Clemuel Ricketts Mansion
Encyclopedia
The Clemuel Ricketts Mansion (also known as the Stone House, the William R. Ricketts House, and Ganoga) is a Georgian-style
house made of sandstone
, built in 1852 or 1855 on the shore of Ganoga Lake
in Colley Township, Sullivan County
, Pennsylvania
in the United States. It was home to several generations of the Ricketts family, including R. Bruce Ricketts
and William Reynolds Ricketts
. Originally built as a hunting lodge, it was also a tavern and post office, and served as part of a hotel for much of the 19th century.
After 1903 the house served as the Ricketts family's summer home; they kept it even as they sold over 65000 acres (26,304.6 ha) to the state of Pennsylvania from 1920 to 1950. The house was included in the Historic American Buildings Survey
(HABS) in 1936 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
(NRHP) in 1983. A group of investors bought the lake, surrounding land, and house in 1957 and developed them privately for housing and recreation. The house became the Ganoga Lake Association's clubhouse, and is not open to the public.
The original mansion is an L-shaped structure, two-and-a-half stories high, with stone walls 2 foot (0.6096 m) thick. It was built in a clearing surrounded by old-growth forest with a view to the lake 900 feet (274.3 m) to the east. In 1913 a -story wing was added to the north side of the house and the original structure was renovated. The house has twenty-eight rooms, four porches, and its original hardware and woodwork. Dormer
s and some windows were added in the renovation, and electrical wiring and modern plumbing have been added since. According to the NRHP nomination form, the Clemuel Ricketts Mansion "is a stunning example of Georgian vernacular architecture".
in Colley Township in the southeastern part of Sullivan County
. The mansion and lake are on a part of the Allegheny Plateau
known as North Mountain; the plateau formed about 300 to 250 million years ago in the Alleghenian orogeny
. Rocks—gray sandstone with conglomerates
and some siltstone
—of the Mississippian Pocono Formation
more than 340 million years old, underlie the house and lake. The lake is in a shallow valley, 13 feet (4 m) deep, which is impounded by glacial till
up to 30 feet (9.1 m) thick at the southeast end, where Kitchen Creek
exits.
The earliest recorded inhabitants of the region were the Susquehannock
s, who left or died out by 1675. The land then came under the control of the Iroquois
, who sold it to the British in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix
in 1768. The land on which the house was later built was first part of Northumberland County
, then became part of Lycoming County
in 1795. The Susquehanna and Tioga Turnpike
, which followed the lake's western shore, was built between 1822 and 1827; it connected the Pennsylvania communities of Berwick
in the south and Towanda
in the north. The lake was then known as Long Pond, and the Long Pond Tavern, just north of the where the house was later built, was a lunch stop for the stagecoach on the turnpike. Sullivan County was formed from Lycoming County in 1847, and two years later Colley Township was formed from Cherry Township
.
north of Ganoga Lake in 1850, and wanted their own hunting preserve. They bought the lake, Long Pond Tavern, and 5000 acres (2,023.4 ha) of surrounding land in the early 1850s and soon began building a stone house between the turnpike and the lake shore to replace the log tavern. According to William Reynolds Ricketts
' HABS history of the house, Petrillo's history of the region Ghost Towns of North Mountain, and the house's NRHP nomination form, the Ricketts brothers bought the lake and surrounding land in 1851, began building the stone house that year, and finished it in 1852. The year 1852 is also carved in stone on the front (west side) of the house, which faced the highway. However, according to Tomasak's The Life and Times of Robert Bruce Ricketts, the brothers purchased the lake, tavern, and land on April 13, 1853, for $550 (approximately $ in ), and had the house built from 1854 to 1855.
According to Ricketts family tradition, Gad Seward built the mansion. While it was originally known as "Ricketts Folly" for its isolated location in the wilderness, the official name was the Stone House. The house served as the brothers' lodge and as a tavern for travelers on the turnpike. Clemuel was named postmaster
of a new post office at the lake on October 3, 1853, and received a tavern license from Sullivan County on August 7, 1854. When Clemuel died in 1858, Elijah bought his share of the house and land. The post office closed April 12, 1860.
Elijah's son Robert Bruce Ricketts
(1839–1918), for whom the nearby Ricketts Glen State Park
is named, joined the Union Army
as a private at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, and rose through the ranks to become a colonel in the artillery. After the war, R. B. Ricketts returned to Pennsylvania and purchased the stone house, lake, and some of the land around it from his father on September 25, 1869, for $3,969.81 (approximately $ in ); eventually he controlled or owned more than 80000 acres (32,374.9 ha), including the lake and the park's glens and waterfalls
.
From 1872 to 1875 Ricketts and his partners operated a sawmill
0.5 mile (0.80467 km) southeast of his house. In 1872 Ricketts used lumber from the mill to build a three-story wooden addition about 100 feet (30.5 m) north of the stone house, with a verandah
connecting the two. The addition cost $45,000 (approximately $ in ), and was known as the Ark for its resemblance to Noah's Ark
. That same year Ricketts put new white birch
floors in the stone house, which are still there as of 2008.
