HomeMy Public PortalAboutStonyBrookRd_909, BRE.306Follow 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
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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
35-16-0 Dennis C,G,J BRE.306
Town/City: BREWSTER
Place:(neighborhood or village): West Brewster
Address: 909 Stony Brook Road
Historic Name: Winslow, Kenelm House
Uses:Present: Residential
Original: Residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1722
Source:Family history
Style/Form: / Full Cape
Architect/Builder: Unknown
Exterior Material:
Foundation: Fieldstone
Wall/Trim: Wood clapboard/ Wood
Roof: Asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Small shed
Major Alterations (with dates):
Two rear ells (ca. 1838)
Replacement windows, post-1997
Additions to west ell, 1930s and ca. 2010
Condition: Good
Moved: no yes Date:
Acreage: 2.66 acres
Setting: This parcel is located hill east of Stony Brook and
opposite the intersection with Run Hill Road. This property
rises from the street and mature trees and plantings greatly
obscure the house from the street. This stretch of Stony
Brook Road is developed with a mix of historic and
contemporary dwellings on varying-sized lots.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 909 STONY BROOK ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
C,G,J BRE.306
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 an intact example of a Colonial-era Full Cape with rear additions. According to the Stony Brook/Factory Village National
Register nomination, this is the oldest extant dwelling in the district. Noteworthy is the scale, including the width of the main
block of the house, with fenestration broadly spaced. The 1 ½-story building rests on a fieldstone foundation. The walls of the
main block are clad in wood clapboard with plain cornerboards, and the rear ells/additions are clad in a combination of wood
shingle and wood clapboard. The roof is clad in asphalt shingles (wood shingles originally) and has a molded box cornice on the
front elevation with narrow trim (or frieze) boards below, and narrower trim boards on the side elevations. A large, square brick
chimney rises, slightly off-center, from the main roof ridge. The Stony Brook National Register nomination states that the offset
chimney suggests that the house may have been expanded from a Half Cape, and a report prepared for the owners in 2001 by
Allen Charles Hill, AIA speculates that unusual framing suggests that the house was expanded in the early-18th century from “the
c. 1690 or c. 1709 First Period structure that tradition holds it to be.”
The front elevation is characteristic of the Full Cape form, with a centered entrance flanked by two evenly (and broadly) spaced
windows on each side. The front entrance has a four-panel wood door set in a Greek Revival-style surround with full sidelights
and pilasters (see historic view, Photo 2). The door lintel is set into the roof cornice trim, a feature often seen on Colonial-era
Capes. Fenestration on the front elevation consists of narrow, wood, 9/9 double-hung sash set in projecting molded frames with
flared lintels that are also set into the roof cornice trim. The west side elevation has one similar 9/9 window and replacement 6/6
double-hung sash. There is also a bay window with 2/2 windows on this elevation which may date to the 19th century. In an
undated photo of this elevation, the bay window has 6/6 double-hung sash (see Photo 3). The east side elevation has 1/1
windows, which replaced wood 6/6 and 2/2 double-hung sash sometime after 1997 (see Photo 4).
There are a series of rear ells/additions. The main block was extended by two rear ells in ca. 1838 when the house was
internally divided to serve the needs of two branches of the Winslow family (see Photo 5, undated). The National Register
nomination speculates that the Greek Revival-style front entrance might date to the time of these alterations. These ells were
subsequently modified and expanded in the early-20th and early-21st centuries (see Assessor sketch for current footprint of ells).
Historic photographs show a number of outbuildings behind the house. There is now one gable-roofed outbuilding set on a
sloping part of the property with a cement block foundation. The Winslow/Johnson family has long referred to it as the cranberry
house, and it dates to at least the early-20th century (see Photo 5).
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.
According to the Stony Brook/Factory Village National Register District nomination, this house is the earliest surviving house in
the district. The nomination further states that the house was connected to the Winslow family who “dominated the district and its
industries throughout most of its history.”
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 909 STONY BROOK ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
C,G,J BRE.306
One of the current owners, Eleanor Johnson, is a descendant of the original owners. According to a family history prepared by
her and husband Peter Johnson, this house was built ca. 1722 by Kenelm Winslow (4). His grandfather, Kenelm Winslow (2)
purchased land in Stony Brook in 1680 and built a house located between Lower Road and Quivett meadow, west of Stony
Brook. Kenelm (2) died in 1715 and his son, Kenelm (3), inherited the property. Kenelm (4) “succeeded to the homestead in
Harwich” upon his father’s death and 1728 and “built a fulling mill on Stoney Brook about 1728.” However, the 1726 school list
suggests that Kenelm (3) and son Thomas lived together, or near each other, and Kenelm (4) lived separately, and may have
built or acquired a home elsewhere, i.e. 909 Stony Brook Road. This would mean that the house dates to the early 18th century.
West half: William Winslow, who had started a tannery at Stony Brook in ca. 1830, conveyed the west half of the house to his
daughter Julia A. and to Sarah A. Winslow, daughter of Kenelm (7). By 1935, the west half had passed to May F. Winslow
(unmarried) who conveyed her interest to Herbert Smith of Dobbs Ferry, NY (Book 514/Page 143). In 1964, Herbert W. and May
C. Smith conveyed their interest to the children of their deceased son, William Winslow Smith, Eleanor S. and Winslow S.
Rogers when they reached the age of 21 in 1965. In 1978, Winslow S. Rogers and Kathryn S. Rogers of St. Louis conveyed
their interest to Peter and Eleanor Johnson (Book 2726/Page 317).
East half: Kenelm (7) conveyed the east half to his son, John H. Winslow, and then to John’s daughters, Mae Foster Winslow
and Sarah Emma Winslow Dunnells. Grant Locke, husband of Ruth Dunnells Locke (daughter of Sarah Winslow Dunnells),
conveyed the east side to Clark Potter in the early-mid 1970s. He in turn conveyed it to Peter & Eleanor Rogers Johnson and
Kathryn S. & Winslow Smith Rogers in 1977. In 1990, Eleanor and her husband Peter Johnson bought out Winslow & Kathryn
Rogers’ interest in the east half, and this transaction unified the property under one ownership.
This property is located within the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District (adopted 1973) and the house, but not the
outbuilding, is a contributing resource in the Stony Brook/Factory Village National Register District (listed 2000).
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Hill, Allen Charles, AIA, “A Chronological Assessment of the House at 909-911 Stony Brook Road, Brewster, Massachusetts,”
2001 (unpublished).
Johnson, Peter, “Musings on Winslow West Brewster Property,” undated, (unpublished)
Stony Brook/Factory Village National Register District nomination (listed 2000)
Brewster Assessor sketch.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 909 STONY BROOK ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 3
C,G,J BRE.306
Photo 2. Undated historic view of front elevation, barn to left no longer extant.
Photo 3. Undated historic view of west elevation, looking northeast.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 909 STONY BROOK ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 4
C,G,J BRE.306
Photo 4. View of east elevation (1997 Stony Brook/Factory Village National Register District nomination).
Photo 5. Undated historic view of rear ells (partial), looking southeast.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 909 STONY BROOK ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 5
C,G,J BRE.306
Photo 6. View of “Cranberry House” looking northwest.