Houses in Colonial America

by Tamera Lynn Kraft

Although most people in colonial America lived in small one room houses or log cabins, more prosperous land owners would have nicer homes. Here's a list of the styles of homes people built in colonial America.

Wattle and Daub homes were built in Jamestown when the English settled there. When the Pilgrims came to America, they also opted for wattle and daub designs. These houses had wood frames and were filled in with sticks and daub made from clay, mud, or grass. They generally had thatched roofs, wood floors, and one room.

Later, land owners built plantation style homes with more than one room. These houses were French Colonial style. They had two stories, multiple rooms and fireplaces, and glass windows. Creole homes were a smaller version of this style. They had French doors and wrap around mantels and were made with heavy wood timbers and had columns to support the roofs.

Georgian Colonial homes were the houses we think of when someone mentions a Southern colonial. In the 1720s, these houses became popular all over the colonies. These homes had large square rooms with a center hall where the stairs were located and were known for pedestaled doors, porticoes, and a symmetrical floor plans. The style originated in England and was adapted according to the resources available in the colonies.

Architect Robert Adam came up with the federalist style which became a mainstay shortly before the Revolutionary War and for the early years of our nation's history. The style was inspired by classic Roman architecture, but it used some of the style features in Georgian homes. Because of the patriotic fervour of the time it was coined "federal" although it was also called Adam's style. The main colors were yellow, white, and red. The floor plan was basically a box with symmetrical rooms, two or more deep. The front door had pilasters or columns on either side. The windows had small panes, lined horizontally and vertically in groups of seven, five or three.

The log cabin is usually the home you think of when talking about American architecture. This style home was built when people moved into wilderness areas because they didn't have the resources to mill the wood. Instead they would cut down the trees and use the unmilled logs as their building materials. These homes were rustic 12 by 16 foot square homes with dirt floors. Windows were cut into the walls and covered with wood or animal skins. Log cabins were usually meant to be temporary homes until the family could arrange for something nicer to be built. 

Tamera Lynn Kraft has always loved adventures. She loves to write historical fiction set in the United States because there are so many stories in American history. There are strong elements of faith, romance, suspense and adventure in her stories. She has received 2^nd place in the NOCW contest, 3^rd place TARA writer’s contest, and is a finalist in the Frasier Writing Contest and has other novellas in print. She’s been married for 38 years to the love of her life, Rick, and has two married adult children and two grandchildren. Tamera has two novellas in print: A Christmas Promise and Resurrection of Hope. Her first full length novel, Alice’s Notions, was released this month.

Graeme Park – A Colonial Governor's Estate

Graeme Park, located about twenty miles north of Philadelphia, in Horsham, Pennsylvania, was originally named Fountain Low due to the many springs on the property. The manor house’s construction began in 1722 under the direction of Sir William Keith, the lieutenant provincial governor under Hannah Callowhill Penn (widow of Pennsylvania’s founder, William Penn). The original estate, which became Governor Keith’s summer home to escape the heat and diseases of Philadelphia, included the house, the barn, a “long house” for servants, a malthouse, and other outbuildings.

Unfortunately, Sir William Keith did not exude the honesty and integrity of Pennsylvania’s founder, and in 1726 Hannah Callowhill Penn removed him as governor. Keith remained in the province for two years but then returned to England, probably to escape creditors in the Colonies, leaving behind his wife, Lady Anne Keith.

Lady Ann remained at Fountain Low, though she lived in much less extravagance. She gradually sold off the 1,700+-acre property to pay her husband’s debts, but the estate came back into the family in 1739, when Dr. Thomas Graeme bought Fountain Low and its remaining 834 acres. (Dr. Graeme was the husband of Ann Diggs Graeme, Lady Ann’s daughter by her first husband.) Despite this, Lady Ann returned to Philadelphia and lived in “penury” until she died in 1749, two years after Sir William Keith’s death in a debtor’s prison in England.

Dr. Graeme, a port physician in Philadelphia, renamed the estate Graeme Park and began using it as a summer home for his family. From 1739 until his death in 1772, the estate was a popular vacation of luxury for many British officials and members of Philadelphia’s high society. (An interesting contrast, since Horsham was a primarily Quaker community.)

The Manor House

Upon Dr. Graeme’s death, the estate was granted to his daughter Elizabeth, who was at the time considered the most learned woman in America. Sadly, she experienced many difficulties in life as well due to health issues and her marriage to a Tory by the name of Henry Hugh Fergusson. She lost Graeme Park when it was confiscated as a result of her husband’s convicted treason during the Revolutionary War, but then the property was restored to her in 1781. Financial troubles then led her to eventually sell off Graeme Park, but she stayed in Horsham, where she was much loved by the neighbors, and eventually died in 1801 in the home of Seneca Lukens (one of my ancestors).