, Philadelphia, New York City
, and other places, were Ricketts' friends and relations. The hotel was open year-round; in summer, guests frequently arrived after school let out in June and stayed until school resumed in September. In 1876 and 1877, Ricketts ran the first summer school in the United States at his house and hotel; one of the teachers was Joseph Rothrock
, later known as the "Father of Forestry" in Pennsylvania.
By 1874 Ricketts had renamed Long Pond as Highland Lake, and by 1875 had named the highest waterfall on Kitchen Creek as Ganoga Falls. That year the North Mountain House hotel was featured in John B. Bachelder
's travel guide Popular resorts, and how to reach them, which praised its location in a virgin forest, the lake and nearby waterfalls, and opportunities for hunting, fishing, and hiking. In 1881, Ricketts renamed Highland Lake as Ganoga Lake. Pennsylvania senator Charles R. Buckalew
suggested the name Ganoga, an Iroquoian word which he said meant "water on the mountain" in the Seneca language
.
The house and hotel were on the east side of the old turnpike; a 100 acres (40.5 ha) field on the other side of the road had a small herd of milk cows and a vegetable garden to provide for the guests' needs. The field also had a rifle range and a nine-hole golf course
. Guests could enjoy tennis and croquet
, and a lawn stretched from the house east to the lake, which offered boating and bathing
. There was an outlook point 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) southwest of the house, and Ricketts built a 40 feet (12.2 m) observation tower at the highest point on North Mountain, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south. After the first tower collapsed, he built a 100 feet (30.5 m) replacement, and named the site Grand View.
Ricketts was a lumberman who made his fortune clearcutting
nearly all his land, but no logging was allowed within 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) of the lake, and the glens and their waterfalls in the state park were "saved from the lumberman's axe through the foresight of the Ricketts family". One hemlock tree cut near the lake to clear land for a building in 1893 was 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter and 532 years old. The North Mountain House hotel was threatened by a forest fire in 1900; the subsequent loss of much of the surrounding old-growth forest led to decreased numbers of hotel guests. Changing tastes may have also played a role in the decline in popularity; the hotel had over 150 guests in August 1878, but only about 70 guests in August 1894.
In 1903 another large fire on North Mountain threatened the sawmill in the lumber town of Ricketts
northeast of the lake. Beginning in 1893, a 3.85 miles (6.2 km) branch line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad
ran from Ricketts to a log station at the north end of the lake; a boardwalk
and coach service brought guests from the station to the hotel. There was daily passenger service to Wilkes-Barre and Towanda, and the line also served freight trains hauling ice from the lake for use in refrigeration from 1895.
The North Mountain House was long known for its rustic charms; it was heated with open fireplaces, decorated with animal skins and hatracks made of antlers, and had two live black bears
on chains in the field across the road from the house. In 1895 and 1900 the stone house was refurbished, and telephone service, acetylene lighting
, and steam heat were added. In 1900 The Sullivan Review newspaper recalled its former state and wrote of the changes: "We hardly call that an improvement. ... When the North Mountain House is lighted by gas, heated by a modern furnace, etc., its great charm is gone."
approved this in 1908, after he paid for the construction of the new highway, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of the house. Thomas Henry Atherton of Wilkes-Barre was the architect for a new wing that was added to the stone house in 1913, as well as renovations to the original structure. Ricketts died in 1918 at the stone house; his wife died a few days after and they are buried in the small Ricketts family cemetery near the north end of the lake. As part of Ricketts' will
, the stone house and its outbuildings were valued at $12,000 in 1918 (approximately $ in ).
R. B. Ricketts and his wife had three children; their son William Reynolds Ricketts
(1869–1956) lived in the house after his parents' deaths. Beginning in 1920, the Ricketts heirs began selling land to the state of Pennsylvania, but still owned over 12000 acres (4,856.2 ha) surrounding the house, Ganoga Lake, and the glens with their waterfalls. The stone house was included in the Historic American Buildings Survey
(HABS) in 1936 as the William R. Ricketts House. Atherton, the architect for the 1913 addition, helped prepare the HABS architectural drawings, which gave the house's name as "Ganoga". William Reynolds Ricketts' history for the HABS refers to it as the stone house. The area was approved as a national park
site in the 1930s; a 1935 article in The New York Times
reported that the federal government planned to purchase 22000 acres (8,903.1 ha) in the area, mentioning the waterfalls and the Ricketts estate and house, which it called "the oldest stone hotel in Pennsylvania". The National Park Service
operated a Civilian Conservation Corps
camp at "Ricketts Glynn" (sic
), but budget problems and World War II
brought an end to national plans for development.
