This article was originally published by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation as a pamphlet. Some changes to format were necessary for the internet when transcribed. A link to a PDF file of the original pamphlet is at the end of the article.
The Historic Architecture of Addison County
Vermont State Register of Historic Places
Goshen
Vermont Division For Historic Preservation
The Historic Architecture of Addison County
Including a listing of the Vermont State Register of Historic Places
Published by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation
Printed in the United States of America
Copyright 1992 The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used, reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any manner, except brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without written permission from the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation.
Editor - Curtis B. Johnson; Assistant Editor - Elsa Gilbertson; Addison - Susan E. Hollister; Bridport - Tracy A. Cunning; Bristol - Caroline E. Kane; Cornwall - Kevin D. Murphy; Ferrisburg - Kevin D. Murphy; Goshen - Traies Haydon Roe; Granville - Rose Anna Zingleman; Hancock - Rose Anna Zingleman; Leicester - Traies Haydon Roe; Lincoln - Rose Anna Zingleman, Taryn E. Monell; Middlebury Town - Tracy A. Cunning, Elizabeth F. Pritchett; Middlebury Village - Elsa Gilbertson; Monkton - Taryn E. Monell; New Haven - Kevin D. Murphy; Orwell -Taryn E. Monell; Panton - Tracy A. Cunning; Ripton - Traies Haydon Roe; Salisbury - Traies Haydon Roe; Shoreham - Taryn E. Monell; Starksboro - Caroline E. Kane, Elsa Gilbertson; Vergennes - Susan E. Hollister; Waltham - Traies Haydon Roe; Weybridge - Rose Anna Zingleman; Whiting - Traies Haydon Roe; (Principal photographer - Curtis B. Johnson).
This pamphlet is an excerpt The Historic Architecture of Addison Conroy. The complete volume contains a short history of Addison County, chapters for each town in the county, and a guide to Vermont architecture. An abbreviated version of the architecture guide is found on the back cover of this pamphlet.
The town chapters use historic architecture to tell the developmental history of each town from the first years of white settlement to World War II. Most of the photographs are contemporary to show the historic structures as they stand today. Sources used to prepare this book are listed in the select bibliography found in the complete county volume.
Structures referred to in the text that are listed in the State Register of Historic Places are identified by a number or street address in parenthesis corresponding to the Register listings and maps immediately following each town history. The list uses standardized terms to provide information on readily identifiable exterior features of Register sites. This information is gathered by surveying the exteriors of the structures. There may be discrepancies between demonstrable or asserted building dates and those dates given here.
For further information on The Historic Architecture of Addison County or the State Register of Historic Placer, please contact the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, Montpelier, Vermont 05602 (802-828-3226).
The activity that is the subject of this publication has been financed in part with Federal funds from the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. However, the contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of the Interior.
This program receives Federal funds from the National Park Service for the identification and protection of historic properties. Regulations of the U.S. Department of the Interior strictly prohibit unlawful discrimination in departmental Federally Assisted Programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, age or handicap. Any person who believes he or she has been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility operated by a recipient of Federal assistance should write to: Director, Equal Opportunity Program, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, P.O. 37127, Washington, D.C. 20013-7127
CAUTION: Most of the historic structures included in the town histories are privately owned and are not open to the public. When viewing, please be courteous.
FOREWORD
Historic structures are part of our daily lives in Vermont. We live in them, we shop in them, we continue to use them for the purposes for which they were built, or we find new ways to use them. Whether buildings or bridges, on the farm, in the village, or in the city, these history of the state because they visible reminder of our past.
Historic buildings also make a major contribution to the celebrated Vermont environment that is crucial to both our economic prosperity and to our personal well-being. Historic downtowns provide attractive places to shop and work. Industries locate in Vermont because of the quality of life here, and the presence of our history is one aspect of that quality. The travel industry in Vermont continues to grow. It is clear from every survey that travelers come to see our countryside with its historic hills, and mountains.
