Cobblestone Buildings in Cayuga County

                             
                  
  One of a Kind Cobblestone Monument in Meridian Restored

                        By Richard F. Palmer
                         
    Standing on the hillside cemetery in the village of Meridian is what may be the only cobblestone monument in the United States. The Town of Cato had it restored in 2017. The oldest inscription dates it to at least 1840. This was at a period when cobblestone architecture was at the height of popularity in this region. 
    The monument is engraved with the faded names of the family of Robert G. Kimball, an early pioneer, who resided on Bonta Bridge Road south of the village. He was a carpenter by trade. Here he lies, along with his wife, five sons and two daughters. He was predeceased by his wife and most of his children.
    Kimball came here from Rhode Island in 1831 and was a carpenter. He died here on Dec. 2, 1889, when he was 89 years old. His wife, Margaret, died April 23, 1876, at the age of 78. They had three daughters and five sons. Only two sons, Charles M. and John P., survived into adulthood.
    A close-up inspection of the upper part of the monument reveals the structure was carefully constructed of round and smoothly worn stones, probably carefully selected from the shoreline of Lake Ontario, some 12 miles to the north, and hauled to Meridian by wagon. The stones were mortared in patterns by a highly skilled stone mason.
    The monument is now in excellent condition and should stand for generations to come.    The lower part of the monument, which essentially supports the cobblestone portion, consists of four square marble slabs fastened by iron clips forged at a local blacksmith shop. The marble tablets are inscribed with the names of the deceased, including the dates of the Kimball family.
    As far as can be determined, this may be the only cobblestone tombstone in the United States. A spokesperson for the Cobblestone Society Museum in Chili said knows of no other such monument. There are hundreds of cobblestone structures throughout upstate New York, including five houses in the Cato area. But this is the only known cobblestone monument.
    The upper part of Meridian Cemetery, where this monument is located, contains monuments even older than this one. But in most cases, there are no descendants to care for them. Town governments are responsible for cosmetically maintaining essentially abandoned cemeteries. When old tombstones in old cemeteries are broken, they are frequently thrown into piles to escape the path of mowers, or even hauled away. But this cemetery is well cared for.

                          One-of-a-kind cobblestone cemetery monument in Meridian
                          Cemetery,  north side of Route 370.

Perfectly laid cobblestones on upper part of monument.

Detail of cobblestone artistry at its best.

 _________ 

   Fire in Cato

   Syracuse Journal
   November 25, 1867

    On Friday night, the 15th inst., the dwelling house of Chauncey Stockwell, in the town of Cato, about four miles north of Jordan, took fire, and while they were attempting to get out some things from the house, the roof fell in and enveloped the aged mother and sister in the flames. Rescue was impossible, and the heart-rendering scene of witnessing the devouring his aged parent and sister was endured by the son and his family. After the fire nothing remained of the old lady but her ashes, while her daughter was nearly half consumed. It was a cobblestone house - loss about $5,000 with an insurance of only about $900.

                                      _______

  Cobblestone Building in Victory was 'Select School' for Girls

12027 Route 38, Victory. This structure was used as a school for girls in the 1830s.
  It stands at the south west corner of Route 38 and 370 in the hamlet of Victory.

House is remarkably well preserved considering its age.  There was a ballroom
on the second floor.

                         No guess work over who built it and when.

                                               
                                        The Woodford Homestead

Post-Standard, Syracuse

April 26, 1959

                               

We received the following letter from Mr. Gerald J. Parsons, head of the Genealogy and Local History Department of the Syracuse Public Library.

    Possibly your readers would be interested in an old cobblestone house, the Woodford Homestead, in Victory, New York. Situated on the southwest corner of the intersection of Routes 370 and 38 in Victory village, this house was originally built as a school building for the Victory Academy by Joseph Woodford (1797-1876) a prominent resident and prosperous blacksmith of Victory and a son of Solomon Woodford (1751-1808), an early settler of the town of Cato.

    A marble plaque in the front gable of the house reads: "Built by J. Woodford, 1836," and the stones for the house are said to have been brought from Fair Haven in carts drawn by oxen. Mr. Woodford sold this property to the Trustees of Victory Academy on May 15, 1837.