In 1942 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania began buying the glens and their waterfalls from the heirs for $82,000 (approximately $ in ) and opened Ricketts Glen State Park in 1944; from 1920 to 1950 the state bought more than 65000 acres (26,304.6 ha) from the Ricketts family for the park and Pennsylvania State Game Lands
. William Reynolds Ricketts died in 1956 and the lake and surrounding land were sold in October 1957 for $109,000 (approximately $ in ). The Department of Forests and Waters (predecessor of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
) bid on the 3140 acres (1,270.7 ha) including the house and lake, but were outbid by a group of private investors. These "formed the Lake Ganoga Association in September 1959 to regulate and preserve the recreation and residential facilities at Lake Ganoga". The association built a road around the lake, cleared some land at its southern end, and its members built about 50 houses on the lake shore. In 1983 the stone house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
as the Clemuel Ricketts Mansion; it serves as the association's headquarters and clubhouse, and is used for association meetings, weddings, and picnics. As part of a private development, the house and lake are not open to the public: "To all outsiders that have no property aound the lake, the lake and grounds are off limits."
and had traveled widely. In the 1840s he published a book which examined the British and European sources of colonial architecture in the United States. Clemuel designed the house in the colonial or Georgian
style in the early 1850s; construction began in either 1851 or 1854 and finished the next year.
The Clemuel Ricketts Mansion lies 900 feet (274.3 m) west of Ganoga Lake, on what the HABS map described as a 2.2 acre (0.8903092 ha) "clearing completely surrounded by primeval forest", with a view to the lake. The house was originally on the east side of the turnpike and faced it, but when what became Pennsylvania Route 487 was built in 1907, the course of the highway was changed so that it now runs on the other (east) side of the lake. Since then, the house is on a private road 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the highway.
The original house built in the 1850s is L-shaped. According to the architectural drawings made for the HABS, the bottom of the L is 60 in 4 in (18.39 m) north–south by 35 in 8 in (10.87 m) east–west. In 1935 the ground floor of this part of the house included the main door and entrance hall, living room, parlor, library, and stairs. The main entrance is on the west side, which has a porch 60 in 4 in (18.39 m) wide by 12 feet (3.7 m) deep, supported by pairs of square pillars with stairs on the north, south, and west sides. The top of the L is 24 in 2 in (7.37 m) north–south by 40 in 6 in (12.34 m) east–west, and in 1935 the ground floor of the top of the L had the dining room, gun room, "brush up room", toilet, stairs, and a passage to the 1913 addition. The inside corner of the L has a two-story covered porch along the south side, and an open terrace on the east side's ground floor. In 1935 the second story of the original house had four bedrooms and a bathroom in the lower part of the L and two bedrooms and a bath in the upper part, as well as two staircases and hallways.
The mansion's stone walls are 2 foot (0.6096 m) thick; the individual building stones are "field sandstone about 17 inches square, of various thicknesses" (17 inches is 43 cm). There is a basement below the original house. The lower part of the L is five bays
by two bays; the original double-hung sash window
s in each bay of the 1850s house have six panes of glass per sash. All the original windows have shutters
, these are paneled on the first floor and louvered on the second. The main door is in the Federal style
with a large fanlight
above the door and sidelight
s on either side. The attic in the 1850s part of the house is not finished, and the gable roof
has "boxed cornice
s with returns".
In 1897 or 1903 a formal garden was added north of the stone house, on the site of the razed wooden structure where most of the hotel guests had stayed. In 1913 a two-and-half story wing was added on the north side of the original house, which was renovated; Thomas Henry Atherton was the architect. The new wing is 48 in 3 in (14.71 m) north–south and 20 in 4 in (6.2 m) east–west, with a large enclosed one-story porch on the north and east sides. In 1935 the addition had the kitchen, pantry, storage and refrigeration rooms, and a "maid's dining room" on the first floor, two bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor, and two servant rooms and a bath in the finished attic.
The new wing has six dormer
s (three on a side), and six dormers were added to the old house in the 1913 renovation (four on the east side, two on the west). The windows on the first floor of the new wing matched the old windows, but the windows in the second story of the addition have twelve panes in the upper sash and eight in the lower. As part of the renovation work, four new windows were placed in the 1850s house: two just west of the new wing, and two on the east wall of the lower part of the L. A small porch was added in the corner where the west wall of the new wing meets the north wall of the old house, and all the old porches were restored. In the original house two chimneys were restored and two replaced, and new fireplaces were installed in the living room, library, and dining room. The house has a total of 28 rooms.
The NRHP nomination form lists two other structures on the property: a utility building made of brick and covered in stucco
east of the house, and a large barn to the southwest. Since the house's 1913 renovation, the only changes have been the installation of electrical wiring and modernization of the plumbing. The original hardware and woodwork are still present inside the house. According to the NRHP nomination form, the Clemuel Ricketts Mansion "is a stunning example of Georgian vernacular architecture" which "represents the manifestations of one man's architectural dream preserved within the wilderness for over a century".
