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From: "Ralph W. Cokonougher" <>
Subject: Early stone houses-Part 3 of 3: 1796 on, Ross Co.
Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2001 03:03:37 -0000


Part 3 of 3.


I grant the USGenWeb/OHGenWeb/OH-Footsteps Archives and the Ohio History
Network permission to store permanently for free viewing access the
following copyrighted booklet "VERNACULAR STONE STRUCTURES IN SOUTHWESTERN
ROSS COUNTY, OHIO". All other rights, including distribution rights,
reproduction rights, and re-presentation rights are reserved by the
copyright owner. Ralph W. Cokonougher, copyright owner.




VERNACULAR STONE STRUCTURES
IN
SOUTHWESTERN ROSS COUNTY, OHIO


By
Ralph W. Cokonougher



Copyright Ralph W. Cokonougher 1978. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America. Published in New Holland,
Ohio.

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time with brick. The right chimney is inset and may reflect the mixing of
cultures that took place in the early state of Ohio. The house is made of
stone believed to have been quarried from the same place as for the house in
Thrifton, leading one to speculate that they may have been built at the same
time.

One thing that should be noted about stone construction in
southwestern Ross County is the type of walls that were built when rubble
work was used. Walls were really of three vertical columns. One layer of
rocks was mortared together one on top of another like bricks, only slanted
inward. On the other side another layer was started and slanted toward the
first so that each layer supported the weight of the other. In any space
between these two was placed small rocks without mortar. Such walls were
from two and a half to four feet in width. Walls built like this were
strong, sturdy, and lasting, and allowed the use of a temporary rather than
permanent mortar in construction. It also prevented the damp, perspiring
walls common to most stone structures. Old farmers say that wheat straw, in
the time before much machinery came into use, was tied onto a wagon in the
same manner. This seems to indicate that stone houses of the rubble work
type are a natural folk development and not the result of high style
ideas.22

There are many stone service and commercial structures left in
southwestern Ross County. One of the most
Page 14.
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Famous was National House in Bainbridge. It was built around 1811 for use
as a tavern-hotel by a man named Turner, for Joseph Rockhold. National
House's chief claim to fame was the fact that many famous people stayed
there, including Henry Clay, Lewis Cass, and Robert Lewis. The big event of
the 19th century in Bainbridge was when Jenny Lind sang in the Grand
Ballroom of National House.23 For a while National House was used as a rest
home, but today it is a private residence. The building can't conveniently
be fit into any particular type, but both Southern and Gothic influence can
be seen in the construction.
In the back of National House stand the stone stables where the
horses and coaches of travelers were housed. This rectangular gable roofed
building is used today as a garage.
Stone for the National House was obtained from a hillside to the
south of Bainbridge overlooking the village. This land was later to become
Higgin's Quarry, so named for Peter Higgins, an English immigrant who
operated the quarry from 1842 to 1899. Some of the best Waverly sandstone
known was quarried in Higgin's Quarry and shipped as far away as New York.24

Also located in Bainbridge is a square-faced structure that is
somewhat like the old traditional form used in general stores. It is called
Benner Block. Constructed in 1898, it was the location of the locally
famous "Yellow Dog Saloon." Stone for it appears to be of the same type
Page 15.
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quarried in Higgin's Quarry and probably was obtained from there.

In 1902, the people of Bainbridge built a new Methodist church of
stone. They had had several in the past but all had burned down, including
one other of stone. This church was the last stone building to be built in
Bainbridge.

In Bourneville, during the mid-nineteenth century, some people were
taking advantage of the town's saloon and having quite a rowdy time. The
members of the town's three churches decided that it needed a jail, and so
one was built from stone. It had only one room and was gable roofed, but
had bars on the window just like a real jail is supposed to have. Not much
more is known about it, except for a local legend about its first use.
It seems that two men (now unknown but not forgotten) built the jail
for the town and were extremely proud of their work. The night it was
finished they drew their pay and went out on the town to celebrate.
Unfortunately for them, they celebrated a little too much and ended up not
only the builders of the jail but also its first customers. They spent the
rest of the night in their new jail.