   For some reason, probably default of payment, Joseph Woodford brought suit against the Trustees about 1842, and the property was ordered sold by the Cayuga County Court of Common Pleas. This was done at public auction in Cato June 18, 1842; and Joseph Woodford bought the property back, being the highest bidder, and soon after made it his home. As late as 1950 some of his descendants were still living in the house.

    According to some of his grandchildren, the second floor continued to be used as a private school for some years after the family took up residence there. The teacher's platform, which is built in at the front of the second floor between two clothes closets is still there and is framed by a lovely arch. 
   
                                                         ___

                        "Borderline"  cobblestone barn, Coleman Road, Victory. Photo by Glenn Hinchey                                            

                                          A Rural Schoolhouse

                               
This is the former District School house No. 7 of Town of Victory at 1267 Upton Road. Note no stone quoins but the walls are solid.  Although within a few miles of Lake Ontario, it is built of rough  field cobblestones.  The window frames are original. For many years it was the home of the Haas family.
       

                         

 Old converted school house at 9871 Route 38, between Port Byron 

and Conquest.  Porch and dormers added later.

Cobblestone school house, south side of Route 5 east of Sennett. 

       
 The Sunday Citizen

Auburn, N.Y., March 2, 1975

                           Former schoolhouse

                     Hope for cobblestone ruin?

              ____

  By Irene C. Tallman

A cobblestone ruin, on the road to Syracuse, just east of Sennett, may be restored and emerge as a new entity. Its past life, until 60 years ago, was a country schoolhouse.

    John Haney, executive manager of The Ponderosa, on his way to and from work every day, kept eyeing the weed-grown pile of cobblestones with parts of jagged roofless walls still standing, framing vacant window openings. It struck him that what was left of the ruin could be the start of an attractive home. He bought two adjoining acres when he made the deal for the schoolhouse site, and has cut down some of the wilderness that had all but obliterated the crumbling masonry.

Cobblestone School was built at a cost of $305. The stone came from round about - farmers were glad to get them off their fields and probably helped tote the stone and put up the four walls, 22 feet square, in order to have a place for their children to go for book learning.

    It was done and ready for use in the fall of 1835, and the first teacher was Edward Edmonds of Jericho Road which branches off the Grant Avenue road opposite the school. Edmonds earned $30 teaching there two months that first winter of the school's existence, and boarded himself. He lived on Jericho Road which the school faced. Later he went into the ministry and preached more than 50 years in a Boston Church.

    It depended on how many children a family had in school how much taxes they paid. Taxes were figured on the basis of half a cent per resident, multiplied by the number of children the taxpayer had in school, and multiplied again by the days they attended. In the 1800s, children often went to school only in the wintertime, and stayed home to help with the farm work in spring and fall.

    Records don't reveal how many children one William A. Tanner sent to school in 1863, or how many days they went, but there is still a tax roll that says his taxes that year were $1.05. 

    It was up to the district fathers in those days to kept the "scholars" warm, and every father was expected to furnish half a cord of wood per year for every child he sent to the district school. It had to be good, hardwood, sawed or chopped to fit the pot-bellied stove, and piled neatly in the woodhouse. It was up to the schoolmaster, or the schoolmarm, to keep the fires going, even to start them, so the kids could dry out their snowy boots and mittens when they got there mornings and get warm, but not burn their soles around the sometime red-hot chunk stove. The smell of scorched wool and leather was not uncommon.

    Cobblestone School had many teachers. They changed often in those days; a term was just a few weeks, and teachers seldom stayed more than a few weeks in a school. Mrs. Elsie G. Smith, Sennett town historian, went there to school the spring of 1897 and her teacher was Alia M. Hudson.

    Mrs. Smith says the school was in use until May 1912 when a lack of pupils caused it to close. Part of the district was annexed to the Jericho School District in Brutus, down Jericho Road a little piece from Cobblestone. The rest of it went to Sennett Village School No. 7.

    There may be a few old Cobblestone scholars around somewhere, but there have been no reunions, perhaps ever, and questions probably will go forever unanswered about the country school days of Cobblestone.            

