“The Waite-Potter
Chimney Stands Alone”
By
Jon Alden
Everythingwestport.com
March
1, 2008
Photos
by everythingwestport.com except as
noted
Above left: Muriel (Potter) Bibeau. Center:
The west exterior wall of the original Waite-Potter house. Right: The restoration efforts revealed
the original firebox and beehive oven (seen in the right of the photo). The
brick-faced liner (seen in the left of the photo) was added much later for
heating efficiency and to accommodate improved cooking methods.
My first
on-site visit this year to the Waite-Potter restoration site was monumental.
The remains of the original homestead were much more than the small chimney I’d
imagined. It was the entire west wall of the house! An
enormous structure of field and quarried stone, and mortar. It’s a true
memorial to the 1670’s house that may be Westport’s earliest known
European-built structure.
“Pete”
Baker gave a methodical PowerPoint presentation on the restoration recently at
the Lees Community Room to a packed audience. She took us through the
time-consuming and sometimes overwhelmingly picky work of preparing the ivy and
bittersweet encrusted chimney portion of the remaining wall for masonry
restoration. Trees were cut down, and the area was cleared of brush and debris.
Stevens Masonry of Cranston, RI
dispatched employees Brian Jones and
Mike Pierro
to the job site to assist Pete in this labor of love. “I first saw the chimney
in 1978,” Pete said. It wasn’t until 2007 that I actively took an interest in
the chimney’s restoration.” A two week scheduled effort lasted over two
months! CPC funding of over $16,000
funded the effort.
Above left: “Pete” Baker taking us through the
history of the Waite-Potter house. Center:
Audience members review the table full of artifacts uncovered during the
restoration. Right: The Waite-Potter
house less than two months before the August 31, 1954 devastation of Hurricane
Carol.
As an
architectural style, “stone enders” were built c. 1640-1700, and incorporated a
massive stone chimney for most or the entire north wall. According to American
Houses: A Field Guide to the Architecture of the Home by Gerald L. Foster, lime
needed to make mortar was scarce in 17th century Massachusetts, and builders
were forced to import it from England, making stone and brick masonry work
expensive - early masons set their fireplace and chimney bricks in clay, using
lime mortar only above the roof where the chimney was exposed to the weather.
However, lime did occur naturally around Narragansett Bay, and stone was
commonly used for very large fireplaces and chimneys.
The “stone
ender” seems to have begun as a typical one-room English cottage with sleeping
space upstairs and a massive stone fireplace making up nearly one entire end of
the house. The steeply gabled roof reflects the medieval English tradition of
thatching (promotes rain run-off). The construction of the stone chimney was
commonly embellished with at least a heavy cornice if not multiple pilasters.
Pictures of the “stone-ender” before restoration. Photos by Pete Baker.
Our “stone
ender” ended up in Westport because the original owner, Thomas Waite, was from
Portsmouth RI, where many “stone- enders” had been built. We certainly had lots
of stone, and lime was readily available. The year of construction is blurred,
somewhere between 1667 and 1677. Robert Kirby added one room on the opposite
side of the chimney in 1760.
Above left: Map highlighting locations of “stone-enders”
in southeastern Rhode Island and Westport. “Stone-enders” indicated by yellow
stickers. Right: Restoration
complete!
In the
photo to the left, Muriel (Potter)
Bibeau is seen as a young girl standing next to the doorway with her dogs and
grandmother.
The
Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) is the
nation's first federal preservation program, begun in 1933 to document
America's architectural heritage. HABS photographer
Arthur C. Haskell took the picture below
left on April, 1934; the drawing on the right was done by Eugene L. Morgan at the same time.
At the
recent presentation, Carlton Brownell of Little Compton lamented that
preservation efforts after the war were under-funded and drew little interest
from everyday folk. After Carol’s destructive rampage, Carlton used some of the
floor boards and other salvageable pieces of the ruined Waite-Potter house to
help in the restoration of the Wilbur house in Little Compton.
“Many of
the stones used to rebuild the front of collapsed chimney’s throat came from
the borders of my gardens,” Muriel (Potter) Bibeau said. “These stones
originally came from the chimney and were used as borders when the chimney’s
lintel rotted, allowing the stones to fall.” She mused for a moment. “Pete and
her crew did a wonderful job. In the spring I plan to plant some hydrangeas
around the chimney to ground it into the yard’s landscaping.”
Above left: Carlton Brownell. Left Center: Anne “Pete” Baker. Right
Center: Jenny O’Neill introducing “Pete” Baker to the gathering at the Lees
Community Room meeting on January 17, 2008. Right: A proud Stevens Masonry crew on a job well done.
The Waite-Potter restoration is
located on private property, and the owner requests that everyone respect her
privacy, and not to attempt to visit the property. She is very appreciative of
your consideration.
Above left: Waite-Potter house just after
Hurricane Carol - 1954. Center: Muriel
and Pete. Right: Site location
showing excavated house basement foundation and chimney.
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