Historic Stone Houses Inventory
Members of the Stone Building Appreciation Society have been documenting the county's stone structures for several years. Their book, Stone Houses of Jefferson County, featured 88 of the over 200 remaining stone structures. Grouped according to township, these 88 houses are listed first below. Following are more recently photographed houses. Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are by Richard Margolis. We welcome help with this project. Please send us a message if you would like to contribute in any way.
Jefferson County is located in the
Northern part of New York State
House locations by township (click map to enlarge)
Other sources for information about stone houses in Jefferson County:
Claire Bonney, French Émigré Architecture in Jefferson County New York, 2015 (distributed exclusively by The Jefferson County Historical Society, Watertown, NY. admin@jeffersoncountyhistory.org)
David F. Lane, "Old Mansions and Houses of the North Country" series in Watertown Daily Times, 1939-45. Available online from New York Heritage Digital Collections.
Town of Adams
1. Talcott Tavern
1824-25
This two-story house located on NYS Rte 11, near the Old Rome State Road was noted as a stage coach and stopping place until the arrival of the railroad. Nearby are waterfalls and a bluff that once was the site of a large Onondaga settlement.
2. Jesse Smith House
1831
This large front-gable house reflects the prominence and business skills of its first owner in the village named for him, Smithville. Just inside the front door is a dramatic spiral stairway, unique to stone houses of the county.
3. Austin Robbins House
c. 1830
Another front gable farmhouse near Smithville. It has a wide stone chimney with an elliptical fan in the gable peak. A semicircular arch with keystone tops the front entrance.
4. Adams stone arch bridge over Sandy Creek
late 1800s
Built in the late 1800s and still in use today. These commercial buildings were on the bridge until 2008.
Photo: Collection of James Sinclair, Adams, NY.
Town of Alexandria
5. The Azariah Walton House
1835
Built when the port of Alexandria Bay was young and Azariah Walton was the collector of customs. Its gable front with 12/12 windows faces onto busy James Street.
6. The Cornwall Brothers Store
1866
Seen from the St. Lawrence River, where in the 1800s it carried on a flourishing business in wood and ashes. A spark from a riverboat supposedly caused an earlier frame store to burn and it was replaced by this large stone building whose limestone sills and quoins are said to have been quarried and dressed in Kingston, Ontario, and shipped across to Alexandria Bay.
7. The Reformed Church of the Thousand Isles
1848-1851
The Reformed Church of the Thousand Isles reflects an interesting aspect of local history: the need for summer visitors in the 1840s to have Sunday services. The structure is solidly built of dolomitic sandstone with funds largely provided by other Dutch Reform churches in New York State.
8. The Asa Newman House
1826-27
The front façade has four bays with an off-center doorway. Windows and doors are topped with voussoirs in this vernacular house built from sandstone in a nearby outcropping.
Town of Antwerp
9. The Copeland House
1816
The Copeland House faces the Indian River and a beautiful stone arch bridge. Its square presence with right of center Greek Revival entrance was built by Ezra Church who with his brother Daniel Whipple Church rebuilt the gristmill and sawmill in Antwerp.
10. The Ira Hinsdale House
c. 1820
The Ira Hinsdale House was built into the hillside with its kitchen just off the driveway. Its layout perfectly fulfills the needs of a farm family with easy access to fields, and spaces for food preparation and living.
Town of Brownville
11. General Jacob Brown Mansion
1811-15
Built of large blocks of limestone quarried nearby, this grand square mansion was home to the founder of Brownville and the site of military meetings during the War of 1812. Today it is a proud focal point for the community.
12. Thomas L. Knap Mansion
1826-38
This three-bay mansion overlooks a commercially busy section of the Black River in the village of Brownville. Its stepped gable ends are imposing and the windows and doors are surrounded by stone quoins.
13. Henry Brown Mansion
1830
The Henry Brown Mansion has a wonderful symmetry in its five-bay façade. The stone work is especially fine and uses large blocks of local limestone in contrasting shades of gray. Nearby is a springhouse that bestrides Philomel Creek.
14. Calvin Britton House
1815-16
Built into the hillside and surrounded by stone fences, this house has especially thick walls. The front door is recessed and the plan of the house may reflect the first owner’s English roots.
