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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSD-182 FOR OFFICE USE ONLY BUILDING-STRUCTURE INVENTORY FORM poo WORM—% to. • h DIVISION FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION UNIQUE SITE NO. /oS QUAD NEW YORK STATE PARKS AND RECREATION SERIES SD 182 ALBANY,NEW YORK f 51 91 474-0479 NEG. NO, YOUR NAME: Town of Southold/SPLIA DATE: April 1987 YOUR ADDRESS: Town Hallo Main Road TELEPHONE:516) 765-1892 Southol I . p N.Y. 971 ORGANIZATION (if any): Southold Town Community Development Office IDENTIFICATION Captain Watts Overton house 1. BUILDING NAME(S): Gemaliel Bennett/Overton/ Carpenter house 2. COUNTY: Suffolk TOWN/CITY: Ou O VILLAGE: flu 0 d 3. STREET LOCATION: # 680 , Ackerly Pend Lanza 4. OWNERSHIP: a. public L] b. private 5. PRESENT OWNER: _ ADDRESS 6. USE: Original: Residence Present. Residence 7, ACCESSIBILITY TO PUBLIC Exterior visible from public road: Yes No ❑ Interior accessible: Explain DESCRIPTION S. BUILDIN(i a. clapboard ❑ b. stone ❑ c. brick ❑ d. board and batten ❑ MATFR1AL: e. cobblestone ❑ f. shingles ® g. stucco ❑ other: 11. STRUCTURAL a. wood frame with interlocking joints IN SYSTEM: h. wood frame with light members ❑ (if kutwit) c. masonry load bearing walls ❑ d. metal (explain) e. other brick foundation 10. CONDITION: a. excellent ® b- good ❑ c. fair ❑ d. deteriorated ❑ 11. INTt.GRITY: a. original site ❑ b. moved ❑ if so,when? c. list major alterations and dates (if known): SD RSM XXv-4 I?. PHOTO: From South east 13. MAP: N.Y.S . DOT Southold Quad South and east (front) elevation aa k .S G s �'F 48 a6 � q r o1 �1 r N; ofi9} v Willow Hill. • '• � . - Cegi20 P - 4� 1BM• rem- a _ SD 182 14. THREATS TO BUILDING: a. none known LE b. zoning ❑ c. roads ❑ d. developers ❑ e. deterioration ❑ f. ether: 15. RELATED OUTBUILDINGS AND PROPERTY: a. barn b. carriage house ❑ c, garage d. privy ❑ e. shed ❑ f. greenhouse g. shop ❑ h. gardens ❑ i. landscape features: j. other: 16. SURROUNDINGS OF THE BUILDING (cheek more than one if necessary): a.open land ❑ b. woodland a c. scattered buildings d.densely built-up ❑ e. commercial ❑ f, industrial ❑ g. residential ❑ h.other: marshland 17. INTI-RRELATIONSHIP OF BUILDING AND SURROUNDINGS: (Indicate if building or structure is in an historic district) Ackerly Pond Lane is an historic , tree lined country road that winds through farms, open fields and orchards. 18. 0"1 HER NOTABLE FEATURES OF BUILDING AND SITE (including interior features if known): 12-story, 3-bay side entrance plan gable roof house. Small windows under the eaves are double hung 3/3. Other windows are 2/2. House stands on high brick foundation, and where the land slopes away there are Large windows lighting basement rooms. sIGNiFoicANs reason it was called a basement house. 11). DATE OF INITIAL CONSTRUCTION: Late 1700s or after 1838 ARCHITECT: BUILDER: Ott. HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE: A plaque reads "Gamaliel Bennett house Late 1700s Captain William Watts Overton 1835 Jerusha Overton Carpenter 1901" The owners of this house were weavers for three generations. The loom was in the basement and was used until 1940. It is now at the Southold Historical Society in the Moore House. 21. SOURCES: R. C. Newell.. A Rose of the Nineties. 1962, P.49 Pp. 85, 89. Beers, Comstock Cline. Atlas of Long Island. 1873 ?2. fHLME R. C. Newell. Rose Remembers. 19-6. Pages 80-85 — Form prepared by Rosemary Skye Moritt, research assistant. r SD 182 wner couldn't I think Papa's most amusing true story is about a man chloroformed with the reputation of being the laziest man on the east end ularly prolific of Long Island. He liked to sit in the rocking-chair by the always won- kitchen stove and if he was thirsty he wouldn't even bother t to its burial to get up for a drink of fresh water out of the pail from the well. but it seemed He kept a cup handy, and he'd just lean over and tip some hot water out of the teakettle and wait for it to cool. His son after muzzle every- him had the same dislike of effort, but he did get up enough puzzles came gumption to ask a young lady to marry him. On the night ses#ion about set for the wedding the Heavens opened and it just poured, time why he "cats and dogs" as the saying goes. But the invited guests mean?" ex- came to the house in the storm and hitched their rigs in the go no further barn and shed and under the trees. All was ready, and Aunt d," said Papa, Mitt Horton was sitting at the melodeon in the parlor waiting 's much more to play the wedding march, but the groom hadn't appeared those hot and The assembled company began to get restless, and the bride was fidgety as a wet hen. Finally, they sent one of the boys .e true stories to see what was the matter. He threw a coat