Form No. i3OO IRev. 10-74

LINIIEIKlAILS II:I,I{INILNII Ilk NI IItILR FOR NPSUSEONLYNATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESRECEIVED

INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED

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SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOWTO COMPLETE NA TIONAL REGISTER FORMSTYPE ALL ENTRIES .-- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS

!1.UNAMEHISTORIC

John 1-Ioxsie HouseAND/OR COMMON

- Old Kenvon Pam

LOCATIONSTREET&NUMBER 1.2 miles east of R.l. Route 112,

3/4 miles north of Caroilna ‘illageCITY, TOWN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Ri chmond Township - vICINITYOF 2 Hon. Edward BeardSTATE CODE COUNTY CODE

Rhode Island Washington 009

CLASSIFICATION

CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS PRESENT USEPUBLIC .?OCCUPIED JCAGRICULIURE

XBUILDINGISI 2i?RIVATE

BOTH V/ORK IN PROGRESS 2.PRIVATE RESIDENCE

SIVE PUBLIC ACQUISITION ACCESSIBLE ENTER IAINMENT RELIGIOUS

ODJECT PROCESS .YES: RESTRICTED

CONSIDERED UNRESIRICIED

NO MILI[ARY

OWNER OF PROPERTYNAME Andree P. J. Peter Doherty

STREET& NUMBER

Rural Delivery, Richmond Town House Road Route 112CITY. TOWN rbiC6PRTh]iiif6iiJ . STATE

Carolina VICINIIYOF Rhode [sl and 02812

LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTIONCO LIII F HOUSE.

REGISTRY OF DEEDSETC. Town of Ri chrnond , Clerk s Office

SIREET& NUMBER -

Richmond Town House RoadCITY. TOWF STATE

Rtclimond Rhode Island 02812

REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYSTIll F

Richmond Preliminary Survey . . -

DATE

1976- 1977 XSIATE COUNTY LOCAI.

-- DEPOSITDRYFOR_ - - . . . - . -. -

SURVEYRECORDS Rhode Is land I-Iis torical Preservation CommissionCITY,TOWN SIA1II -

iSO Benefit Street, Providence, Rhode Tslarid 02903-

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TfZzF

DESCRIPTION -

CONDITION - CI-IECK ONE - CHECK ONE

EXCELLENT DETERIORATED UNALTERED ORIGINAL ShE

_GOOD RUINS - - ALTEREO _MOVED DATE________

_FAIR - _UNEXPOSED

- DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL IF KNOWN PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

The John Hoxsie house is -a one-and-one-half-story frame farmhousewith a central cut-granite chimney, on which ‘1784" is incised; Itmeasures thirty-four by twenty-seven feet minus its late nineteenthcentury rear dl. It is of post and beam construction with verticalwide plank sheathing covered with cedar shingles. No evidence of clapboards was found on the sheathing. - -

The house faces due south and is sited on the east side of a hillat an elevation of 173 Feet, which nelps to avoid valley Frost. South

- o-f it, down a path of stone slabs, is a corn crih see site plan -

continuation sheet . To the east are the privy and the foundation ofa shop, which contains a small fireplace in its west basement-wail ofthe same construction as those in the house. - A dug well still in useis north o-f the hOuse, and a modern garage is to the west. A shed is - -

being constructed on an old foundation southwest of -the house.

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- Mature hickory, horsechestnut, and ash trees shade the lawn andwalled garden. Barn foundations and an unidentified circular depression,as well as the foundation of an earlier Floxsie house are also found on - -- -

the sixty acres surround:ing the house. The landscape also includes stone-walled pastures and orchards, -forest, two brooks, a pond and marsh, and -

two wild cranberry hogs. Surrounding this tract, which still belongswith the house, are seven hundred acres Of land which compri so the woodedvalley which contains the unpolluted watershed of Taney Brook. Only

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the sixty acreas immediately surrounding the house - are included in thisnomination. The sole approach to the house is from the west by al.2-mile-long dirtroad. - - -

The house has few exterjor embell.ishents. The fenetration i - -

irregular: two windows to the right ot tne i-ront door and one to tfle -

left. The -four windows in each of the wide spreading gable ends are -

spaced at random, their order dictated by interior use of space. Asmall window in each gable lights the attic.- A bulkhead on the southleads down stone stairs to the- q’arter basement under the eastern endof the house. . . . . . . .