15. Allen Road School House
c. 1840
Allen Road School House is an example of the many stone schoolhouses built in the county. Two front doors provided separate entrances for boys and girls. A small stone ell held bathrooms at the rear.
16. Samuel Read House
1827
Samuel Read House is one of the smallest vernacular farmhouses in the area. Its three-bay façade looks over the road, with Lake Ontario at its side.
17. Daniel Ackerman House
c 1835
This small vernacular farmhouse on Pillar Point is about a quarter of a mile from Lake Ontario. Like many stone buildings it sits on bedrock with grooves from the ice age incised into the cellar floor. Water for the house comes from a dug well shaped like a 32 foot deep ice cream cone that was blasted out of the stone with black powder.
Photo: M. Barros
18. Gilson House
c. 1811 or 1821
Tradition has it that this two-story limestone house was built about the same time as the nearby General Jacob Brown mansion and during the War of 1812 was possibly used to quarter officers. A link to this military past was a tall narrow gun cupboard now removed from the center stairway. However, the research of David F. Lane (Watertown Daily Times, “Old Houses of the North Country,” Sept. 8, 1945) finds that the house was built by Luther Gilson sometime after the land was purchased in 1821. The house stands comfortably next to its twin in the Village of Brownville. The house’s random ashlar stonework with corner quoins and prominent lintels remains in good condition and is similar to stonework elsewhere in the town.
Town of Cape Vincent
19. The Stone House
1815
The Stone House was built for Vincent Le Ray by mason Hugh MacPherson of stone from Carleton Island. Unusually, its first floor doors and windows are arched with fanlights and keystones. Its wooden balustrade is remarkably still in place.
20. St. Vincent of Paul Church
1851
St. Vincent of Paul Church was built by stonemason Ignatious Wiley, a German immigrant who is noted for construction of several buildings in Cape Vincent. The church, built of locally quarried limestone, has tall Gothic-style entrance and windows.
21. Duvillard Mill, US Bureau of Fisheries
1856
Designed by John Antoine Duvillard, built by Ignatious Wiley. The mill was run by steam power from the small building on the south wall. Seen from the St. Lawrence River, the mill was an imposing structure on the shoreline.
22. The Wiley House
c. 1847
The Wiley House was built by stonemason Ignatious Wiley with stone cut from the bed of the Kent Creek which flowed nearby.
23. The Dezengremel House
1850
The Dezengremel House was built by stone mason Ignatious Wiley not too far from his own house. Its superb stone work is evenly coursed with voussoirs over the windows and door. The long stone ell with its front porch leads back to a stable and the working side of the large farm.
24. The Dye, Fitch House
c. 1830
The Dye, Fitch House is a good example of one-and-a-half story vernacular architecture. Built against a hillside, its roof overhang provides a west-facing porch. It fits snugly into the landscape on the road leading toward the St. Vincent de Paul Church and cemetery in Rosiere.
25. The Johnson House
1850
The Johnson House has a panoramic view of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. The original kitchen was located in the side ell with a porch to appreciate the view.
26. The Louis Peugnet House
1837-40
The Louis Peugnet House is a perfect example of French influence on a Jefferson County building. It boasts interior chimneys, a flaring porch, and casement windows. Voussoirs top the windows and doors. The limestone is coursed on the front and sides and rubble at the rear.
27. The Rogers Homestead
1838
The Rogers Homestead is known for its association with the Rogers Brothers Seed Company, an important early business that still thrives in Idaho. Old cottonwood trees frame this vernacular limestone house which looks out over Lake Ontario.
28. The George Cough Jr. House
c. 1835
The George Cough Jr. House is noted for its eyebrow windows which provide a view of Wilson Bay from the second floor of this small vernacular house.
29. The Eber Kelsey House (Deer Lick Farm)
1832
The Eber Kelsey House, also known as Deer Lick Farm, was built by an early settler and land agent. Its one-and-a-half stories are of rough cut stone with smooth lintels and sills. Today it is the attractive centerpiece of a vineyard.
30. The David Dodge House
1835-54
The David Dodge House has an interesting layout and highly unusual stonework with inclusions of crystals and cephalopod fossils. A one-story ell extends from the front gable, and from this ell, another extends toward the rear of the house.