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
house made of sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, built in 1852 or 1855 on the shore of Ganoga Lake
Ganoga Lake
Ganoga Lake is a natural lake in Colley Township in southeast Sullivan County in Pennsylvania, United States. Known as Robinson's Lake and Long Pond for most of the 19th century, the lake was purchased by the Ricketts family in the early 1850s and became part of R. Bruce Ricketts' extensive...
in Colley Township, Sullivan County
Sullivan County, Pennsylvania
Sullivan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population is 6,428. Sullivan County was created on March 15, 1847, from part of Lycoming County and named for Charles Sullivan, leader of the Pennsylvania Senate...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
in the United States. It was home to several generations of the Ricketts family, including R. Bruce Ricketts
R. Bruce Ricketts
Robert Bruce Ricketts distinguished himself as an artillery officer in the American Civil War. He is best known for his battery’s defense against a Confederate attack on Cemetery Hill on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.-Early life:...
and William Reynolds Ricketts
William Reynolds Ricketts
William Reynolds Ricketts , of Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, was a philatelist who created the largest index of philatelic literature available during his lifetime. He was considered as the “greatest philatelic indexer of all time.” Ricketts was the son of R...
. Originally built as a hunting lodge, it was also a tavern and post office, and served as part of a hotel for much of the 19th century.
After 1903 the house served as the Ricketts family's summer home; they kept it even as they sold over 65000 acres (26,304.6 ha) to the state of Pennsylvania from 1920 to 1950. The house was included in the Historic American Buildings Survey
Historic American Buildings Survey
The Historic American Buildings Survey , Historic American Engineering Record , and Historic American Landscapes Survey are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consists of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written...
(HABS) in 1936 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
(NRHP) in 1983. A group of investors bought the lake, surrounding land, and house in 1957 and developed them privately for housing and recreation. The house became the Ganoga Lake Association's clubhouse, and is not open to the public.
The original mansion is an L-shaped structure, two-and-a-half stories high, with stone walls 2 foot (0.6096 m) thick. It was built in a clearing surrounded by old-growth forest with a view to the lake 900 feet (274.3 m) to the east. In 1913 a -story wing was added to the north side of the house and the original structure was renovated. The house has twenty-eight rooms, four porches, and its original hardware and woodwork. Dormer
Dormer
A dormer is a structural element of a building that protrudes from the plane of a sloping roof surface. Dormers are used, either in original construction or as later additions, to create usable space in the roof of a building by adding headroom and usually also by enabling addition of windows.Often...
s and some windows were added in the renovation, and electrical wiring and modern plumbing have been added since. According to the NRHP nomination form, the Clemuel Ricketts Mansion "is a stunning example of Georgian vernacular architecture".
Location
The Clemuel Ricketts Mansion is on the southwest shore of Ganoga LakeGanoga Lake
Ganoga Lake is a natural lake in Colley Township in southeast Sullivan County in Pennsylvania, United States. Known as Robinson's Lake and Long Pond for most of the 19th century, the lake was purchased by the Ricketts family in the early 1850s and became part of R. Bruce Ricketts' extensive...
in Colley Township in the southeastern part of Sullivan County
Sullivan County, Pennsylvania
Sullivan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population is 6,428. Sullivan County was created on March 15, 1847, from part of Lycoming County and named for Charles Sullivan, leader of the Pennsylvania Senate...
. The mansion and lake are on a part of the Allegheny Plateau
Allegheny Plateau
The Allegheny Plateau is a large dissected plateau area in western and central New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Ohio...
known as North Mountain; the plateau formed about 300 to 250 million years ago in the Alleghenian orogeny
Alleghenian orogeny
The Alleghenian orogeny or Appalachian orogeny is one of the geological mountain-forming events that formed the Appalachian Mountains and Allegheny Mountains. The term and spelling Alleghany orogeny was originally proposed by H.P. Woodward in 1957....
. Rocks—gray sandstone with conglomerates
Conglomerate (geology)
A conglomerate is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained matrix that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts...
and some siltstone
Siltstone
Siltstone is a sedimentary rock which has a grain size in the silt range, finer than sandstone and coarser than claystones.- Description :As its name implies, it is primarily composed of silt sized particles, defined as grains 1/16 - 1/256 mm or 4 to 8 on the Krumbein phi scale...
—of the Mississippian Pocono Formation
Pocono Formation
The Mississippian Pocono Formation is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia, USA. It is also known as the Pocono Group in Maryland and West Virginia,...
more than 340 million years old, underlie the house and lake. The lake is in a shallow valley, 13 feet (4 m) deep, which is impounded by glacial till
Till
thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....
up to 30 feet (9.1 m) thick at the southeast end, where Kitchen Creek
Kitchen Creek (Pennsylvania)
Kitchen Creek is a tributary of Huntington Creek in Fairmount and Huntington townships in Luzerne County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.It is best known as the main stream flowing through Ricketts Glen State Park and has 24 named waterfalls within the park. Kitchen Creek is in the larger...
exits.