                                                 _____                                                      

                       Cobblestone Church Once in Martville

 The original Methodist Church in the hamlet of Martville was built in 1841, but was demolished in 1875 because the massive high walls were cracking and the southwest corner became too dangerous. So the church was no longer used. This was much larger than the later one and was located further to the south. Lake stones were used in its construction.

  The corners were constructed of square brown stone quoins. The large windows were of Gothic design. The top panes were leaded to resemble blinds. There was an iron band around the outside of the building on either side of the entry leading to the balcony above. Stairs led to the pulpit in the opposite end of the church.

   A bench stretched across the back and the pulpit was lighted on the sides by large kerosene lamps on pedestals. Pews were rented, the proceeds going for the support of the church.

   After it became unsafe, services were held on the local schoolhouse until the new church was erected in the 1880s. It was intended to rebuild the old church but this never occurred. The timbers for the new church foundation were taken from the old church. At one time children used them for see-saws. - Cato Citizen, May 12, 1949.

                                       ______

                              Havens House, 425 State Route 34, Cato, west side, once had a cupola.
                              A rare Greek Revival "cottage."

Northern-most cobblestone house in Cayuga county, the Jacobs house is located at 14545 Lake Street, in the village of Fair Haven. It  was built by 1859 of lake-washed red sandstones and has five- course brick quoins. It was built by a local mason by the name of DeMell. For many years it was owned by Peter Bodine Van Fleet.

When Fair Haven State Park was constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps workmen constructed two cobblestone structures. Shown here is an incinerator built in cobblestone fashion. It became necessary to find the power with which to expedite progress in clearing land for buildings and roads. Many old chestnut tree stumps had to be removed. One of the first CCC project was to construct this cobblestone incinerator to burn park garbage. However it proved a failure. 

The other cobblestone structure built at the park in the 1930s was this Cobblestone utility shed. The building was constructed of stones gathered from the nearby lake shore. It originally served as a housing for a concrete pit where an automatically controlled water pump provided water to a tank located at the highest point on the bluff.  The water from this 25,000 gallon tank then used by both the CCC Camp, and park patrons as a bath house. 

                                                    _____

                             The Hager house at 11676 Old State Road, Victory. Made of lake-

                             washed stones, it is a fine example of Neo-Classical design.

                               Old photo of  11676 Old State Road, Victory
                         

                                       
                                                                                  Courtesy Cayuga County Historian

 South of Cato is the Samuel Rockwell House at 10817 Route 34, built in 1846. Rockwell was a wealthy farmer. A nicely proportioned Greek Revival house with second-story add-ons. Rockwell died April 2, 1881 at the age of 81. He married Anna Rhodes on December 25, 1822.  She was born in Milton, Saratoga County, October 26, 1804 and died May 9, 1882. The farm was inherited by a daughter, Phoebe Ann, who married William Grant on October 12, 1843. At one time this was a 200-acre farm.
                                     ____

Smothered by under brush are the ruins of this this old farm storage shed or granary
 on an early farm at 2887 Route 31,  Clinton Road, Weedsport, north side. It measures 
15 by 22 feet. This building is a short distance of this lovely old farm-house (below).

                           ____
             

                                                        

9228 Bonta Bridge Road, Town of Cato. Built of field stones Owned in 1855 by
 Samuel Sturges.

                           9228 Bonta Bridge Road, east side, Town of Cato  
   

       
                           'Hybrid,' part brick and part cobblestone, Weller Farm,
                           2965 East Brutus  St., north side, Weedsport (Route 31B). 
                           Fine example of Palladian style.

                          Front view of 2965 East Brutus St.,  Weedsport.
                             

                     
                                          Smoke house at 8339 Ball Road, Weedsport
                                         Photo by Glenn Hinchey
                                                             _______

                                 Cobblestone Houses in Village of Cato   

                               Conger House, 2587 E.  Main St., Cato, build circa 1853 

                               with field stones. 

                             Savery House, 2512 West Main St., Route 370 is of federal-style
                            architecture. It was owned by Ludah Everts in 1855. Later owner
                            was John Savery who served as a dentist in the Cvil War with the
                            rank of major. He also served as Cayuga County Sheriff, served
                            as a legislator, and Deputy Collector the U.S. Internal Revenue
                            Service.              