Town of Champion
31. The Hiram Hubbard Homestead
1820
The Hiram Hubbard Homestead was built for Noadiah Hubbard and was one of a cluster of stone buildings in the village of Champion. It remained in the family until 2005 when it was donated to the 4 River Valleys Historical Society. Asa Eggleston is mentioned as the stonemason in charge of constructing many of Noadiah's buildings.
32. Noadiah Hubbard House
1831
This house was built because Noadiah Hubbard wanted a larger, more elaborate home than his first house, the Hiram Hubbard House across the road. The house boasts a central hall with a beautiful stairway and high ceilings. A limestone gutter is still in place across the front of the house.
33. The Asa Gates House
1828
The Asa Gates House is set into the hillside near the Hubbard stone houses in Champion. It was built by Asa Gates and has his initials over the front door. The kitchen fireplace has a beehive oven and some of the original windows remain in the house.
34. The William Dorwin House
1823
The William Dorwin House was built in 1823 in the Georgian style. It sits on a hill well back from the road in a grove of maple trees.
35. The Joseph Peck House
1827
The Joseph Peck House was built from a ledge of limestone quarried on the nearby farm of the parents of Frank W. Woolworth, the chain store magnate. This fine old farmstead remains in the Peck family.
Photo: M. Barros
36. The Pennock House
1825
The Pennock House was built by the Reverend Wilson Pennock with his own hands from limestone quarried nearby. Ground-floor windows and doors are topped by voussoirs and the gable end chimneys are especially fine.
Photo: M. Barros
37. The Jefferson Hotel
1842
The Jefferson Hotel was built by Jewett Clark, a contractor on the Black River Canal near a bend in the river called Great Bend. It stands three stories high and was once a stagecoach stop.
Photo: David F. Lane, Watertown Daily Times
The Town of Clayton
38. The Greystone Inn
c. 1815
The Greystone Inn was perfectly located to overlook roads meeting between Ogdensburg, Watertown, and Clayton. The limestone is rough but well coursed, with smoothly dressed lintels and sills. A two-story wooden verandah is attached to the stone structure.
39. The Hugunin House
c. 1836
The Hugunin House is a large two-story house with its gable front facing Hugunin Street and side entrance on Merrick Street. The limestone is rough cut with smooth lintels, sills, and water table. The lintel over the front door is extremely large and perhaps not original.
40. Angel House
c. 1853
Angel House was built later than most stone houses in Jefferson County. Its Gothic Revival cottage style in stone is similar to houses across the St. Lawrence River in Ontario. The stone is rough coursed with stepped wooden moldings on the doors and windows.
Town of Ellisburg
41. The Salisbury House
c. 1833
The Salisbury House was built in the middle of rich farmland and is still surrounded by fields today. Limestone for the house was brought from nearby Sandy Creek at Woodville for ten cents a load. The stone is rough cut in fairly large blocks and very evenly laid.
42. The Amos Eastman Wood House
c. 1825
The Amos Eastman Wood House was built by one of the founders of Woodville. Instead of the usual double-faced-wall construction, thick blocks form a single wall which is covered with split lath and plaster on the interior. The tooled limestone blocks are twelve inches thick, seven to ten inches high, up to eight feet long, and quarried from the Sandy Creek just behind the house.
Town of Henderson
43. The Weeks House
c. 1811
The Weeks House looks over Big Stony Creek and its falls, which once provided power for a gristmill. Painted lintels and sills on the house accentuate the symmetry of the façade. The interior has retained much of its original woodwork, including an entire tree incorporated into the foundation of the house.
44. The Norton, Burnham House
c. 1820
The Norton, Burnham House is built of rough cut limestones possibly quarried on the property. Most of the exterior shutters, hardware, and windows are original to the house. With its symmetrical five-bay façade, the house was the birthplace of architect and city planner Daniel Hudson Burnham, who designed the Flatiron Building in New York City and Union Station in Washington, DC.
45. The Dobson House
c. 1820
The Dobson House was built by a Welsh-born stonemason on the old road leading to Henderson Harbor. The rough-cut stonework has corner quoins. The cornice has a fine dentil pattern. The 6/6 windows have wooden sashes with ribbed round moldings.
