Thomas N. Wheeler Farm
Encyclopedia
The Thomas N. Wheeler Farm is located on Indian Lake Road (Dutchess County
Route 61) in the Town of North East
, New York, United States, south of the village of Millerton
. It is a frame
house built at the beginning of the 19th century in the Federal style
.
It is one of the earliest surviving intact farmsteads in the Coleman Station
Historic District
. In 1993, when the district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
, the house and another building on the property were recognized as contributing properties
to its historic character. Seven years later it was listed on the Register in its own right.
right-of-way that is now the Harlem Valley Rail Trail
. The area is level, save for a small rise on the northern lot line, located near the floor of the small bowl that makes up the Coleman Station area. A small tributary of Webutuck Creek flows through north end of the property, draining into the creek itself a short distance to the east.
North of the road is the house and most of the associated farm buildings are located on the north side of the road. On the south a tennis court
stands on what was once a cornfield. Various farm buildings such as a granary
, stable
s and carriage house
are located behind the main house. There are six contributing
resources to the Register listing on the property.
The main block of the house is a two-story, five-bay
hand-hewn timber frame
building on a stone foundation
. It is sided
in clapboard
and topped with a gable
d roof shingled in wood and pierced by two brick chimneys. It has a one-and-a-half-story wing on the east, similarly treated but with two large gabled dormer windows piercing the roof instead of chimneys. Connected to its northeast is a one-story shed-roofed kitchen wing.
A gable-roofed single-bay porch with railings and square pillars shelters the main entrance. The first-story windows on the south (front) facade
have panels beneath. All windows on that facade of the main block are two-over-two double-hung sash. On the wing they are 12-over-12. The kitchen wing's roof shelters a side entrance and porch on the east end of that wing. Above it is a small Palladian window in the gable field. The north (rear) facade has irregularly placed nine-over-six sash.
The raised-panel oak main entrance door, with windows on the side and above, opens onto a wide central hallway with its original heavy oak wide tongue and groove
flooring and plaster walls. On the east are two parlors of roughly the same size with some original wall sections and wideboard pine flooring. Their fireplaces are almost identical, with pine mantels
and marble hearth
s; the southeast one having a built-in cupboard
nearby. The substantial chimney stacks are angled to be centered at the roof. The kitchen wing's interiors date to the early-to-mid-20th century.
On the east of the main hall is the stairs, much of which are original. It has square newel
s and a simple molded
handrail with simple square balusters. The original pine stair treads were protected by carpeting for many years.
The second story has an identical floor plan. The northeast bedroom has original wainscoting and chair rail. All woodwork in it and the southeast room is original as is the pine wideboard flooring. The basement runs under the entire house, including the kitchen wing. There are no hearths, but the stone and wood bases of the chimney stacks are evident.
. Over a century later, in 1749, his great-great-grandson, also named Thomas, bought land in the Great Nine Partners Patent
and settled in what is now Amenia, New York
, to the west of the future Coleman Station. He operated a mill near the current house site.
No construction date is known, but it is believed that the house was built around 1800 from its Federal style architecture. At that time Thomas Newcomb Wheeler, one of ten children of the elder Thomas Wheeler's son Noah, would have been 26 years old, old enough to have had his own house. Noah divided his holdings among his children in 1818, retaining what is now the Wheeler-Bassett Farm on Reagan Road for himself to live out his final years.
A tenant house was built to the southwest in the early 1820s. Noah Wheeler's children, Thomas included, bought out their cousins' holdings in 1824. Seventeen years later, in 1841, Thomas sold his holdings to his sons Henry and Lawrence for $9,000 ($ in contemporary dollars), on the condition that he be allowed to remain in his home for the remainder of his natural life
and that their 44-year-old unmarried sister Selina be allowed to use one of the bedrooms and both parlors for the remainder of her life. The following year his will
expanded on these terms.
Two years later, Thomas N. Wheeler died. Lawrence bought out Henry's interest for $1,200 and then sold it to their younger brother Stephen D. Wheeler for $4,000 ($ in contemporary dollars). The two brothers soon became embroiled in litigation with the New York and Harlem Railroad
over the value of the land it wanted to take from them through eminent domain
to complete its route from New York City to Albany
. The railroad ultimately prevailed, with the Wheelers receiving less per acre than their neighbors, but won the right to have a bridge erected over the rock cut south of the tenant house and maintained in perpetuity by the railroad and its assigns
.
Stephen Wheeler moved back into the house after swapping land with his brother in 1859. This transfer reduced the lot around the house to its current 18 acres (7.3 ha) from what had at one time been 600 acres (242.8 ha). When he died, his daughter sold her rights to the house to her brother Burnett. They mortgaged
it in 1876 to Hiram Clark and his wife Mary.