 2466 W. Main St., Cato  

Former carriage shop on East Main Street, Cato on site of Cato Fire Department. Prior to demolition about 1983 it was used as a recreation center.  Robert Roudabush photo.

                       House on Finch's Corners Road, Martville, now gone.

                                               _____

Citizen-Advertiser

Auburn, N.Y., May 29, 1963

Cobblestone House Tour Scheduled

For Southern Part of County Saturday

    Four cobblestone houses between Wyckoff and Aurora will be visited Saturday, the third annual cobblestone tour, sponsored by the Cayuga Museum of History and Art and the Cobblestone Society of Childs.

   The tour will begin at 1 p.m. and the four houses visited are the Wyckoff-Burlew house overlooking Owasco Lake, the Fordyce-King house just west of Scipio Center, the Reynolds-McHale house on Center Road in Merrifield, and the Allen-VanBuskirk house of Aurora, overlooking Cayuga Lake.

    Several other unusual structures including an octagon house and a Victorian Gothic Church will be inspected from the outside.

                               Refreshments Planned

    Prof.. Walter K. Long, director of the museum, has invited all visitors to return to the museum after the tour for refreshments at about 5 p.m.

   Cobblestone construction was used almost exclusively in the Lake Ontario region of New York State. Because of the high cost and the lost secrets of the trade, no houses of this type have been built since the Civil War. The individuality of the craftsmen can be read in the laying of the cobblestone. It often took over two years to collect the cobblestones from the fields, from the shore of Lake Ontario or from a gravel pit. The stones had to be sorted as to size by running them through an iron ring or a hole in a board.

    Some masons wanted them sorted as to color. Because of the weight of stones and wet mortar, a mason could only lay one two or three courses at a time. Then it had to harden before the next installment could be added.  

                                    Overlooks Lake

    The first home open for the tour is the Wyckoff-Burlew house overlooking Owasco Lake. The living room has a mantel over the fireplace and nice woodwork with narrow double doors into a small bedroom. The dining room also has a fireplace. The house has been in the Burlew family for over a hundred years. It is now owned by Mrs. Henry L. Burlew.

    Just west of Scipio Center four corners Dr. Benjamin Fordyce built his cobblestone house in 1843. He spent two years collecting the stones for this 1 1/2 story house. Wheat was hauled to Lake Ontario and stones brought on the return trip A hundred years later Mr. and Mrs. Morgan J. King purchased the house and have been gradually restoring it. The parlor is Greek Revival in treatment with woodwork in keeping with the size and type of house. The dining room is only a little less elaborate.

    About three miles west of Sherwood is a fine two-story house built by Sylvanus Hussey and his son during the middle 1830s. On the death of his father, John came into the possession in 1838. The John Rafferty family has owned it since 1905. The stones here lack the finished "V" in the vertical joints found in some sections. The house is not open to the tour, but may be studies from the outside.

                                     Van Buskirk house

    The Allen-Van Buskirk house, just north of Aurora and overlooking Cayuga Lake, was built sometime after 1845. It is an example of Victorian, or late cobblestone, with high gables. It was purchased by Dr. Michael Brown Van Buskirk, local physician and member of the Assembly, in the 1870s, and has been in the family since. It will be open for inspection. It is occupied by Mrs. J. H. Van Buskirk and Mrs. Gregory Van Buskirk.

    North on Route 90 north of Cayuga is the combination brick-cobblestone Morris-Traver house. It is said to have been built entirely of cobblestones but the mortar deteriorated and the front was replace by brick. The house is not open.

    South of Sherwood is a two-story eight sided, or Octagon house built in 1856 by C. Young, a spiritualist. It is a frame house with exterior walls built up solid with one inch thick boards laid flat. The exposed foundation wall from the grade to the wood still is faced with cobblestones. In the rear of this property is an unusual six-sided out-house. The house may be studied from the outside.

    Three miles further south is an example of Greek Revival architecture. A four-column portico with a pediment projects from the front wall. The exposed basement wall is faced with cobblestones.

    In Scipio Center there is an example of a Victorian Gothic country church of frame construction with wooden buttresses.