We must make a constant effort to protect historic buildings and their surroundings and be ready to intervene to prevent the forces of both man and nature from destroying what our ancestors placed on the landscape. The Historic Architecture of Addison County is part of the effort by the Division for Historic Preservation to encourage and enhance the appreciation and thoughtful use of our historic architectural resources and to save and protect them for the future. This publication identifies and documents the resources making up the rich architectural heritage left in our stewardship, and gives citizens of today information that is needed to plan for their preservation.
I hope the book will assist and encourage local preservation efforts, that it will be used by the property owners to learn about their buildings, by local officials in planning for the future of their towns, as a resource for teachers of Vermont and local history, as a guide for residents on Sunday drives, and as a way travelers from all over can learn about Vermont. More than this,I hope it helps us all recognize our heritage and the value of preserving it.
Eric Gilbertson
Director
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation
Goshen
A small Green Mountain town, Goshen is comprised of hilly and rocky terrain, drained by Sucker Brook in the north and the Mill Brook ravine in the southwest. Accessible after 1807 by a road running north from neighboring Brandon into Ripton, the town grew slowly to a peak of 621 residents in 1840. Although a turnpike (now traced in part by VT Route 73) was completed in 1838 to Carry loads of wood through the town to Brandon to fuel the furnaces of the iron industry there, most residents farmed. The village of Goshen developed around sawmills on Mill Brook where some timber was processed locally. After mid-century the population of the town began a long gradual decline, and many hill farms were abandoned as residents moved elsewhere.A few nineteenth century farmhouses, many cellar holes, and a church in the village now attest to the history of this isolated mountain town.
Thoroughly forested and with little arable land, Goshen was one of the last towns to be settled in Addison County. Tales are told of farmers traveling by foot to Pittsford and beyond to obtain grain in the early years. By the 1840s, however, wheat, corn, potatoes, and other crops were successfully grown in the narrow valleys, and a number of farmhouses date from that period. One (3) built about 1845 for C. S. Allen,a descendent of one of the earliest settlers, is a Classic Cottage type farmhouse. Its simple entry entablature with a thin cornice above the door is mirrored on a house (12) built in the same period for Francis Brown, who first settled in 1819 in the region known as Goshen South Hollow. A larger house at Goshen Four Corners (10, c.1850) is distinguished by its central cross gable which projects over the entryway, creating a recessed porch.
In the mid-nineteenth century, Goshen village developed near the western border of the town along the turnpike and Mill Brook. Methodists erected their church (6) there in 1848. Its simple Greek Revival style features include a pedimented gable, paneled corner pilasters, and an entablature and pilasters surrounding the door.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the population of Goshen gradually ebbed as many of its farmers moved to other towns and, in many cases, other states. Residents who stayed ventured into dairying, sheep breeding, and lumbering. Francis Brown II, nephew of the earlier settler, owned a large farmhouse (11, c.1875) near his uncle's homestead where he kept thirty-two dairy cows, a large herd by Vermont Standards.
After 1900 the population of Goshen continued its decline, although some reuse of abandoned farms began in the 1920's. In 1927 Camp Thorpe for Crippled Children was established on a former farm. In the 1930's several old farmhouses (such as 1, c.1835) were restored by new residents. In 1936 the better portion of the town, with maturing second-growth forest, became a part of the Green Mountain National Forest.
Today a few residents still farm and raise cattle in the valley, but most of the town is reforested. The Methodist Episcopal Church, marking the center of the diminished Goshen village, and a few scattered farm houses are now all that remain to illustrate the simple architecture of this remote hill town.
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This Georgian plan, Greek Revival style home (1, c.1835) is the largest early house remaining in Goshen. In the later nineteenth century farmer, lumber dealer, and blacksmith T. W. Dutton operated the forge and bellows in the blacksmith shop (1, related) on the farm. Abandoned in the early twentieth century, the farm was resettled and the farmhouse restored in the 1930s, and since the 1940s has been an inn, Blueberry Hill Farm. The original entryway of the house was recently replaced with a new doorway unit.
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Francis Brown began clearing his farm in 1819. About 1845 he erected this vernacular farmhouse (12) with its Greek Revival style entry. Today the barn built on the Brown farm about 1880 sits in isolation at the edge of the encroaching forest.