Half of the original six-over-nine-lignt double-hung windows remain,many with old glass . The modern sash are six over a ix. The Front andrear doors are four-panelled, unhevelled ; Four transom lights with -

original glass, top the front door. r/

The original Portion of the house follows the typi cal, five-room,center-chimney plan see floor plan, continuation sheet . A small-front hall with stairs traversing the chimney wall opens on either sideinto two front rooms of unequal size-: a parlor to the right and asmaller bedroom to the left. The large keeping room or kitchen to - the

cñm NobHOhO74I - - .

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UNIIIJ S]AIFS III’ARIII:NI UI-I Ilk INILRIUR - FOR NPS USEONLY . --

NATIONAL PARK SERVICEL -. -

- RECEIVED - - - -

NATIONAL REGISTER OF FIISTORLC PLACES - -

INVENTORY-- NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED

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CONTINUATION SHU-ET1 ITEM NUMBER 7 PAGE 2 -

rear is flanked by two smaller rooms , a bedroom and the milk -

pantry now a bathroom to which one entrance has been added. The -

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rear dl, added in the late nineteenth century to provide a new kitchen,is accessible to the rest of the house through the original back doorand has obscured no previous window openings documentedby photographs

.

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All partitions are in their original positions on the main floor and on rthe second floor, which consists of a hail and four rooms with closet V -

space under the eaves see plan, continuation sheet . The two eastbedrooms are of equal size; the west ones are unequal. The large westroom has access - to a closet behind the chimney. -- .. -

- Much of tile original plaster remains throughout; so also do many ofthe original wide fioor hoards except in the -front hail, bathroom, andoriginal kitchen. Plaster ceilings in the front parlor and in the

- 1 -

kitchen, if they ever existed and the evidence is inconclusive , have -.

been taken down. Thus, the mortise and tenon construction of their -

ceilings beams is revealed. Seven rough-hewn oak beams of equal sizerun north-south across the parlor joining the heavier plates, chimney - -- -

girt, and cornerposts . The eight beams in the kitchen also run northsouth, but only six are actually framed into the chimney girt. Tworun to the wall between the kitchen and the parlor, where they con-tinue through the -wall to. the - front plate of the house. Both back cornerrooms have cased cornerposts. - - --

The house contains three stone fireplaces, one in each of the frontrooms and a larger one in the kitchen. The parlor fireplace has a plainearly -twenti eth century mantel surrounded by pine panelling of the samevintage. The bedroom fireplace has no mantel and its massive granite -

lintel and fieldstone chimney breast are exposed. Lack of any nailingstrip for a mantel and lack of any trace of plaster suggest that this -

may be the original treatment of this fireplace wall. The kitchen fire-place has a very plain mantel whi cli may have been installed about 1-800. -

The firebox is five feet two inches wide and has a bake oven in the .

rear wall at the right.-

- Interior decoration is simple. The east kitchen -wall is sheathedvertically with wide feathered pine hoards . Six interior doors arefour-panelled with bevelled sections of the correct proportions For --the late 1700s , and four have molded door j ambs . The upstairs chimney -

- closet door is two-panelled of a -style predating the house. The re- -

maining doors are board and batten, many with early latches. The -

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Fwni No:- - -

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Kdv. 10-74 - - -

tiNliki SlAIkS UI-PA RlNlkNT kIIIF INIfRIUR - -- FOR NPS USE ONLY - -

- NATIONAL PARK SERVIcE -

- RECEIVED - -

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES - - - - -

INVENTQRY -- NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED

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2-kCONTINUATION SHE-ET - ITEM NUMBER 7 PAGE 3

two- run stairs have a closet beneath them, a closed beaded string- >- -

course and beaded handrail with a square newel post and reverse curve -

molding. The upstairs hall railing is composed of horizontal planks.An ox-blood red paint was used on much interior trim as well as on -

the inside surface of the wall sheathing under the early plaster inthe front bedroom. This would indicate the house was finished off on -

the interior in stages. -

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Fc:m No 1’3-JOOaHot 1074

- UNIlkU SIAlt-:S Dl-I’ARFMI-NI OF [III- INIFRIOR- NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESINVENTORY-- NOMINATION FORM