   

                             The Wycoff Farm

                           4619 Wyckoff Road, Auburn. Classic Greek Revival.

                                        ____

                            Pleasing to the Eye

      

                           Greek Revival Ozem Merrifield House,  2345 Center Road, 
                          near Scipio Center north side,  built in 1842.

                           Same house in 1935 when occupied by Virtue Loveland. 
                           Photo by Jane Searing.

                                     _____

House at  906 Sherwood Road built in 1835 by Sylvanus Husey, an early settler. Note the original windows on rear wing which appears much older than main part of house..  It is mentioned in the following account written by David Thomas.

New Genesee Farmer

Volume 2 No. 5, 1841

    The first cobblestone buildings that I remember to have seen were at Pittsford in Monroe County, nearly twenty years ago, and from the rude appearance of the work at that time, I have supposed the art was then in its infancy, but perhaps some gentlemen of that neighborhood will furnish a sketch of its history.

    About six years ago, the first building of that description was erected in this quarter, one mile east of Aurora, and in my opinion the walls are more beautiful than brick. The beauty of such structures however, will mainly depend on the size and color of the stone, though the color of the sand will have an influence.

    If the sand and stone are both dark colored, the building will have a lurid aspect; for the proportion of lime in the mortar (one-eighth or one-ninth) is too small to whiten it sufficiently, but if the sand is a light gray, the contrast of the colors with dark stone, will be pleasing.

    Cobblestones of any size not exceeding six inches in diameter may be used, but for the regular courses on the outside those of two inches in diameter should be preferred. Small stones give the building a much neater aspect. Two inch stones are very neat, though three inch stones will answer. The inside rows of stones may be twice as large as those on the outside.

    The mortar is composed of one bushel of fresh stone lime to eight or nine bushels of clean sharp sand. As the strength of the building depends on the goodness of the mortar,  it is very important that sand of the first quality should be obtained. Yellow sand or any sand that contains clay should be rejected. Gray sand is sometimes found so pure as not to discolor the water into which it is thrown, and such should be procured if possible.

   Mortar that has been made some weeks is generally preferred. Some masons are particular to reduce the lime to a thin paste, and then while it is hot to apply the sand. The thickness of the wall is sixteen inches, though twelve inches will answer very well for the gable ends above the garret floor.

    When the foundation, or cellar wall is leveled and prepared, a layer of two (or two and a half) inch of mortar is spread over it, and the stones are pressed into the mortar in two rows which mark the outside and inside of the wall, leaving about an inch between each adjoining stone in the same row. If the wall is to be grouted, the two rows are formed into two ridges by filling the vacancy between the stones with mortar, and the space between these two ridges (about a foot in width) is filled with such stones as are not wanted for the regular courses. The grout is then applied. If the wall is not to be grouted however, the mortar should be carefully pressed round every stone, making the wall solid without flaw or interstice. When one course is leveled, begin another.

    Between every two adjoining courses on the outside some have the mortar to project as far out as the stone, in a regular line round the building. It is wrought to an edge with the trowel, and adds to the neatness as well as to the strength of the wall; for during the process the mortar is pressed round each stone; and the smoother it is made, the stronger it will be, and the better will it resist disintegration.

    It has generally been the practice to have the corners formed of cut stone; but in a two story building erected last season within a few miles of us, this expense was avoided by rounding the corners and using cobblestones. The stone is not the only saving by this plan, however, much of the masons time is consumed in laying such corner stone.

    On the first mentioned building, the workman were employed by day. Four walls, amounting to 146 feet in length, were commonly raised eighteen inches every day by three masons. This is a little short of 99 cubic feet of wall or six perches to each workman. Sometimes in damp weather they had to stop a while for mortar to set.

    The building erected last season was constructed for by the perch at 37-1/2 cents, and half of this sum additional, was allowed for the tender. The walls, however, were grouted - that is, all the interstices between the stones were filled with liquid mortar; and this substance must have more time to set. For this reason no more than three courses a day can be laid in dry weather; and not any when it is showery.

    It requires from ten to twelve bushels of sand to a perch besides the lime when made into mortar; and cobblestones lie in a heap when thrown from the wagon about as compactly as they do in a wall.