The earliest recorded inhabitants of the region were the Susquehannock
Susquehannock
The Susquehannock people were Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries from the southern part of what is now New York, through Pennsylvania, to the mouth of the Susquehanna in Maryland at the north end of the Chesapeake Bay...
s, who left or died out by 1675. The land then came under the control of the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
, who sold it to the British in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix
Treaty of Fort Stanwix
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix was an important treaty between North American Indians and the British Empire. It was signed in 1768 at Fort Stanwix, located in present-day Rome, New York...
in 1768. The land on which the house was later built was first part of Northumberland County
Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
There were 38,835 households out of which 27.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.40% were married couples living together, 9.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.10% were non-families. 30.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.50% had...
, then became part of Lycoming County
Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
-Appalachian Mountains and Allegheny Plateau:Lycoming County is divided between the Appalachian Mountains in the south, the dissected Allegheny Plateau in the north and east, and the valley of the West Branch Susquehanna River between these.-West Branch Susquehanna River:The West Branch of the...
in 1795. The Susquehanna and Tioga Turnpike
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
, which followed the lake's western shore, was built between 1822 and 1827; it connected the Pennsylvania communities of Berwick
Berwick, Pennsylvania
Berwick is a borough in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, 22.6 miles southwest of Wilkes Barre. Berwick is one of two principal cities of the Bloomsburg–Berwick Micropolitan Statistical Area, a micropolitan area that covers Columbia and Montour counties and had a combined population of 82,387...
in the south and Towanda
Towanda, Pennsylvania
Towanda is a borough in and the county seat of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, United States, northwest of Wilkes Barre, on the Susquehanna River. The name means "burial ground" in the Algonquian language...
in the north. The lake was then known as Long Pond, and the Long Pond Tavern, just north of the where the house was later built, was a lunch stop for the stagecoach on the turnpike. Sullivan County was formed from Lycoming County in 1847, and two years later Colley Township was formed from Cherry Township
Cherry Township, Sullivan County, Pennsylvania
Cherry Township is a township in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,718 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water.Cherry Township is bordered by...
.
History
Lodge and tavern
Brothers Clemuel Ricketts (1794–1858) and Elijah G. Ricketts (1803–1877) were frustrated at having to spend the night on a hotel's parlor floor while on a hunting trip on Loyalsock CreekLoyalsock Creek
Loyalsock Creek is a tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River located chiefly in Sullivan and Lycoming counties in Pennsylvania in the United States...
north of Ganoga Lake in 1850, and wanted their own hunting preserve. They bought the lake, Long Pond Tavern, and 5000 acres (2,023.4 ha) of surrounding land in the early 1850s and soon began building a stone house between the turnpike and the lake shore to replace the log tavern. According to William Reynolds Ricketts
William Reynolds Ricketts
William Reynolds Ricketts , of Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, was a philatelist who created the largest index of philatelic literature available during his lifetime. He was considered as the “greatest philatelic indexer of all time.” Ricketts was the son of R...
' HABS history of the house, Petrillo's history of the region Ghost Towns of North Mountain, and the house's NRHP nomination form, the Ricketts brothers bought the lake and surrounding land in 1851, began building the stone house that year, and finished it in 1852. The year 1852 is also carved in stone on the front (west side) of the house, which faced the highway. However, according to Tomasak's The Life and Times of Robert Bruce Ricketts, the brothers purchased the lake, tavern, and land on April 13, 1853, for $550 (approximately $ in ), and had the house built from 1854 to 1855.
According to Ricketts family tradition, Gad Seward built the mansion. While it was originally known as "Ricketts Folly" for its isolated location in the wilderness, the official name was the Stone House. The house served as the brothers' lodge and as a tavern for travelers on the turnpike. Clemuel was named postmaster
Postmaster
A postmaster is the head of an individual post office. Postmistress is not used anymore in the United States, as the "master" component of the word refers to a person of authority and has no gender quality...
of a new post office at the lake on October 3, 1853, and received a tavern license from Sullivan County on August 7, 1854. When Clemuel died in 1858, Elijah bought his share of the house and land. The post office closed April 12, 1860.
Elijah's son Robert Bruce Ricketts
R. Bruce Ricketts
Robert Bruce Ricketts distinguished himself as an artillery officer in the American Civil War. He is best known for his battery’s defense against a Confederate attack on Cemetery Hill on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg.-Early life:...
(1839–1918), for whom the nearby Ricketts Glen State Park
Ricketts Glen State Park
Ricketts Glen State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on in Columbia, Luzerne, and Sullivan counties in Pennsylvania in the United States. Ricketts Glen is a National Natural Landmark known for its old-growth forest and 24 named waterfalls along Kitchen Creek, which flows down the Allegheny...
is named, joined the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
as a private at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, and rose through the ranks to become a colonel in the artillery. After the war, R. B. Ricketts returned to Pennsylvania and purchased the stone house, lake, and some of the land around it from his father on September 25, 1869, for $3,969.81 (approximately $ in ); eventually he controlled or owned more than 80000 acres (32,374.9 ha), including the lake and the park's glens and waterfalls
Waterfalls in Ricketts Glen State Park
File:Ricketts Glen State Park Waterfalls Base Map Labels.png|alt=A map showing Kitchen Creek flowing southeast from Ganoga Lake, through Lake Jean, and then through the dry bed of Lake Rose into Ganoga Glen with ten waterfalls. A second branch of the creek flows south through the dry bed of Lake...