Town of Goshen Map
Sites listed in the State Register of Historic Places
(Numbers correspond to Register listing that follows)
Town of Goshen
Sites listed in the State Register of Historic Places (For locations see town map)
1 House, c.1835
Federal-Greek Revival style, Georgian plan.
Features: transom, sidelights, cornerblocks, gable fan.
Related shop.
2 Late Bank Barn, c.1880
Features: weathervane, cupola
3 House, c.1845
Vernacular-Greek Revival style, Classic Cottage.
Features: kneewall window, entry tablature. Related barn.
4 House, c.1900
Gable roof, 1½ stories.
Features: Colonial Revival porch.
5 School, c.1860
Gable roof, 1½ stories.
Features: bank of windows.
6 Church, 1848
Greek Revival style, gable roof, 1 story.
Features: flushboard, full entablature, panelled corner plaster, entry entablature, entry pilasters.
7 House, c.1860/1900
Classic Cottage
Features: Gothic wall dormer, Colonial Revival porch, Queen Anne porch, applied woodwork.
Related carriage barn.
8 House, c.1850
Classic Cottage.
Related carriage barn.
Features: carriage bays.
9 House, C.1880/C.1910
Vernacular-Colonial Revival style, wood shingle, gable roof, 1½ stories.
Features: Colonial Revival porch, distinctive chimney.
10 House, c. 1850
Tri-Gable Ell, 1½ stories.
Features: sidelights, porch.
Related barn.
Features: ventilators.
11 House, c. 1875
Vernacular-Italianate style, sidehall plan, 114 stories.
Features: Italianate porch, cornice caps, distinctive door, entry entablature.
12 House, c.1845
Vernacular-Greek Revival style, Classic Cottage.
Features: sidelights, entry entablature, kneewall window.
Related carriage barn.
GLOSSARY
Note: all terms are defined as they are used in this publication. They may have other meanings not included here.
bank barn: A barn whose basement is built into the side of a hill or earthen bank and whose first floor stable is at grade level.
bargeboard: Decorative board, often scroll sawn or carved, ornamenting rooflines.
bay: Regular vertical divisions of the exterior of a building, usually defined by the door and window openings.
belvedere: Roof top structure, usually with windows on all sides.
board and batten: Exterior siding of flush, wide, vertical planks with narrow wooden strips (battens) covering the joints.
c. or circa: Used before a date to indicate that the date is approximate.
Cape Cod: A 1½ story house, five bays wide across the eaves side, with a central entry, eaves with little or no overhang, and originally built with a large central chimney.
Classic Cottage: A 1½ story house, five bays wide across the eaves side, with a central entry, characterized by a kneewall, and originally built with stove chimneys, usually symmetrically placed, on the ridgeline.
c o l u m n A vertical support
that consists of a base, shaft,
and capital. In classical
architecture there are five
types: Doric, Tuscan, Ionic,
C o r i n t h i a n , and Composite.
c o n t i n u o u s a r c h i t e c t u r e
A f a r m h o u s e linked to its
attached b a r n s a n d out-
buildings.
c o r n i c e Topmost part of an
entablature. Also a decorative
band found u n d e r rooflines.
d e n t i l s A band of toothlike
blocks o r n a m e n t i n g a cornice.
e l l A secondary block of a
building whose roof ridge runs
at a right angle to that of the
m a i n block.
e n t a b l a t u r e T h r e e - p a r t trim
consisting of an architrave,
frieze, and cornice, and f o u n d
u n d e r rooflines (full entabla-
ture) and over doors.
f a c a d e Face or wall of a
building, usually referring to
the front wall.
f a n A semi-circular or ellip-
tical f r a m e usually filled with
radiating wooden louvers
above a door or window or in
the gable ends.
f a n l i g h t A semi-circular or
elliptical window, often with
radiating dividers or leaded
glass patterns, above a door or
window or in the gable ends.
f l u s h b o a r d s i d i n g
Horizontal boards laid flush to
create smooth exterior walls.