over his head Iotes and got and ran down the lane through the rain to the bridegroom's of his friends house. It was only a Iittle way. He burst into the kitchen and mand of tan- found the bridegroom sitting placidly in the rocking-chair by 'e words, He the stove. "For Gosh Sake, Ernest!" exclaimed the boy, "why 1 the grocery ain't yer to yer weddin'?" Ernest looked up at the rain stream- certain poli• ing down the window panes. "Why," he said, mildly, "it's sech thing about a bad night, I didn't think they'd hev it." his dismiss." In his veterinary practice Doctor Joe covered a lot of oach a friend ground. He drove Harry, his quick little bay horse, all over ing his heart the area between Orient to Northville, about twenty-five u know that miles. If he had several calls in a day and Harry got tired a his forties. Brownie, the heavy dappled brown mare, was pressed into years." service. Ordinarily Brownie pulled the box-wagon or the cul- t fellow w ho tivator, and when Grandpa instead of the hired man was storekeeper cultivating the vegetable garden, he sometimes let me perch man replied, on her back. Mamma drove her when she went calling on 'e that's the relatives and friends. Sometimes we'd drive down to see my see how she maternal great-grandparents on Bowery Lane, Southold. Cap- tain Watts Overton had been well-known as a captain when 49 R. C. Newell, A Rose of the Nineties. 1962 z - y , r SD 182 r whaling ships went out from Greenport and Sag Harbor. At family gatherings it was quite a sight to see the dignified old man with seven little great-grand-daughters, all flaxen-haired; Gladys and Gertrude Matthews, Hazel and Beatrice Carpenter, Margery and Frieda Williams, and me. Often we went down the South Road to visit Mamma's mother. On wintry afternoons, in spite of the fact that Brownie had grown a thick furry coat and we had put a warm blanket over her when we hitched her, she got cold standing in Grand- ma Williams' shed. Besides, the early winter twilight meant supper-time to her because the animals were fed before dark. Usually Brownie was an awful old poke. Rein slappings, cluck- ings, and flicks of the whip didn't even make her prick up her ears;but facing home on a winter afternoon was another story. Uncle Fred had to hold her head while we tucked ourselves in the carriage robe and Mamma got a good grip on the reins. Then he jumped aside; and down the steep driveway we tore, turning into the road on two wheels. Brownie rose up ands Wl looked twice her normal size. With her formerly drooping head road al; held high, tail up, knees rising, she'd "go it" for home, with snow, Mamma sawing on the reins while I clung to her and the seat Meredii as well as I could. Folks who saw the old mare galloping up She ser the Lane would say, "I don't see how Doctor Joe can let his for hirr wife drive such a spirited horse." pillow. I think the local young fellows must have been envious in the when Papa bought one of the first motorcycles to come out into the Recently in talking about old times with men of my age who got Stu "knew me when" I have been asked, "That was an Orient, and for wasn't it, that first motorcycle your father had? A good ma- by the chine". Early in the 1900's Papa had one of the first Fords. It througl was painted red and had four brass kerosene lanterns on the there i• front and a brass facing around the radiator. It had no wind- ? In shield. In those: days the speed limit was eight miles an hour. ' Militar spent i with it R. C. Newell. A Rose of the Ninet , 1962 cause met hir 50 x t _ e He also made the implements for the preparation of weav- •.- ing. The warping bars, the spools and spool-rack, the "swift" for winding, the hickory shuttles--all were hand-whittled with the infinite patience of artisans of that time. Even the reed through r which the warp was drawn was originally of handout splints lashed with rawhide. In 1835 their daughter Jeannette married William Watson Overton and apparently they came to live with the old folks in } y the basement house on Bowery lane. Captain Watts, as William I ? was known, was a seafaring man in the whaling days when Greenport and Sag Harbor were important ports. ,k At that time Eastern Long Islanders were almost com- pletely self sufficient with their farming, hand-work and seafar- ing. In the garden grew the flax which was processed by first : "retting,"--soaking in pond or swamp; then "hatchelling,"— separating the fibres by drawing the stalks through spikes on a - —� � board until it was ready to be spun into linen thread on the small �t � �� `�� flax wheel. The warren wove this into sheets and table cloths. IV NLL15 r The men raised sheep, sheared, scoured and "carded" the wool, combing it into fluffy rolls, and it was spun on the big Continuing