After the Blizzard of 1888
the rock cut filled up with snow, leading to a rail accident that killed five and took a week to clear. One of the locomotive's cab roofs was used as an animal shelter in a nearby field. The houses were used to treat the wounded. Mary Wheeler defaulted
on the mortgage and lost the house in 1897, taking it out of the Wheeler family after almost a century.
Dutchess County, New York
Dutchess County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. The 2010 census lists the population as 297,488...
Route 61) in the Town of North East
North East, New York
North East is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 3,002 at the 2000 census.The Town of North East is in the northeastern part of the county...
, New York, United States, south of the village of Millerton
Millerton, New York
Millerton is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 925 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined...
. It is a frame
Framing (construction)
Framing, in construction known as light-frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members, usually called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof comprising horizontal ceiling joists and sloping...
house built at the beginning of the 19th century in the Federal style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
.
It is one of the earliest surviving intact farmsteads in the Coleman Station
Coleman Station Historic District
The Coleman Station Historic District is located around the former New York Central Railroad Coleman's station in the Town of North East, New York, United States, a short distance south of the village of Millerton. It is a rural area including several large farms in the southeastern corner of the...
Historic District
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...
. In 1993, when the district 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...
, the house and another building on the property were recognized as contributing properties
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to its historic character. Seven years later it was listed on the Register in its own right.
Buildings and grounds
The farm's 18 acres (7.3 ha) are located on both sides of Indian Lake Road just west of the three-way intersection where it turns to the east and Mill Road continues north, just west of the former New York Central RailroadNew York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
right-of-way that is now the Harlem Valley Rail Trail
Harlem Valley Rail Trail
The Harlem Valley Rail Trail is a paved rail trail on an abandoned portion of the New York and Harlem Railroad, north of the Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line terminus in Wassaic. It is owned by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation...
. The area is level, save for a small rise on the northern lot line, located near the floor of the small bowl that makes up the Coleman Station area. A small tributary of Webutuck Creek flows through north end of the property, draining into the creek itself a short distance to the east.
North of the road is the house and most of the associated farm buildings are located on the north side of the road. On the south a tennis court
Tennis court
A tennis court is where the game of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles.-Dimensions:...
stands on what was once a cornfield. Various farm buildings such as a granary
Granary
A granary is a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed. In ancient or primitive granaries, pottery is the most common use of storage in these buildings. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animals.-Early origins:From ancient times grain...
, stable
Stable
A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...
s and carriage house
Carriage house
A carriage house, also called remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.In Great Britain the farm building was called a Cart Shed...
are located behind the main house. There are six contributing
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
resources to the Register listing on the property.
The main block of the house is a two-story, five-bay
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:...
hand-hewn timber frame
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
building on a stone foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
. It is sided
Siding
Siding is the outer covering or cladding of a house meant to shed water and protect from the effects of weather. On a building that uses siding, it may act as a key element in the aesthetic beauty of the structure and directly influence its property value....
in clapboard
Clapboard (architecture)
Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...
and topped with a gable
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...
d roof shingled in wood and pierced by two brick chimneys. It has a one-and-a-half-story wing on the east, similarly treated but with two large gabled dormer windows piercing the roof instead of chimneys. Connected to its northeast is a one-story shed-roofed kitchen wing.
A gable-roofed single-bay porch with railings and square pillars shelters the main entrance. The first-story windows on the south (front) facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
have panels beneath. All windows on that facade of the main block are two-over-two double-hung sash. On the wing they are 12-over-12. The kitchen wing's roof shelters a side entrance and porch on the east end of that wing. Above it is a small Palladian window in the gable field. The north (rear) facade has irregularly placed nine-over-six sash.
The raised-panel oak main entrance door, with windows on the side and above, opens onto a wide central hallway with its original heavy oak wide tongue and groove
Tongue and groove
A strong joint, the tongue and groove joint is widely used for re-entrant angles. The effect of wood shrinkage is concealed when the joint is beaded or otherwise moulded...
flooring and plaster walls. On the east are two parlors of roughly the same size with some original wall sections and wideboard pine flooring. Their fireplaces are almost identical, with pine mantels
Fireplace mantel
Fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and can include elaborate designs extending to the ceiling...
and marble hearth
Hearth
In common historic and modern usage, a hearth is a brick- or stone-lined fireplace or oven often used for cooking and/or heating. For centuries, the hearth was considered an integral part of a home, often its central or most important feature...
s; the southeast one having a built-in cupboard
Cupboard
A cupboard or press is a type of cabinet, often made of wood, used indoors to store household objects such as food, crockery, textiles and liquor, and protect them from dust,vermin and dirt....
nearby. The substantial chimney stacks are angled to be centered at the roof. The kitchen wing's interiors date to the early-to-mid-20th century.
On the east of the main hall is the stairs, much of which are original. It has square newel
Newel
A newel, also called a central pole, is an upright post that supports the handrail of a stair banister. In stairs having straight flights it is the principal post at the foot of the staircase, but it can also be used for the intermediate posts on landings and at the top of a staircase...
s and a simple molded
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
handrail with simple square balusters. The original pine stair treads were protected by carpeting for many years.