    If cobblestone buildings are as cheap as wood, as one of those proprietors believe, they will be much cheaper in the long run; and this will be evident when we consider the frequent paintings which are necessary to keep a frame house in decent repair.

    P. S. Since writing the above, I have received two communications from persons who have had cobblestone houses erected. One says, "The thickness of the wall is measured from the outside of the stones. Pieces of timber, 4 x 6 inches and two feet long, are used for setting the lines. These lines are laid in the courses just finished, and the line is drawn through saw-cuts just 16 inches apart."

    The other says, "the cost of cobble is about 1/6 th less than brick; and probably 1/4 or 1/3 less than wood, - on the supposition that the stone may be laid within a mile, and sand within two and one-half miles." It must be evident, however, that the expense of cobble, brick, wood and stone, must differ considerably in different places, according to the prices of those materials and the distance they have to be carried. - "Alb. Cultivator D. T. Greatfield Cayuga County."

                                          _____

                           

                   Another "hybrid"at 3100 Route 90, east side, north of Cayuga.

                                   ____

The Allen-Van Buskirk House, 3190 Route 90 just north of Aurora is an interesting  example of the late "Gothic Cottage" cobblestone period, built ca. 1850 by a man named Allen. Built of red, water-rounded cobbles. The owner, Dr. M.D. Van Buskirk, at right, served in the Civil War. He resided here many years.

               

                                The old Van Buskirk House today.

                              

                            Aerial views of Van Buskirk House by Bill Hecht.

                                    ____

    

 Avery House, 1660 Route 34B, Ledyard. Built about 1840. Note this house has no  corner quoins. Considerable repair work has been done to the south wall.

Nicely restored Howland Stone Store in Sherwood, Route 34b, east side, is now a museum.   In 1837 Slocum Howland built this store in Sherwood, a crossroads hamlet between Cayuga and Owasco Lakes. Cayuga Lake gave it easy access to the Erie Canal.  Our collection details the sale of local products such as wool and pork, and importation of manufactured products.  The store was built from small stones  picked up in local fields.

 The Howland family was prominent in important reform movements throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth century, particularly in the abolition of slavery, education, and women's suffrage. A prized Museum possession is an Underground Railroad pass brought by two slaves who escaped from Maryland and came to Slocum Howland (1794-1881) seeking freedom in 1840. 
 Miss Emily (1827-1929) first taught in schools for free blacks in Washington, D.C. in 1857. In addition to building a school in Sherwood, she founded and financially supported fifty schools for the emancipated blacks, teaching in several of them.
   Both Emily and her niece, Isabel (1859-1942), were active in the local, state and national women's suffrage movements; we have posters and other memorabilia representing their efforts. A "Cabinet of Curiosities," collected by the Howlands on their travels, includes everything from Arabian jewelry to coral from Capri.

  In 2008, the organization acquired Opendore, which was Isabel's home. It is being renovated as an expanded part of the museum. They have interesting programs throughout the year. For further information go to their website at:

http://www.howlandstonestore.org/

                                                     Rear entrance to Old Stone Store
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                           Ruins of cobblestone foundation in rear of Howland Stone
                           Store in Sherwood. Photo by the late Ward O'Hara in 1991.

     

                   

                            2726 Center Road, Scipio Center, south side.

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                           Another brick-cobblestone house at 4046 Wyckoff Road.

                            Smoke-house at 4046 Wyckoff Road, east side.

                          745 Putnam Lane, Venice Center

Old meat market, south side of Route 90 in village of Genoa as it appeared in 1987. The cobblestone wall has since been stuccoed over and is no longer visible. Walls are 18 inches thick. At the time photo was taken by the late Ward O'Hara the cobblestone wall was in disrepair. It was last used as a butcher shop by Kenneth Brill. 

                            ___    

                            2599 Route 34, west side, Poplar Ridge, octagon house with

                            cobblestone foundation.

The Cobblestone Inn, Route 38, south of Locke, was located near the Tompkins County line. Built in the 1920s in the Arts and Crafts tradition, it began life as a hotdog stand in the 1920s and later became a roadside bar. In his book "Cayuga Cobblestones," Ward O'Hara wrote: "This so-called Cobblestone Inn never was an institution of culinary delights." Photo taken in 1991. It was demolished and a new structure was built.