.
From 1872 to 1875 Ricketts and his partners operated a sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
0.5 mile (0.80467 km) southeast of his house. In 1872 Ricketts used lumber from the mill to build a three-story wooden addition about 100 feet (30.5 m) north of the stone house, with a verandah
Verandah
A veranda or verandah is a roofed opened gallery or porch. It is also described as an open pillared gallery, generally roofed, built around a central structure...
connecting the two. The addition cost $45,000 (approximately $ in ), and was known as the Ark for its resemblance to Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
. That same year Ricketts put new white birch
White Birch
White Birch may refer to:* Betula papyrifera* Betula pendula* Shirakabaha, Japanese literary group* The White Birch , Norwegian recording artists...
floors in the stone house, which are still there as of 2008.
Hotel
The Ark and stone house together formed the North Mountain House hotel, which opened in 1873, and was managed by Ricketts' brother Frank until 1898. Many of the guests, who came from Wilkes-BarreWilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the county seat of Luzerne County. It is at the center of the Wyoming Valley area and is one of the principal cities in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area, which had a population of 563,631 as of the 2010 Census...
, Philadelphia, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and other places, were Ricketts' friends and relations. The hotel was open year-round; in summer, guests frequently arrived after school let out in June and stayed until school resumed in September. In 1876 and 1877, Ricketts ran the first summer school in the United States at his house and hotel; one of the teachers was Joseph Rothrock
Joseph Rothrock
Joseph Trimbel Rothrock was an American environmentalist, recognized as the "Father of Forestry" in Pennsylvania. In 1895, Rothrock was appointed the first forestry commissioner to lead the newly formed Division of Forestry in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture...
, later known as the "Father of Forestry" in Pennsylvania.
By 1874 Ricketts had renamed Long Pond as Highland Lake, and by 1875 had named the highest waterfall on Kitchen Creek as Ganoga Falls. That year the North Mountain House hotel was featured in John B. Bachelder
John B. Bachelder
John Badger Bachelder was a portrait and landscape painter, lithographer, and photographer, but best known as the preeminent 19th century historian of the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War...
's travel guide Popular resorts, and how to reach them, which praised its location in a virgin forest, the lake and nearby waterfalls, and opportunities for hunting, fishing, and hiking. In 1881, Ricketts renamed Highland Lake as Ganoga Lake. Pennsylvania senator Charles R. Buckalew
Charles R. Buckalew
Charles Rollin Buckalew was an American lawyer and Democratic party politician from Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. He served in the state senate and represented Pennsylvania in both the U.S. House and Senate. He was a graduate of Harford Academy, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, where he studied law...
suggested the name Ganoga, an Iroquoian word which he said meant "water on the mountain" in the Seneca language
Seneca language
Seneca is the language of the Seneca people, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois League. About 10,000 Seneca live in the United States and Canada, primarily on reservations in western New York, with others living in Oklahoma and near Brantford, Ontario.-Phonology:Seneca words are written with...
.
The house and hotel were on the east side of the old turnpike; a 100 acres (40.5 ha) field on the other side of the road had a small herd of milk cows and a vegetable garden to provide for the guests' needs. The field also had a rifle range and a nine-hole golf course
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
. Guests could enjoy tennis and croquet
Croquet
Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...
, and a lawn stretched from the house east to the lake, which offered boating and bathing
Bathing
Bathing is the washing or cleansing of the body in a fluid, usually water or an aqueous solution. It may be practised for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes or as a recreational activity....
. There was an outlook point 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) southwest of the house, and Ricketts built a 40 feet (12.2 m) observation tower at the highest point on North Mountain, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) south. After the first tower collapsed, he built a 100 feet (30.5 m) replacement, and named the site Grand View.
Ricketts was a lumberman who made his fortune clearcutting
Clearcutting
Clearcutting, or clearfelling, is a controversial forestry/logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Clearcutting, along with shelterwood and seed tree harvests, is used by foresters to create certain types of forest ecosystems and to promote select species that...
nearly all his land, but no logging was allowed within 0.5 mile (0.80467 km) of the lake, and the glens and their waterfalls in the state park were "saved from the lumberman's axe through the foresight of the Ricketts family". One hemlock tree cut near the lake to clear land for a building in 1893 was 6 feet (1.8 m) in diameter and 532 years old. The North Mountain House hotel was threatened by a forest fire in 1900; the subsequent loss of much of the surrounding old-growth forest led to decreased numbers of hotel guests. Changing tastes may have also played a role in the decline in popularity; the hotel had over 150 guests in August 1878, but only about 70 guests in August 1894.