east after passing Willow Hill Cemetery, at wheel into yarn. the foot of the hill the Lower Road and Bowery Lane merge The now coveted "Coverlets" of blue wool dyed with the and come into the Main Road, with Bay View Road joining indigo plant and combined with the creamy linen thread in flo- from the right. The Lane is now called "Ackerly Pond Road" ral and geometric patterns were woven on hand looms. but I prefer its old name. A little way up this lane are three very Simple patterns of striped or plaid cloth or blankets were old houses. On the right is Fanny Dickinson's which has low made by women at home on their two-harness looms as few had ceilings and uneven floors, but she has given it a pleasant feel- the equipment to make the Coverlets. They wove their names ing of warmth and comfort. On the left is Louis Zebroski's, and the date in the selvage. Bessie Horton gave the Southold in which the hand-hewn beams and small bricks with an old Historical Museum a beauty made by an ancestor. Along the type of plaster in the cellar proclaim its age. Over the rise in the edge you can read "ABBY DAVIDS 1833". road and on the ri ht is the basement house built into the side s of the hill, which has been owned and occupied by the same ' family line since its beginning, sometime before 1800. As far as can be determined,Gamaliel Bennett and his wife, _ p >�J , y Roxanna, came to Southold from Sag Harbor on the south side A y � of Long Island. Among their household effects was the weaving 1 , loom which he had built of great oaken beams hewn from the - . Sag Harbor woods. This was for his wife to make their linen, homespun wool cloth and blankets. Display at 1940 Southold Tercentenary Celebration as — 80 — — 81 R. C. Newell. Rose Remembers. 2976 SD 182 However, the coverlets were usually made by a profes- I loved to watch Aunt Jerushy weave. Swish! would go the sional, a man who had a loom with several harnesses that could shuttle through the warp, leaving the rag strip between the weave the elaborate designs such as the "WHIG ROSE" or strings. With a flip she banged down the reed to tighten it, "DOUBLE SNOWBALL with PINE TREE border," which were stamped on the pedal to change the harnesses and with a twist popular. He would drive around the countryside, setting up his of the wrist unwound more rag from the shuttle for the next loom in a farmer's barn for a period each year in different com- throw. Back and forth, back and forth it flew. She was so munities. The women took their hanks of yarn and linen thread { quick! Three things at once. It was fascinating to see the rag for him to weave the many fancy designs. When the popularity carpet grow, strand by colorful strand. of the coverlets waned the splint reed of the home looms was Many an elderly person now living in or remembering replaced with a metal one, more suitable for weaving rag carpet Southold recalls the joy of watching Aunt Jerushy weave rag which was then "all the go." carpets in the basement house on Bowery Lane. The rag rugs were usually a yard wide and a yard and a Aunt Jerushy became quite a "character" in her late years, quarter long, with the warp making a fringe on the ends. The a humorous and witty old lady. The last time she sat in the loom width was limited to a yard, but for a smaller mat the loom was in the summer of 1940 at the Tercentenary Celebra- warp could be set at three-quarters. Then that batch of warp tion of the Founding of Southold when many fine exhibits had to be completely worked off the beam before another were shown in the Mattituck High School Building. could be drawn in for the wider kind again. For a big rug two Of course, people marvelled at her age, health and wit, and strips could be sewn together any length you wanted. i was amused to have her tell me, "You know, Rose, Gladys Eventually Jeanette Bennett Overton took over the weav- and Gertrude (her grandaughters) come to see me and they ing from her mother, Roxanna, and by the beginning of the bring their friends and they say 'This is my grandmother and 20th Century HER daughter Jerusha Overton Carpenter suc- she's 98 years old, and she can hear and can see to read the ceeded her in quite a successful business. My maternal grand- - newspaper every day'. It makes me feel like a Museum piece! mother was Aunt Jerushy's sister, and too, I remember my ' They want me to live to be a hundred, and THEN what will Great-grandparents as they both lived to be almost ninety. they do with me?" Captain Watts was a dignified old man with weather-beaten A grand-nephew was very fond of her and often went to face and bright blue eyes. see her. He was a Mortician and she always greeted him with a have a warm memory of that basement room where the sly smile and would ask, "Looking