F o u r s q u a r e A 2 story tall
house built in the early 1900s,
nearly square in plan, with a
hip roof, full width front
porch, and usually a central
dormer.
g a b l e r o o f Pitched roof with
two sloping sides that meet at a
ridge (the gable being the tri-
a n g u l a r wall area formed by
the roof slopes).
g a m b r e l r o o f Roof with two
double-pitched sloping sides
m e e t i n g at a ridge.
G e o r g i a n p l a n A 2 or
2 Vi story house, five bays wide
across the eaves side with a
room on each side of a central
entryway, and two rooms deep.
G o t h i c w a l l d o r m e r Steeply
pitched d o r m e r whose front is
a continuation of the m a i n
wall.
g r o u n d l e v e l s t a b l e b a r n A
b a r n that has its m a i n floor at
g r o u n d level, a hay loft above,
n o basement, a n d often a. gam-
brel roof.
h a l f p l a n h o u s e A Cape Cod,
Classic Cottage, Georgian plan, or
I-house that is three bays wide
across the eaves side, with the
d o o r in the left or right bay.
h i g h d r i v e A r a m p , often
enclosed, leading f r o m the
g r o u n d u p to the m a i n level of
a barn. Most c o m m o n l y f o u n d
on bank barns.
h i g h s t y l e H a v i n g m a n y or
all of the characteristics of a
particular architectural style.
h i p r o o f Roof with four
sloping sides m e e t i n g at a
point or short ridgeline.
I - h o u s e A 2 or 214 story
house, five bays wide across the
eaves side, with a central entry,
and only one r o o m deep.
e r k i n h e a d r o o f A gable
roof in which the gable peaks
are clipped off and inclined
backward.
k e y s t o n e Wedge-shaped
center stone in a n arch.
k n e e w a l l T h e area between
the top of the first floor
windows and the eaves of a 1 or
Wi story building.
l i n t e l A horizontal stone,
brick, cast-iron, or wooden
b e a m that spans the top of a
door or window opening.
M a n s a r d r o o f Roof with
four double-pitched sloping
sides, the lower pitch b e i n g
steeper t h a n the upper.
m o d i l l i o n s Small scrolled
brackets u n d e r the over-
h a n g i n g section of a cornice.
o r i e l w i n d o w Multi-sided
window that projects f r o m a
wall and whose base does not
reach the g r o u n d .
P a l l a d i a n w i n d o w T h r e e
part window consisting of a
r o u n d - h e a d e d window flanked
by two shorter a n d narrower
windows, each part usually
being f r a m e d by pilasters or
columns.
p a v i l i o n w i t h e l l s p l a n
H o u s e form consisting of a
m a i n block, generally with a
gable front, a n d flanking
m a t c h i n g ells.
p e d i m e n t T h e triangular
wall area inside a gable and
f r a m e d by cornices along all
three sides. Also used to mean
cornice-framed elements,
either t r i a n g u l a r or other
shapes, found over doors or
windows.
p i l a s t e r Flat representation
of a column.
q u o i n s Blocks of stone or
o t h e r materials found at the
corners of buildings. Usually
a r r a n g e d in an alternating pat-
tern of large and small blocks.
r a k i n g w i n d o w Gable end
window set at an angle
between the rooflines of the
m a i n house block and its wing.
s h e d r o o f Roof with a single
slope.
s i d e h a l l p l a n H o u s e form
with a gable front and main
d o o r (leading into a hallway) in
the left or right h a n d bay.
s i d e l i g h t s N a r r o w vertical
windows, usually consisting of
small panes or patterned
leaded glass, flanking a door.
s u r r o u n d T h e f r a m e and
trim s u r r o u n d i n g the sides and
top of a d o o r or window.
t h r e e - q u a r t e r p l a n h o u s e
A Cape Cod, Classic Cottage,
Georgian plan, or I-house four
bays wide across the eaves side
with a window on one side of
the door and two on the other.
t r a n s o m Row of glass panes
located directly above a door.
T r i - G a b l e E l l Gable front
house with an ell almost the
same height as the main block.
Built in late 1800s and early
1900s.
v e r n a c u l a r H a v i n g few of
the elements or o r n a m e n t a l
details characterizing a partic-
ular architectural style.