In 1903 another large fire on North Mountain threatened the sawmill in the lumber town of Ricketts
Ricketts, Pennsylvania
Ricketts is a ghost town that was established as a lumber mill company town in Sullivan and Wyoming counties, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Ricketts was built in 1890 along Mehoopany Creek in both Colley Township in Sullivan County and Forkston Township in Wyoming County for sawmills of the...
northeast of the lake. Beginning in 1893, a 3.85 miles (6.2 km) branch line of the Lehigh Valley Railroad
Lehigh Valley Railroad
The Lehigh Valley Railroad was one of a number of railroads built in the northeastern United States primarily to haul anthracite coal.It was authorized April 21, 1846 in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and incorporated September 20, 1847 as the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad...
ran from Ricketts to a log station at the north end of the lake; a boardwalk
Boardwalk
A boardwalk, in the conventional sense, is a wooden walkway for pedestrians and sometimes vehicles, often found along beaches, but they are also common as paths through wetlands, coastal dunes, and other sensitive environments....
and coach service brought guests from the station to the hotel. There was daily passenger service to Wilkes-Barre and Towanda, and the line also served freight trains hauling ice from the lake for use in refrigeration from 1895.
The North Mountain House was long known for its rustic charms; it was heated with open fireplaces, decorated with animal skins and hatracks made of antlers, and had two live black bears
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
on chains in the field across the road from the house. In 1895 and 1900 the stone house was refurbished, and telephone service, acetylene lighting
Carbide lamp
Carbide lamps, properly known as acetylene gas lamps, are simple lamps that produce and burn acetylene which is created by the reaction of calcium carbide with water....
, and steam heat were added. In 1900 The Sullivan Review newspaper recalled its former state and wrote of the changes: "We hardly call that an improvement. ... When the North Mountain House is lighted by gas, heated by a modern furnace, etc., its great charm is gone."
House
The wooden addition to the stone house was torn down in either 1897 or 1903, and the land became a garden. The hotel closed in November 1903, and passenger train service ended at that time. The sawmills at Ricketts closed when the timber was exhausted in 1913, and the ice company closed in 1915. The stone house remained the Ricketts' summer home. Ricketts proposed moving the highway from his front yard in 1904; the Pennsylvania General AssemblyPennsylvania General Assembly
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times , the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly. Since the Constitution of 1776, written by...
approved this in 1908, after he paid for the construction of the new highway, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of the house. Thomas Henry Atherton of Wilkes-Barre was the architect for a new wing that was added to the stone house in 1913, as well as renovations to the original structure. Ricketts died in 1918 at the stone house; his wife died a few days after and they are buried in the small Ricketts family cemetery near the north end of the lake. As part of Ricketts' will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
, the stone house and its outbuildings were valued at $12,000 in 1918 (approximately $ in ).
R. B. Ricketts and his wife had three children; their son William Reynolds Ricketts
William Reynolds Ricketts
William Reynolds Ricketts , of Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, was a philatelist who created the largest index of philatelic literature available during his lifetime. He was considered as the “greatest philatelic indexer of all time.” Ricketts was the son of R...
(1869–1956) lived in the house after his parents' deaths. Beginning in 1920, the Ricketts heirs began selling land to the state of Pennsylvania, but still owned over 12000 acres (4,856.2 ha) surrounding the house, Ganoga Lake, and the glens with their waterfalls. The stone house was included in the Historic American Buildings Survey
Historic American Buildings Survey
The Historic American Buildings Survey , Historic American Engineering Record , and Historic American Landscapes Survey are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consists of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written...
(HABS) in 1936 as the William R. Ricketts House. Atherton, the architect for the 1913 addition, helped prepare the HABS architectural drawings, which gave the house's name as "Ganoga". William Reynolds Ricketts' history for the HABS refers to it as the stone house. The area was approved as a national park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
site in the 1930s; a 1935 article in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported that the federal government planned to purchase 22000 acres (8,903.1 ha) in the area, mentioning the waterfalls and the Ricketts estate and house, which it called "the oldest stone hotel in Pennsylvania". The National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
operated a Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
camp at "Ricketts Glynn" (sic
Sic
Sic—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, —when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source...
), but budget problems and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
brought an end to national plans for development.
In 1942 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania began buying the glens and their waterfalls from the heirs for $82,000 (approximately $ in ) and opened Ricketts Glen State Park in 1944; from 1920 to 1950 the state bought more than 65000 acres (26,304.6 ha) from the Ricketts family for the park and Pennsylvania State Game Lands
Pennsylvania State Game Lands
The Pennsylvania State Game Lands are lands managed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission for hunting, trapping, and fishing. These lands, often not usable for farming or development, are donated to the PGC or purchased by the PGC with hunting license monies.The Pennsylvania Game Commission runs a...
. William Reynolds Ricketts died in 1956 and the lake and surrounding land were sold in October 1957 for $109,000 (approximately $ in ). The Department of Forests and Waters (predecessor of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources , established on July 1, 1995, is the agency in the U.S. State of Pennsylvania responsible for maintaining and preserving the state's 117 state parks and 20 state forests; providing information on the state's natural resources; and...
