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.