for a job, Sid? You'll have to loom stood in the back corner against the brick wall. On the wait a while yet." south side the sun streamed in through the short but wide fl , ground-level windows. There sat an old lady in a Boston Rocker sewing rags—Great-Grandmother Jeannette. The apron on her lap was full of rag strips of all colors which she had cut from _ discarded clothing, and balls of sewed rags were heaped in a basket ready to be wound on the shuttles. Nearby was the cor- ner cupboard exhibiting some cherished pieces of old china and glass. A drop-leaf Harvest table with red checked tablecloth stood against the west wall. A small rush-bottomed rocker ac- " commodated a visiting Great-grandchild. There were eight of a - - us—Gladys and Gertrude Matthews, Rose Case, Margery and Frieda Williams; Hazel, Beatrice and William Carpenter. Bowery Larne railroad bridge to R. C. Newell. Rose Remembers. 1976 d 00 — 82 — — 83 — { The most vivid recollection of Aunt Jerushy's long life was Aunt Jerushy's grandson, William Carpenter, now owns 1 her earliest. She was a very little girl when the Long Island Rail- the basement house and occu les it i To my delight Rail- road was completed from New York to Greenport in x844. No she gave mete loom and its appurtenances, with detailed in- telegraph line connected the stations as yet, but the engineers structions in the task of drawing in the warp. She said she gave and station agents figured on a fairly accurate schedule. On the it to me because my husband, being in the woolen business day that Aunt Jerushy remembers, the engineer of the west- was interested and knew about weaving, and she was afraid her bound train stopping at Southold was told that the eastbound grandchildren would chop it up for kindling wood. I'm sure would be coming along pretty soon and he'd better lay off on they wouldn't have, and actually they COULDN'T have be- the sidetrack until it came through. "Oh, she's always late," he cause when we moved it' we found the oak was hard as iron. said. "I got plenty of time." and Toot! Toot! he took off for Fortunately it was put together with wooden pegs, as no nail Peconic to switch off and wait there. Little Jerushy and her . could have penetrated it. I used to say that when I became an brother Billy were playing with neighborhood children in the old lady, I'd weave rag rugs like Aunt Jerushy, but now I AM an field below the railroad embankment at the Bowery bridge old lady and I'm so busy I haven't had time yet! when Billy hollered, Look! Two trains! Now, in 1975, I have passed it on to the SOUTHOLD HIS- The eastbound was NOT late and met the westbound, head TORICAL SOCIETY, where it can be seen in the Moore House. on, full speed, just east of the bridge. The engines locked toge- I don't know how many generations back it started, nor ther and reared up in the air. Some of the wooden cars were with what individual, but there is a tradition cherished and shattered, spewing window glass, shutters, people and their be- handed down in all our family branches about "Giant Overton". longings. One engineer and several passengers were killed. The He was a man strong of muscle and strong of character, and window shutters were a feature of those early trains, and Aunt whenever anyone in succeeding generations comes bravely Jerushy said that for years afterward their slats were used as through an ordeal of illness or trouble we say that they must rulers in school. have some Giant Overton in their veins. It's something to live The baggage car stayed on the tracks, and what made the up for greatest impression on the little girl was a woman confined by How fortunate I was to be able to say "Gramma Case", chains to its barred window. She wore a bright blue dress and "Grandma Williams" and "Great-Grandmother Overton"! was trying to shake the bars and screaming. She was a mental Three grandmothers! I feel sorry for those who tell me they patient being taken to the State Asylum, never knew a grandmother,—no one to play games with you, to R.C. Newell. Rose Remembers. 1976 make you delicious cookies, to tell you stories of long ago. I was quite touched recently by what a young woman said to me at the Historical Museum. I was sitting at my great-grand- mother's spinning wheel, showing how to make linen thread. At my side was a hooded cradle with a doll in it, and I ex- plained that the mother could keep the baby happy as she spun by giving the cradle a push to set It rocking now and then. told about other things in the room, all from our local families. "Oh," said the girl, "How wonderful! I wish I had something from my family's past; but we moved so many times while I was growing up that all I have is a beaten-up old doll my mother managed to save." Ln to N N — 84 — —85 —