46. The Harvey Smith House
c. 1839
The Harvey Smith House is a small vernacular house once part of a community on Bishop Street. Its narrow entrance has a rounded arch and keystone set in the coursed rubble front wall.
47. The Oliver Bates House
c. 1820
The Oliver Bates House is known for its association with Mormon missionaries. The house is built from limestone, said to have been quarried from the back fields where the bedrock breaks the surface. The house has one and a half stories, with a fan light and keystone arch over the main doorway.
Town of Hounsfield
48. The Union Hotel
1817-18
The Union Hotel overlooks both the port and Market Square in Sackets Harbor. The building reflects Federal architecture with its symmetrical arrangement of openings, central transverse hall, and a doorway with elliptical transom and side lights. Squared stone quoins reinforce and accentuate the corners, window openings, and doors. Originally, it had stepped gables with fan lights.
49. Stone Row, Madison Barracks
1816-19
This end house with stepped gables is adjacent to the sally port. The stonework of the front is ashlar limestone. It is one of the most impressive houses and intended for the highest-ranking officers. Named for President Madison, the barracks were intended as a permanent post to protect the northern border.
50. The Hospital, Madison Barracks
1838
The Hospital, Madison Barracks was one of the first permanent military hospitals in the United States. It was constructed of locally quarried limestone in the Greek Revival style. The corners have dressed stone quoins and the cornice is of stone. Light flowed into the two-story building from a skylight at the apex of the roof, which was surrounded by a balustrade. Matching one-story wings are attached to the main block. At one time the wings' raised basements had vaulted brick cisterns for storing rainwater collected from the main roof.
Photo from 1860s.
51. The Old Mill
1808-1818
The Old Mill overlooks Black River Bay at Sackets Harbor and was originally a sawmill for cutting logs floated down the Black River. Built by Elisha Camp, a wealthy landowner who promoted Sackets Harbor as a commercial center, its limestone walls are five feet thick at the base.
52. Christ Episcopal Church
1823-1832
Christ Episcopal Church is one of Jefferson County's earliest churches. The stone building is enhanced by a wooden-columned portico and belfry. Its pointed Gothic Revival windows have smooth quoins set against rubble stone side walls.
53. The Sackets Harbor Bank
1834
The Sackets Harbor Bank has a front façade on West Main Street of beautifully cut ashlar limestone. A secondary entrance, on the building's side, faces Broad Street. Originally a balustrade surrounded a small lookout over the harbor on the roof. The bank's vault was housed in the cellar.
54. The Tisdale Mansion
1832
The Tisdale Mansion has a front gable with a wide fan light of dressed stone at its peak. The chimneys, quoins, and lintels are made of smooth dressed limestone. Identical side stone wings once had balustrades across their fronts.
55. Membery Homestead
1818
With its narrow three-bay façade, the house has the presence of a fine city dwelling in the countryside. It was part of an extensive farm that supplied a Sackets Harbor hotel. The lintels, quoins, and water table are of smooth cut stone, which was taken from Camp Mills Creek, down the road.
56. Mill Creek Bridge
1819
Mill Creek Bridge was constructed in 1819 and restored in 2001. It is one of two single-span stone-arch bridges in Hounsfield. A nearby historical marker records that President James Monroe, accompanied by General Jacob Jennings Brown, was greeted at the site by a number of Revolutionary War veterans in 1817.
57. George Lee House, Town of Hounsfield
1834
George Lee, born in Albany county in 1791, probably came to the Sackets Harbor area during the War of 1812. According to David F. Lane in the Watertown Daily Times, “Old Houses of the North Country,” 1947, Lee was noted locally as a natural musician and old time fiddler. He began acquiring land in Hounsfield in the 1820s and built this vernacular limestone house on his farm of over 155 acres. A date stone in the gable end facing the road records “G. Lee 1834.” With its broad lintels over windows and doors, the house with outbuildings stands solid, a good distance from the county road.
Town of Le Ray
58. The Le Ray Mansion
1825-57
The Le Ray Mansion is built of limestone covered with a layer of stucco. Originally, the two-story main section of the house and with its side wings had wooden balustrades and connecting porches. A long drive led to this imposing portico with ionic columns. The interior features casement windows and fine woodworking.