In 1842, in South Salem, a building was constructed of stone for use
as a school. Its limestone came from Paint Creek at Greenfield, and was put
up in rubble form. In the same year, it was opened under James Fullerton,
Page 16.
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and since then has been the home of an elementary school, a high school, and
a college level academy. Today it is owned by the Greenfield Exempted
School District and is falling into ruin.
The Old Stone Academy, as it is popularly known, is an example of a
Classical Four-over-Four, a Pennsylvania house form. It has four rooms on
each of two floors, five windows on the second floor faade, a staircase in
a central hallway, and two gable end chimneys. Such characteristics made it
perfect for a schoolhouse.

One stone smokehouse is located on Alexander Hollow Road and was
built in 1910, relatively recently.

A few hundred yards down the road from the smokehouse is an
above-ground cellar that is made entirely of stone. It is separated from
the owner's house, and is painted white. No date is available for it.

On Blain Highway about one mile south of state route 50, there is a
stone storage building. No information is available on it, but by
comparison with the other works thus far mentioned, it appears to date from
the last of the 19th century.
Page 17.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
Stone has been used in construction since ancient times. Colonists
in the Mid-Atlantic states, mostly Pennsylvania and Virginia, continued this
tradition and carried it with them into southwestern Ross County.
Most of the structures that survive are still in use despite their
early 19th century construction, and exist mainly because they were
extremely well constructed and well maintained. The existence of so many
stone structures shows that wood was not the only readily available building
material. Stone was cheap and easily obtained, but resulted in high labor
and high transportation costs when used.
Stone structures were built by skilled craftsmen for people who had
money to divert from their land into a house. A large stone house meant
prestige and status in the community. A stone house was permanent. It was
something a person could leave to the generations after him.
Virginia I houses, Pennsylvania I houses, and English cottages were
the stone houses made in the area. The majority of stone Virginia I houses
supports the fact that southwestern Ross County was settled mostly by
Southerners with a sprinkling of Pennsylvanians. Service structures such as
hotel-taverns, saloons, churches, jails, smokehouses, and cellars also
Page 18.
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were built from stone. Sandstone and rubble work were used in the majority
of cases.
Page 19.
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FOOTNOTES.
1. Andrew J. Downing, "The Architecture of Country Homes" (New York, 1968),
p. 142.

2. Dorothea Moholy-Nagy, "Native Genius In Anonymous Architecture (New York,
1957), p. 178.

3. Harold D. Eberlein, "The Architecture of Colonial America" (Boston,
1915), p.22.

4. Henry Glassie, "Pattern in the Material Folk Culture of the Eastern
United States" (Philadelphia, 1968), p. 48.

5. Ethel F. and Thomas T. Robinson, "Houses in America" (New York, 1936),
p. 66.

6. Ethel F. and Thomas T. Robinson, "Houses in America" (New York, 1936),
p. 185.

7. Harold D. Eberlein, "The Architecture of Colonial America" (Boston,
1915), p. 24.

8. Lyall Addleson, "Materials for Building" (London, 1972), p. 140.

9. Ibid., p. 102.

10. Harold D. Eberlein, "The Architecture of Colonial America" (Boston,
1915), p. 243.

11. Lyall Addleson, "Materials For Building" (London, 1972), p. 141.

12. National Research Council, "Modern Masonry: Natural Stone and Clay
Products........." (Washington, 1956), p. 129.

13. Andrew J. Downing, "The Architecture of Country Homes" (New York, 1968),
p. 66.

14. Andrew Kardos and Richard Pillsbury, "A Field Guide to the Folk
Architecture of the Northeastern United States" (Dartmouth, 1973), p. 79.

15. Ibid., p. 53.

16. Ibid., p. 79.

17. "Chillicothe Gazette", (Oct. 14, 1971), p. 7.

18. "Chillicothe Gazette", (Oct. 16, 1969), p. 4.

19. Isaac J. Findley and Rufus Putnam, "Pioneer Record and Reminiscences of
the Early Settlers and Settlement of Ross County, Ohio" (Cincinnati, 1871),
p. 76.

20. These dates are inscribed on a stone in the house, according to the
present owner (in 1973.)

21. This is not first hand information. Mr. McCutcheon obtained this
information from the resident before him. Mr. McCutcheon claims that,
although he has owned some long ladders, he has never owned a ladder long
enough to get to the top of the chimney to check the date himself.