The Summer Kitchen and Physic Garden

The estate then remained in the hands of the Penrose family and later the Strawbridge family, until it was bought by Horsham Township in 1997. Fortunately, Graeme Park’s buildings have remained mostly intact since the late eighteenth century. Currently the estate contains the manor house, the barn, a pond and stream, a summer kitchen that was reconstructed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission on the original summer kitchen foundation, a physic garden, and walking trails. Photography is discouraged within the manor house, so I couldn’t take inside pictures, but I can describe the interior.

The Barn

The first floor contains Dr. Graeme’s office, the dining room (this room was the kitchen until Dr. Graeme had the summer kitchen built), and the formal parlor, which boasts eighteenth-century paint and many period paintings of the home’s original owners. A staircase (which replaced the original winder staircase) leads to the upper two floors, which include bedchambers (both for the family and some of their staff) and storage rooms. From the third floor, a ladder leads to the roof, and this access was used to douse any roof fires started by embers expelled from the chimneys. Period furniture and décor grace most rooms, and Dr. Graeme’s Port of Philadelphia logbooks are exhibited in the barn along with other educational displays.

Today Graeme Park is a historical site dedicated to continuing the legacy of its owning families and the history of Horsham. It offers educational programs throughout the year, and is also a popular venue for weddings and family photography (as its grounds are truly lovely) and ghost hunts (as long-held local lore claims that Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson still walks the wide-width floorboards of the house and the site’s grounds). Tours are available from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sundays.

A Tour of Benefit Street by Lisa Norato

Benefit Street, Providence, Rhode Island

Benefit Street on the east side of Providence, Rhode Island, is known as the “Mile of History” for the 1.2 miles of historic homes and buildings that line its sidewalks.  Considered an outdoor museum, Benefit Street is a popular tourist attraction, and today I’d like to take you on a virtual tour.  So lace up your sneakers because those cobblestone sidewalks can get a bit unsteady.

"A Benefit for All"

We will be heading north, focusing on early American architecture, although there are many Victorian era homes as well.

Providence was founded by Roger Williams in the early 1600s, when he was expelled from Massachusetts for his religious views.  Almost 150 years later, the city had risen from a religious settlement cut out of the wilderness to a thriving mercantile center, with many making their fortunes trading rum, molasses and even slaves.  These wealthy merchants needed a place to build that reflected their affluent status.  In the 1780s, the hilly area overlooking the Providence River was deemed a prime residential spot for its lofty location above the City.  What was originally called Back Street was widened and the street renamed Benefit because it was deemed to be "a benefit for all."

 

Nightingale-Brown House c.1792

One of the most notable homes of the period is the Nightingale-Brown House built by a wealthy merchant in 1792.  At 19,000 square feet, it is one of the largest 18th century wood frame houses still standing in North America.  I especially love the captain’s walk on the rooftop which would have overlooked the merchant ships sailing into the Providence River.

Stephen Hopkins House c. 1707

This is the Stephen Hopkins house, built in 1707 and occupied by the merchant and ship builder from 1743 to 1785.  The house plaque reveals a bit more about the Colonial man and reads, “Ten times Governor of Rhode Island. Chief Justice of the Superior Court. Chancellor of Brown University. Member of the Colonial Congress. Signer of the Declaration of Independence.” General George Washington was a guest at the house on April 6, 1776.

What makes Benefit Street so special is that its historic character continues throughout the entire length of over one mile, not just in one or two buildings spaced here and there.  The homes have front doors that open right onto the sidewalk as was fashionable at the time, and in strolling down the street it is easy to imagine yourself back in time, as life was 150 years ago.

Isaac Bowen, Jr. House

Among the mansions and wealthy residences along Benefit Street are more modest dwellings in the Federal architecture style.  Though this Federal home doesn’t appear very modest to me.  The plaque by the door indicates that this was the home of Isaac Bowen, Jr. 1770-1804.

Thanks to the Providence Preservation Society, even simple structures bear plaques which indicate when they were built and who originally owned the house, like the home of Daniel Smith.  This house was originally built in 1750 in another area of Providence, but was moved by preservationists to Benefit Street in 1982.

Daniel Smith House c.1750

This was just a sampling of the architecture the street has to offer.  I hope you enjoyed our little stroll and learning about the history of Providence’s Benefit Street.  I wanted to share it with you, because I always enjoy walking along the street, envisioning what it would have been like living in the Colonial era.

Lisa Norato is the multi-published author of Prize of My Heart, an inspirational, seafaring historical from Bethany House, set during the Federal era. A life-long New Englander, Lisa lives in a historic village with homes and churches dating as far back as the eighteenth century