59. The Hoover Tavern
1821
The Hoover Tavern is an example of the fine stone work of mason Josiah Fuller. It boasts smooth ashlar blocks of Black River Limestone and stepped gables. There are elliptical arches with keystones over the front and side entrances, and also over a second-floor window.
60. The Aaron Root House
1830
The Aaron Root House sits proudly at the Y in Evans Mills facing the Cemetery Road. At the center of the five-bay façade is a ground-level entrance. The elliptical stone arch with marble keystone over the entrance is inscribed with the initials AR and the date 1830. The locally quarried stone is of mixed coloration.
Town of Lyme
61. Chaumont House
1806-18
Chaumont House is James Le Ray's first stone house in Jefferson County. Built of nearby limestone, the house was first used as a land office with its entrance in the gable end on the main road to Cape Vincent. It also functioned as an inn. The gable peaks have oval windows. Inside, the cellar shows the jagged outcropping of bedrock on which the house was built.
62. The Evans, Gaige, Dillenback House
1820
The Evans, Gaige, Dillenback House has an elegant side hall plan with dormer windows and may reflect its first owner's Philadelphia heritage. The stonework displays a high degree of craftsmanship with an elliptical arched entry and smooth dressed limestone lintels. It was part of a 370-acre farm on the Chaumont River.
63. The Copley, Adams, Duford Stone Office
1872
The Copley, Adams, Duford Stone Office is a remarkable structure that displays a range of limestone techniques and finishes that served as a sample for buyers of limestone. It was the sales office first for the Copley lumber and lime business and later for the Adam Duford Quarry Company.
64. O'Connor, Johnson House
1818-19
O'Connor, Johnson House is a small three-bay farmhouse on Point Salubrious built by a British deserter from the War of 1812. All of the walls are of rubble stone and those in the front are especially interesting for the black chert nodules in the limestone.
65. The Horton House
1819
The Horton House was built by the first permanent settler of Point Salubrious from stone quarried on the farm. It has an evenly coursed five bay façade and the lintel blocks have been incised to resemble voussoirs. The portico with columns is a later addition.
66. The Ryder House
1820
The Ryder House is a two-story house of Chaumont limestone with an attached ell. Its five-bay façade has a recessed entrance with top and side lights. Large lintels top the windows and front door.
67. The Charles Wilcox House
1839
The Charles Wilcox House is an excellent example of fine stone masonry. The entire house is built of small cut limestone and its façade features a running entablature of smooth cut stone. Built into a hillside, a stone ell extends to a partially stone barn. It was the center of a successful farming business for generations.
68. The Old Stone shop, Three Mile Bay
1838
The Old Stone shop, Three Mile Bay, closely resembles the stone work in the Charles Wilcox House. It has a running entablature of smooth faced stone across the front of the building and quoins at the corners and around the wide door openings. It is noted as a building well designed for two blacksmiths.
Town of Orleans
69. The Orleans Hotel
c. 1825
The Orleans Hotel was originally John LaFarge's land office. The two-story building has dressed stones and quoined corners. Its five-bay façade features a handsome entry with sidelights.
Photo: David Lane, Watertown Daily Times
70. The Budlong House
c. 1835
The Budlong House is one of a pair of stone houses facing the main street of LaFargeville. It has a front gable with three bays and side hall entrance. Like its sister house next door, it was likely built by John LaFarge to attract affluent buyers to his new town.
71. The Biddlecom House
c. 1835
The Biddlecom House like its immediate neighbor next door, is an elegant Greek Revival house. It features smooth lintels and coynes, and an oval opening in the gable peak.
72. The Irwin Brothers Store
c. 1825
The Irwin Brothers Store is a landmark in Stone Mills where it has held many businesses, including a tavern, general store, and post office. The original three-bay gable end entrance is flanked by later additions - all of local limestone. A fan light is located in the central gable and many small-paned windows are still intact.
73. The Elijah Horr House
c. 1835
The Elijah Horr House was built in the Federal style, with fine smooth lintels and sills in it symmetrical façade. The center entrance is supported by an elliptical segmented arch with a large keystone. The interior retains its original plan of two front rooms and two back rooms with a one-story kitchen ell.
