised of narrow trim boards. A tall, narrow brick chimney rises from the rear roof slope. The front entrance has a wood paneled door flanked by narrow pilasters, and above the door is a transom light and lintel with square- edged molding. This lintel, unusually, connects to the casing of the window above. Fenestration consists primarily of wood, 9/6, double-hung sash on the first story and 6/6 on the second story. The windows are all set in projecting flat frames and have wood storm windows. A second, off-centered entrance is located on the rear elevation. The property includes a one-story, cross-gable cottage located to the east of the main house which was described as a rebuilt garage in Brewster Building Department records. It rests on the same type of foundation as the main house. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community. This house is located in West Brewster, on a road that was originally part of Old King’s Highway. Laid out in 1665, Old King’s Highway, also historically referred to as King’s Highway and County Road, was the region’s major east/west corridor. In Brewster, the original route followed Stony Brook Road, avoiding the wetlands and marshes associated with Quivett Creek and Stony Brook. By the mid-19th century, causeways and bridges were built across tidal and wetland areas allowing for the straightening of Old King’s Highway, including northwest of this house near the Dennis town border. Mill sites on Stony Brook became an important economic engine and led to early development in West Brewster, including extant residential resources from the 18th and 19th century along Stony Brook Road. The name “Stony Brook Road” was in use by the early-20th century. As noted in the 1980 version of this Form B, an 1831 map of Brewster shows a house in this location but no names included for owners/occupants. The 1858 Map of Cape Cod shows a house in this location with the name F. Howland and the 1880 and 1910 Atlas maps shows a house with the name H. Howland. The name F. Howland likely refers to Elisha F. Howland (1809- 1847). He and his wife Roxy (McCloud) Howland, were married in 1824 and had seven children, including Heman Howland (1834-1923). According to oral history provided by Mrs. Jennie Baker in 1980, she remembers Heman Howland living in this house. He was an old man when she was a young girl, and she thought he was a kind man who had such lovely flowers, and the children where never very successful at picking them without being caught. However, deed research does not reveal a connection between the Howland family and this property. This may mean that the Howland family were long time renters of this house. Some Census records, including 1860 and 1920, do show a Heman Harding living in a rented house – in 1860 with his widowed mother, and in 1920, on his own. In addition, there are no real estate transactions on record of any kind involving Heman Harding or his father, Elisha Harding. Perhaps the fact that Elisha Harding died young meant that the family were left in an impecunious position, so renting was the only option. Title research traces ownership back to Constant Sears, a mariner from Dennis. The fact that Constant was living in Dennis at the time he sold this house may be further evidence that this house was long used as a rental property. The deed describes the property as being bounded by the County road to the north and a lane to the west. A title search under Constant Sears and his father, Thankful, did not reveal how their family came to own this property or shed light on when the house was built. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 524 STONY BROOK ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 2 BRE.C , G BRE.62 Constant Sears (1802-1887) married Deborah Chipman (1801-1861) in Brewster in 1824. Perhaps they built this house shortly thereafter. In 1847, Constant Sears sold this property to William Robbins of Brewster (Book 42/Page 219). William Robbins (1821-1877) married Fanny G. Rogers (b. 1824) in 1842. They had three children and William was a Master Mariner. In 1860, the Robbins sold this property to Daniel and Betsey A. Kelley of Brewster (Book 76/Page 125). At that time, Stony Brook Road was referred to as the Public road, and A. Percie Newcomb Road was referred to as a Proprietors road. Daniel Kelley (1830-1904) and his wife Betsy (Maker) Kelley had three sons, all of whom, like their father, were mariners. The Kelleys only owned the property for six years and in 1866 sold it to Henry Smalley of Brewster (Book 91/Page 238). This deed was more descriptive of the property, stating that it included tillage land, a dwelling house and outbuilding. This transaction also may provide the connection to the Howland name. Henry Smalley’s wife was Roxanna Howland, daughter of Elisha and Rosa Howland, and she and Henry Smalley were living in Dennis by 1880, i.e. not in this house. Perhaps they chose to rent this house to her brother, Heman (although this does not explain how the Howland name appeared on the 1858 map). Henry Smalley (1835-1908) and Roxanna (b. 1842) were both born in Brewster. They married in 1858 and had four children. Henry worked first as a mariner and by 1900, was working as a brick mason. The property remained in the Smalley family until 1923, when Roxanna Smalley (now a widow) and their son Henry Smalley, both of Wareham, and Roxanna’s granddaughter, Murial Allard of Providence, RI, sold the property to Darius and Pamela Clark of Brewster (Book 399/Page 416). The Clarks immediately sold the property to Helen A. Waite, unmarried, of Worcester (Book 399/Page 417). Helen Waite (1901-1986) owned the property for ten years, and in 1933 sold it to Edwina Tetlow and her sister Marian Tetlow (wife of Peter Schanbacker) both from Sharon, MA (Book 495/Page 532). Peter Schanbacker (1883-1950) was born in Missouri and worked as an engineer for a fire insurance company (1930 US Census). The property remained in the Schanbacker family until 2002 when Jean Ellen Schanbacker, also of Sharon, sod the property to a Ronald and Jane Remy, in a trust (Book 15402/Page 289). This property is located within the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District (adopted 1973). BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES 1831 Map of Brewster 1858 Map, Map of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, & Nantucket, Walling, Henry. 1880 Map, Atlas of Barnstable County, Boston, MA: George H. Walker & Co., 1880. 1910 Map, Atlas of Barnstable County, Boston, MA: Walker Litho. & Publishing Co., 1910. Barnstable County Registry of Deeds Oral history – Jennie Baker (June 5, 1980) www.ancestry.com - Vital records, US Census (1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920) Brewster Assessor sketch. INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 524 STONY BROOK ROAD MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation sheet 3 BRE.C , G BRE.62 Photo 2. View from AP Newcomb Road, looking northeast.