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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
35-2-0 Dennis C,G,J BRE.65
Town/City: BREWSTER
Place:(neighborhood or village): West Brewster
Address: 786 Stony Brook Road
Historic Name: Gray House
Uses:Present: Residential
Original: Residential
Date of Construction: 1840 (possibly older)
Source:Deed research
Style/Form: Half Cape
Architect/Builder: Unknown
Exterior Material:
Foundation: Stone
Wall/Trim: Wood clapboard, wood shingles/ Wood
Roof: Wood shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Wood shed (19th c.)
Major Alterations (with dates):
Rear garage addition (1981)
Condition: Good
Moved: no yes Date:
Acreage: 1.30 acres
Setting: This parcel is located on a hill west of Stony Brook
at the intersection of Stony Brook and Satucket Roads. The
parcel rises steeply from the street and the perimeter is left
in a natural state, largely obscuring the house from view.
The house is oriented to Satucket Road (southeast). A
driveway leads from Stony Brook Road to the house.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 786 STONY BROOK ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
C, G, J BRE.65
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 is a 1 ½-story Half Cape with a series of rear additions. The front elevation of the Half Cape is oriented to Satucket Road
(facing southeast), and the rear ell and addition extend to the northwest. Visibility of this house is greatly obscured but the house
appears to be clad in a combination of wood clapboards and wood shingles. In 1997 when the Stony Brook/Factory Village
National Register District nomination was prepared, this house was clad entirely in wood shingles and only had the immediate
rear ell. The roof is clad in wood shingles and the main block has a molded-box cornice with broad frieze boards below. Narrow
brick chimneys rise from each building component. The front elevation has the three-bay configuration with off-centered
entrance typical of the Half Cape form. The front entrance appears to have a simple broad surround which rises up to the roof
cornice. Fenestration appears to consist primarily of wood 9/6 double-hung sash. The rear garage element of the building was
built in 1981, replacing an attached shed. This addition appears to have been designed with a Cape form, as evidenced by the
small 2/2 windows set close to the gable eave (see Photo 3).
According to the 1981 version of this Form B, the ca. 1840 date of this house is evidenced primarily in its higher stud walls with
windows set several shingle courses beneath the roofline, as opposed to earlier Capes where the windows were often set into
the roof trim. This can best be seen in the attached 1981 Form B photograph (see Photo 4).
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.
Deed research traces this house back to Asaph and Marcia A. (Harlow) Gray. Aspah (b. 1814) married Marcia in 1839. If they
built the house, that would mean the house dates to ca. 1840. This is the date given for the house in the 1891 version of this
Form B, but that Form states that the house was built by the Barnes family. In 1844, the Grays sold this property, with reference
to a dwelling, to Daniel C. Barnes of Brewster (Book 34/Page 42), which would mean that the house was built by the Grays, not
the Barnes. Title research has not identified when the Grays bought the property and/or if the house was in place when they
bought the property.
Daniel C. Barnes (1817-1902) married Eliza J. Small in 1837. The house passed to their son, Daniel W. Barnes, who never
married and lived with his father (1900 US Census). Daniel C. was a mariner, and Daniel, W. was a farmer. He and neighbor,
Job Wixon (770 Stony Brook Road, BRE.304), bought and sold cranberry lands between each other.
In 1908, Daniel C. Barnes sold the property to Washington I. Eldridge (Book 293/Page 84). Washington (b. 1879) married
Fannie Howland in 1902. He worked as a painting contractor. According to the 1981 version of this Form B, their daughter, Anna
Theall, who lived in the house until 1978, remembers her mother Fannie working in a blanket factory.
This property is located within the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District (adopted 1973) and the house and wood shed
are contributing resources in the Stony Brook/Factory Village National Register District (listed 2000).
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 786 STONY BROOK ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
C, G, J BRE.65
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
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
Stony Brook/Factory Village National Register District nomination
www.ancestry.com - Vital records, US Census (1860, 1900, 1940)
Brewster Assessor sketch.
Photo 2. View of side elevation of main block, looking southwest.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 786 STONY BROOK ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 3
C, G, J BRE.65
Photo 3. View of rear ells, looking south (2008 Assessor photo).
Photo 4. 1981 Form B photograph.