Town of Pamelia
74. The Parrish House
c. 1815
The Parrish House was built of local limestone. Its long stone wing fits into the hillside and contains the kitchen and woodshed. The lintels and sills are smooth cut, and the house itself is of evenly coursed rough blocks of a very light color. There is a water table, and the gable ends have small attic windows and brick chimneys.
75. The Countryman House
1833 or 1840
The Countryman House was the large residence of Pamelia's carriage-maker. It is well constructed of rough coursed stone, smooth lintels, sills, and water table. Its wide front entrance has a fan light, side lights, and beautifully tapered columns.
76. Jones, Miller House
1838 (partially rebuilt in 1926)
The Jones, Miller House was built in 1838, and partially rebuilt in 1926 after a fire. The large house is nicely fitted into the hillside with smooth cut lintels and sills. The gable ends have small square windows.
77. The Absalom House residence
1830s or 1840s
The Absalom House residence is a small cottage in the cluster of stone buildings at Pamelia Four Corners. Like its neighbor, the Jones, Miller House, it is built into the hillside with large blocks of limestone and smooth cut lintels and sills.
78. The Harger House
early 1830s
The Harger House was the first house built by Charles G. Harger, who operated a local meatpacking business. This one-and-a-half story limestone house with its side ell faces State Route 37. The original kitchen was in the lower level, built into the hillside with a stream flowing nearby. The walls are laid with course stone blocks.
79. The Harger Mansion
1839 or 1849
The Harger Mansion is a grand five-bay mansion now hidden by trees. The stonework, from material quarried just a hundred feet from the house, is especially fine. The façade and gable end peaks are made of narrower laid stones. The lintels are of smooth worked stone; the one over the front door is a single exceedingly large block.
Town of Rutland
80. The Felt Mansion
1827
The Felt Mansion has an east-facing façade of the most pleasing proportions. A broad central pediment has an elliptical fan that repeats the fan above the front door. A stone ell with a porch extends from the north side of the house
81. Asa Clark Mansion
c. 1835
Asa Clark Mansion is set back a mile from the Black River on a ridge with a panoramic view. This outstanding Greek Revival house was built of evenly coursed limestone with a two-story wooden portico capped by a pediment with a central fan.
Photo: David Lane, Watertown Daily Times
Town of Theresa
82. The James Shurtleff House
c. 1821
The James Shurtleff House was an early inn. Built of local sandstone, the two-story house has chimneys and two small widows in the gable ends.
Photo: David Lane, Watertown Daily Times
83. The Ostrander House
1830s
The Ostrander House sits perfectly into the landscape north of the village of Theresa. The five-bay house is of rough coursed local sandstone. White trim accentuates the sandstone's warm, honey-colored tones. The cornice is wide, with returns and the front entrance is deeply recessed.
84. The Harry Hunt House
1830s
The Harry Hunt House boasts very evenly laid stone work in both the house and side ell. The window sills project prominently from the façade. The entrance is broad and flanked by transom and sidelights.
85. The Theresa Jail
c. 1840s
The Theresa Jail's history is unclear. It was probably built sometime after the Town of Theresa was formed in 1841. Measuring twenty by twenty feet, its widows have bars and its shingled roof has a small cupola to allow light into the interior.
Town of Watertown
86. The Orville Hungerford Mansion
1826
The Orville Hungerford Mansion as reassembled in 1960. The façade is of smooth-cut ashlar with lintels, a water table, and elegant entrance with attached columns, a fan light, and side lights. The stepped gables each bear two tall chimneys.
87. The Sterling Mansion
1826
The Sterling Mansion was designed by an English architect for Micah Sterling, a prominent lawyer, politician, and land agent for James D. Le Ray. A two-story central block is made of local limestone with large quoins forming patterns around the windows and doors. Identical one-story wings with porches extend from the east and west sides. Today it is used as a school by Holy Family Church.
Photo: David Lane, Watertown Daily Times.
88. The John Thompson House
1823
The John Thompson House sits back from the road near Talcott Falls. Its center entrance has a semi-circular arch with a keystone. The front of the house is built of rough coursed stone; the remainder, including the rear ell, is well kept rubble stone.