) bid on the 3140 acres (1,270.7 ha) including the house and lake, but were outbid by a group of private investors. These "formed the Lake Ganoga Association in September 1959 to regulate and preserve the recreation and residential facilities at Lake Ganoga". The association built a road around the lake, cleared some land at its southern end, and its members built about 50 houses on the lake shore. In 1983 the stone house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as the Clemuel Ricketts Mansion; it serves as the association's headquarters and clubhouse, and is used for association meetings, weddings, and picnics. As part of a private development, the house and lake are not open to the public: "To all outsiders that have no property aound the lake, the lake and grounds are off limits."
Architecture
Clemuel Ricketts, the architect of the stone house, was very interested in architecture from the colonial periodThirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
and had traveled widely. In the 1840s he published a book which examined the British and European sources of colonial architecture in the United States. Clemuel designed the house in the colonial or Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
style in the early 1850s; construction began in either 1851 or 1854 and finished the next year.
The Clemuel Ricketts Mansion lies 900 feet (274.3 m) west of Ganoga Lake, on what the HABS map described as a 2.2 acre (0.8903092 ha) "clearing completely surrounded by primeval forest", with a view to the lake. The house was originally on the east side of the turnpike and faced it, but when what became Pennsylvania Route 487 was built in 1907, the course of the highway was changed so that it now runs on the other (east) side of the lake. Since then, the house is on a private road 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the highway.
The original house built in the 1850s is L-shaped. According to the architectural drawings made for the HABS, the bottom of the L is 60 in 4 in (18.39 m) north–south by 35 in 8 in (10.87 m) east–west. In 1935 the ground floor of this part of the house included the main door and entrance hall, living room, parlor, library, and stairs. The main entrance is on the west side, which has a porch 60 in 4 in (18.39 m) wide by 12 feet (3.7 m) deep, supported by pairs of square pillars with stairs on the north, south, and west sides. The top of the L is 24 in 2 in (7.37 m) north–south by 40 in 6 in (12.34 m) east–west, and in 1935 the ground floor of the top of the L had the dining room, gun room, "brush up room", toilet, stairs, and a passage to the 1913 addition. The inside corner of the L has a two-story covered porch along the south side, and an open terrace on the east side's ground floor. In 1935 the second story of the original house had four bedrooms and a bathroom in the lower part of the L and two bedrooms and a bath in the upper part, as well as two staircases and hallways.
The mansion's stone walls are 2 foot (0.6096 m) thick; the individual building stones are "field sandstone about 17 inches square, of various thicknesses" (17 inches is 43 cm). There is a basement below the original house. The lower part of the L is five bays
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
by two bays; the original double-hung sash window
Sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...
s in each bay of the 1850s house have six panes of glass per sash. All the original windows have shutters
Window shutter
A window shutter is a solid and stable window covering usually consisting of a frame of vertical stiles and horizontal rails...
, these are paneled on the first floor and louvered on the second. The main door is in the Federal style
Federal architecture
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...
with a large fanlight
Fanlight
A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...
above the door and sidelight
Sidelight
A sidelight is a window, usually with a vertical emphasis, that flanks a door. Sidelights are narrow, usually stationary and found immediately adjacent doorways...
s on either side. The attic in the 1850s part of the house is not finished, and the gable roof
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
has "boxed cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
s with returns".
In 1897 or 1903 a formal garden was added north of the stone house, on the site of the razed wooden structure where most of the hotel guests had stayed. In 1913 a two-and-half story wing was added on the north side of the original house, which was renovated; Thomas Henry Atherton was the architect. The new wing is 48 in 3 in (14.71 m) north–south and 20 in 4 in (6.2 m) east–west, with a large enclosed one-story porch on the north and east sides. In 1935 the addition had the kitchen, pantry, storage and refrigeration rooms, and a "maid's dining room" on the first floor, two bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor, and two servant rooms and a bath in the finished attic.
The new wing has six dormer
Dormer
A dormer is a structural element of a building that protrudes from the plane of a sloping roof surface. Dormers are used, either in original construction or as later additions, to create usable space in the roof of a building by adding headroom and usually also by enabling addition of windows.Often...
s (three on a side), and six dormers were added to the old house in the 1913 renovation (four on the east side, two on the west). The windows on the first floor of the new wing matched the old windows, but the windows in the second story of the addition have twelve panes in the upper sash and eight in the lower. As part of the renovation work, four new windows were placed in the 1850s house: two just west of the new wing, and two on the east wall of the lower part of the L. A small porch was added in the corner where the west wall of the new wing meets the north wall of the old house, and all the old porches were restored. In the original house two chimneys were restored and two replaced, and new fireplaces were installed in the living room, library, and dining room. The house has a total of 28 rooms.
The NRHP nomination form lists two other structures on the property: a utility building made of brick and covered in stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
east of the house, and a large barn to the southwest. Since the house's 1913 renovation, the only changes have been the installation of electrical wiring and modernization of the plumbing. The original hardware and woodwork are still present inside the house. According to the NRHP nomination form, the Clemuel Ricketts Mansion "is a stunning example of Georgian vernacular architecture" which "represents the manifestations of one man's architectural dream preserved within the wilderness for over a century".