22. Only one high style stone house was found in the research area. It was
built between 1802 and 1805 for Nathaniel Reeves, a Revolutionary War
veteran, according to the "Chillicothe Gazette, (Oct. 16, 1969), p. 4. The
house was designed by Latrobe, the French architect who designed Adena, the
home of Ohio's first governor. Reeve's house shows Southern influence and
retains the original ironwork around the porch. Glass for the windows was
imported from Bristol, England, and was hauled over the mountains in wagons.
The house later served as a tavern on Zane's Trace. It is about one mile
east of Bainbridge between Bainbridge and Seips Mound State Park. Stone for
the house was obtained in Bainbridge, probably from the Benner Quarry area.

23. "Chillicothe Gazette", (Oct. 16, 1969), p.4.

24. "Greenfield Daily Times", (Oct. 14, 1970), p. 26.

Pages 20 to 22.



***********************
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Addleson, Lyall. "Materials For Building". London: Iliffe, 1972.

'The Benner Block.' "Greenfield Daily Times. Oct. 1968 (souvenir edition),
p. 21.

'Buildings Reveal Community History.' "Chillicothe Gazette", Oct. 16, 1969,
p.4, col. 1.

Downing, Andrew J. "The Architecture of Country Homes." New York: DaCapa
Press, 1968.

Eberlein, Harold D. "The Architecture of Colonial America." Boston:
Little, Brown, and Co., 1915.

Findley, Isaac, and Rufus Putnam. "Pioneer Record and Reminiscences of the
Early Settlers and Settlement of Ross County, Ohio." Cincinnati: R. Clarke
and Co., 1871.

Gay, Charles Merrick. "Materials and Methods of Architectural
Construction." New York: Wiley, 1958.

Glassie, Henry. "Pattern in the Material Folk Culture of the Eastern United
States." Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1968.

'Higgins Quarry Yesteryear.' "Greenfield Daily Times", Oct. 14, 1970, p.
26.

'Historians Pay Tribute to Pioneers.' "Greenfield Daily Times," Oct. 14,
1970, p. 9.

'Historic Walking Tours Added.' "Chillicothe Gazette." Oct. 14, 1971, pp.
5-7.

Horsman, Reginald. "The Frontier in the Formative Years 1783-1815." New
York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1970.

Johnson, John Butler. "Johnson's Materials For Construction." New York:
J. Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1939.

Kardos, Andrew, and Richard Pillsbury. "A Field Guide to the Folk
Architecture of the Northeastern United States." Dartmouth: Geography
Publications at Dartmouth, 1973.

Kniffen, F. "Folk Housing: Key to Diffusion." Association of American
Geographers Annals, 55 (Dec. 1965), 549-577.

Major, Howard. "The Domestic Architecture of the Early American Republic."
Philadelphia: J.B. Lippencott Co., 1926.

'Methodism Founded Early in Bainbridge Community.' "Greenfield Daily
Times," Oct. 1968 (souvenir edition), p. 7.

Moholy-Nagy, Dorothea M.P.A.S. "Native Genius in Anonymous Architecture."
New York: Horizon Press, 1957.

National Research Council. "Modern Masonry: Natural Stone and Clay
Products ........." Washington: Building Research Institute, 1956.

Newcomb, Rexford. "Architectural of the Old Northwest Territory." Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1950.

'Reeve's Crossing Farm Monument in Local History.' "Greenfield Daily
Times." Oct. 1968 (souvenir edition), p.3.

Robinson, Ethel F., and Thomas P. "Houses in America." New York: Viking
Press, 1936.

U.S. Dept. of Interior. "The Historic American Buildings Survey."
Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1936.

'Village Settled in 1795 by Colonel Nathaniel Massie.' "Greenfield Daily
Times", Supplement to 1972 Fall Festival of leaves, p. 8.

Pages 23 to 25.



******************************************
Pages 26 & 27 contain a map of southwestern Ross County, Ohio and a
legend showing the location of each vernacular stone structure. The map
cannot be reproduced in this text-only digital format.

Pages 26 & 27.


******************************************
Pages 28 to 36 contain photographs of the vernacular stone structures
discovered in southwestern Ross County, Ohio. The photographs cannot be
reproduced here in this text-only digital format.

Pages 28 to 36.


******************************************


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