89. The Ballard, Denny House
c. 1827
The Ballard, Denny House is a charming vernacular farmhouse on the Old Rome State Road. The limestone of this house is rough coursed, with voussoirs above the windows and doors. Its central-hall plan is two rooms deep with a central chimney. A steep stairway is enclosed.
90. The Losee House
1823-28
The Losee House has the highest elevation of Jefferson County's stone houses and was once the center of a thriving farm. The entrance is especially beautiful with its wide, elliptical arch and keystone. The stone is rough, but evenly coursed on the front and sides, with smooth-cut lintels, sills, and water table. Possibly, the stone was drawn from a quarry a little way down the Dry Hill Road.
…
Additional Houses
The following additions to the inventory identify the township immediately after the property name.
91. St. Paul's Church, Town of Brownville
c 1820
This Episcopal Church is located on Washington Street in the village of Brownville, within site of the Jacob Brown Mansion. Originally it was a union church used by all denominations in the village. Built of local limestone which has been covered with stucco, the church is two stories high with a prominent steeple and octagonal spire.
92. John Laird House, Town of Cape Vincent
c 1835
John Laird, a Scots settler in Cape Vincent, built this one-and-a-half story gable front house with stone ell on a rise, back from the Chaumont-Cape Vincent road. The limestone which probably came from very nearby, is coursed on the front, and rubble on the other sides. Windows are topped with voussoirs. The house continues to be the center of a working farm.
93. William Schafer House, Town of Cape Vincent
c 1850
The original owner of this small one-and-one-half story limestone house came from Germany in 1831 and bought the land for the house from the Antwerp Company of Belgium in 1845. The limestone is of coursed blocks on the front with prominent lintels over windows and doors, including those in the basement. A wood frame ell extends from the north side of the house which sits far back from the road in the midst of rich farmland.
94. Claude Vautrin House, Town of Cape Vincent
c 1855
Built by the son of a French settler family, this house is unusual for its hipped roof which once featured a central chimney. The evenly coursed limestone blocks for the house were quarried at nearby Millen's Bay. Windows and doors are topped with voussoirs. With its similarly hipped-roof smoke house, the Vautrin house is situated at a crossroads surrounded by farm fields.
95. Joseph Wells House, Town of Lyme
c 1829
Just outside the village of Three Mile Bay in an area known as Wells Settlement, this well-proportioned two-story limestone house sits near a pond and rolling countryside. It was built by one of the eight Wells brothers who came from Concord, New Hampshire, to farm in Jefferson County. High in the gable end facing the road the initials JW with the dates 1829 above and 1906 below suggest the original building date and perhaps a later date when the home was inherited by Joseph’s son, John Merritt Wells. While mid-twentieth century photographs show a stucco coating over the stone, its well-coursed limestone blocks are now visible and can be appreciated. A wooden ell originally extended from one side and has been recreated by today’s owners.
96. James Brintnall House, Town of Watertown
late 1820s to 1834
Built by pioneer settler James Brintnall, this two-story limestone house on Beutel Road, near the original Field Settlement, overlooks farmland in all directions. Its evenly coursed five-bay front features a water table, prominent dark lintels over windows and doors, with a single central dormer above. The wide gable ends each have four windows on the second floor.
97. Dr. Crafts P. Kimball House, Town of Rutland
1815 -1818
One of Jefferson County's earliest physicians, Dr. Craft P. Kimball, built this fine two-story home of local limestone. The gable front has a broad side entrance with transom and side lights. In the peak a stone arch and keystone surround the fan window. At the rear, an extensive wood frame ell includes the kitchen. Owned by Roswell P. Flower, former Governor of New York State, this large farm has been used for breeding ducks and raising horses. Today's owners manage Greystone Stables on 60 acres of rolling farmland.
98. Walts House, Town of LeRay
c. 1820
This two-story Federal style house of local limestone has a beautiful side entrance. Columns and side lights flank the paneled door. A semi-circular window lights the font gable end. The stonework on the front and sides is of coursed blocks with wide lintels and sills. A two-story stone ell with a porch projects from the main block of the house. Unfortunately little is known about the first owner although there were several settlers in the area bearing the name Walts.