The second story has an identical floor plan. The northeast bedroom has original wainscoting and chair rail. All woodwork in it and the southeast room is original as is the pine wideboard flooring. The basement runs under the entire house, including the kitchen wing. There are no hearths, but the stone and wood bases of the chimney stacks are evident.
History
The Wheeler family came to America in 1635 when Thomas Wheeler emigrated from the English town of Cranefield to Concord, MassachusettsConcord, Massachusetts
Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 17,668. Although a small town, Concord is noted for its leading roles in American history and literature.-History:...
. Over a century later, in 1749, his great-great-grandson, also named Thomas, bought land in the Great Nine Partners Patent
Great Nine Partners Patent
The Great Nine Partners Patent, also known as the "Lower Nine Partners Patent," was a land grant in Dutchess County, New York, USA made in 1697.-The partners:* John Aarston * William Creed* James Emott * Hendrick ten Eyck...
and settled in what is now Amenia, New York
Amenia (town), New York
Amenia is a town in Dutchess County, United States. New York, United States. The population was 4,048 at the 2000 census. The name is derived from the Latin word, amoena, which means "pleasant to the eye."...
, to the west of the future Coleman Station. He operated a mill near the current house site.
No construction date is known, but it is believed that the house was built around 1800 from its Federal style architecture. At that time Thomas Newcomb Wheeler, one of ten children of the elder Thomas Wheeler's son Noah, would have been 26 years old, old enough to have had his own house. Noah divided his holdings among his children in 1818, retaining what is now the Wheeler-Bassett Farm on Reagan Road for himself to live out his final years.
A tenant house was built to the southwest in the early 1820s. Noah Wheeler's children, Thomas included, bought out their cousins' holdings in 1824. Seventeen years later, in 1841, Thomas sold his holdings to his sons Henry and Lawrence for $9,000 ($ in contemporary dollars), on the condition that he be allowed to remain in his home for the remainder of his natural life
Life estate
A life estate is a concept used in common law and statutory law to designate the ownership of land for the duration of a person's life. In legal terms it is an estate in real property that ends at death when there is a "reversion" to the original owner...
and that their 44-year-old unmarried sister Selina be allowed to use one of the bedrooms and both parlors for the remainder of her life. The following year his 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...
expanded on these terms.
Two years later, Thomas N. Wheeler died. Lawrence bought out Henry's interest for $1,200 and then sold it to their younger brother Stephen D. Wheeler for $4,000 ($ in contemporary dollars). The two brothers soon became embroiled in litigation with the New York and Harlem Railroad
New York and Harlem Railroad
The New York and Harlem Railroad was one of the first railroads in the United States, and possibly also the world's first street railway. Designed by John Stephenson, it was opened in stages between 1832 and 1852 between Lower Manhattan to and beyond Harlem...
over the value of the land it wanted to take from them through eminent domain
Eminent domain
Eminent domain , compulsory purchase , resumption/compulsory acquisition , or expropriation is an action of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or seize a citizen's rights in property with due monetary compensation, but without the owner's consent...
to complete its route from New York City to Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
. The railroad ultimately prevailed, with the Wheelers receiving less per acre than their neighbors, but won the right to have a bridge erected over the rock cut south of the tenant house and maintained in perpetuity by the railroad and its assigns
Assignment (law)
An assignment is a term used with similar meanings in the law of contracts and in the law of real estate. In both instances, it encompasses the transfer of rights held by one party—the assignor—to another party—the assignee...
.
Stephen Wheeler moved back into the house after swapping land with his brother in 1859. This transfer reduced the lot around the house to its current 18 acres (7.3 ha) from what had at one time been 600 acres (242.8 ha). When he died, his daughter sold her rights to the house to her brother Burnett. They mortgaged
Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a loan secured by real property through the use of a mortgage note which evidences the existence of the loan and the encumbrance of that realty through the granting of a mortgage which secures the loan...
it in 1876 to Hiram Clark and his wife Mary.
After the Blizzard of 1888
Blizzard of 1888
Two major blizzards occurred in the year 1888.*The Great Blizzard of 1888 which struck parts of the eastern United States and Atlantic Canada from March 11 to March 14...
the rock cut filled up with snow, leading to a rail accident that killed five and took a week to clear. One of the locomotive's cab roofs was used as an animal shelter in a nearby field. The houses were used to treat the wounded. Mary Wheeler defaulted
Default (finance)
In finance, default occurs when a debtor has not met his or her legal obligations according to the debt contract, e.g. has not made a scheduled payment, or has violated a loan covenant of the debt contract. A default is the failure to pay back a loan. Default may occur if the debtor is either...
on the mortgage and lost the house in 1897, taking it out of the Wheeler family after almost a century.