Area residents hear historical

presentation of Waite/Potter House

By Daniel H. King

Staff Writer – Dartmouth Chronicle

WESTPORT — On Thursday, January 17 historically-minded local residents headed to a packed Lee’s Market Community Room to hear Anne Baker give a presentation on both the history of the Waite/Potter House and of the chimney rebuilding project.

Ms. Baker’s slideshow presentation offered the viewers a pictorial history of the house and a steady visual stream of progress that encapsulated the rebuilding process.

Opening the event Ms. Baker told the audience the Waite/Potter House, a Rhode Island Stone Ender, is, “a rare 17 century structure.”

The original farm, she explained, was 200 acres which spanned both sides of Main Road and went as far east as the Noquochoke River. Originally the land was owned by William Earle and was considered part of the town of Dartmouth. In 1661 Mr. Earle transferred the parcel to Thomas Waite of Portsmouth, RI.

Thomas Waite then married Sarah Cook by his 27 birthday, moved to the property, and built the unique one and half story house. She explained Waite’s Rhode Island roots influenced his building design and that’s why there’s a Rhode Island Stone Ender in Westport, MA.

She explained the original style came to the new world from the Tutor-Gothic style of yeoman’s cottages in England. The term stone ender was applied because the structure had a large stone fireplace incorporated into its interior side. “There’s only four remaining in Rhode Island,” she noted.

In 1728 Thomas’s son Benjamin sold a portion of parcel to Robert Kirby who in 1760 added one room to the opposite side of the stone chimney.

After the Kirby’s stopped living in the house, it was used as a farm building and pig pen and by 1945 was in disrepair. In 1954 Hurricane Carol ripped the main roof from the structure leaving it open to rot and ruin. By 1962 the chimney had started to topple as the main support, the large oak lintel that held up the throat of the chimney, had rotted.

“By 2006 everything had collapsed in the front,” Ms. Baker explained of the remaining chimney. That was scary, she noted emphatically to the crowd, and it was clear then something needed to be done to save the chimney before it fell into complete disrepair.

Luckily, Ms. Baker had a detailed study guide to help throughout the repair of the chimney. The Historical American Building Survey (HABS) drawing from 1933 was obtained and as Ms. Baker expressed, “it’s just a treasure.” The drawing which was part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was as thorough and complete as she could have wanted. “It was so helpful for us particularly,” she said.

As the project began Ms. Baker explained, “This house actually began to talk.” “It woke up and screamed,” she said, continuing, “it was very exciting to hear what it had to say.”

Before the chimney rebuilding could begin the chimney and work area first needed to be cleared of trees, vines and debris. She explained they had to cut down a tree which could have fallen and collapsed the chimney, and clear the stacked-stones of climbing ivy.

The ivy was kind of bittersweet, she said, in one sense it was helping to hold up the chimney and in the other it was destroying it.

As they cleared away or blow-torched the natural debris she said they found the opening to the original bee-hive oven, which was behind a smaller, newer brick fireplace built inside the original stone end.

Ms. Baker was very enthusiastic about the workers on the site, particularly one. “Without Brian (Jones) this never would have happened,” she said, “he was so enthusiastic, he was so interested, he was a born-again archeologist.”

As they progressed the workers re-pointed the stone below the mantle, all of which was done in white for the stones which were never removed, but in brown for all the replaced stones to signify the difference.

Before they could reach the throat of the chimney to replace the stones (luckily enough with the originals which had been saved) and point them with brown mortar, the large oak lintel supporting the stones above needed to be replaced. Ms. Baker explained they could not find the 18 inch by 18 inch by 13 foot white oak lintel anywhere locally. They finally found one in North Carolina she said and all 1500 pounds of it was shipped here. Once the lintel was placed they started working on the throat.

“There you could really feel the person doing his work,” said Ms. Baker getting a sense of Thomas Waite building the original chimney over four centuries ago.

Of the chimney she said, “It was a massive chimney.”

Also as part of the rebuilding project the crew rebuilt the brick chimney and fireplace that Robert Kirby had built with his addition in 1760.

Concluding her presentation Ms. Baker said of the 329 year old Waite/Potter House, “it has been a sharer in all its (Westport’s) struggles and remains now for future generations.”

Carlton Brownell, who had tried to partake in saving the house in the 1950s stood up to say pleasantly awed, “I would have never expected to see that chimney reconstructed.”

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