FORNPSUSEONLY - -

RECEIVED - - -

DATE ENTERED

ITEM NUMBER 7 PAGE ‘1

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CONTINUATION SHEET

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Form No 10300a -10ev 10-741 - -

- ‘-<t:- -- UNIlLI SlAIkS IFPAR1MIiNI OI--lIIL INFERIOR FOR NPS USE ONLY -

- NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESINVENTORY-- NOMINATION FORM

CONTINUATION SHEET 4 ITEMNUMBER

Phsni,ee 440 V/TIt745LP &ürr,v

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SXE7C// 5/TE AY.44’

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RECEIVED

DATE ENTERED

7 PAGE 5

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SIGNIFICANCE - - - -

PERIOD AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW -

PREHISTORIC ARCHEULUGY-FHEI-IISIORIC _COFv1MUNITY PLANNING _±ANOSCAPE ARCHITECTURE RELIGION

_400-2499 _ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC C0NSERVATION LAW - SCENCE

500-1599 2CAGRICULTURE _ECONOMICS _LLTERATURE _SCLftPTURE

_1600-1699 JCAPCHIIECTURE - EDUCATION MILITAHY SOCIAUHUMANITARIAN

2170o-1799 _ART _iNGINEEIIINC .MUSIC - _THEATER

X1800-1899 _COMMERCE _EXPLORATON/SETTLEMENT PHILOSOPHY TRANSPORTATION

_1900- _COMMUNLCATIONS UNDUSTUY _POLITICS/GOVERNMENT _OTHER SPECIFY

_INVENFON - -

SPECIFIC DATES BuILDER/ARcHITECT1784 John Hoxs ie

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

- The John Hoxsie homestead is a relatively intact example of a SouthCounty hill farm. Part Of the acreage is still in agricultural use;outhouse and corncrih as well as the foundations of ham and- other outbuildings still survive; and the house itself retains the majority ofits original finish. Of equal importance is the isolated and heauti fulnatural setting which the house and farmstead retain. Although many ofthe formerly cleared-farm fields have reverted to woodland and the road

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east to Usquepaugh has long since been abandoned, enough open fieldsstill exist beside the winding dirt road approach and adjacent to thehouse - to give a clear indication of the face of the land when the -- -

Hoxsie’ s lived here and cultivated it. Moreover, the physical isolation,typical of- many eighteenth and nineteenth- century Rhode Island farms,is still palpable here. -

The modest farmhousewas built by tile great grandson of I.ôdowickHawksie , an immigrant who came from the British Isles to settle inSandwich, Massachusetts, about 1650. It remained in the Hoxsie familyby direct descent until 1952 and by niarri age until 1974. The housestands in an undisturbed rural setting on the eastern half of its - -

original tract and -is the best preserved remainder of an - agriculturalcommunity active along Taney Brook in the late l700s.

Well before the formation of the mill villages o F Carolina, Kenyonand *Shannock in the l800s , Richmond was settled by farmers vho builthomes and worked the land on the west side of Taney Brook They builtat least six early houses in the eighteenth century, jo4 nod by a north--south ridge road from Wilbur I-Ii.ll to Shannock Hill Road-whei-e a smallmill and triphammer hlacks]II-i tb shop were set up. 2 Pour of these houses,three of which still stand, were ap:Ire]1tlv hui lt: by Jloxsie’s who hadbeen ill the area since about l69. - An 1870 Iwftp shows these buildingsstill owned by l-Ioxies B. Hoxsie, G. W. Hoxsie, - U. f-Ioxsie, and AhialKenyon .4 The- map also indicates the present east-west road to the

11855 Henry Walling Map, Richmond Town I-tall-2D. 3. R.- Irish,- History of Richmond 1877

-Leslie R. Hoxsie., The Hoxs.ie1950. Beattie j Co. Portland, Oregon. -i87o School District Map of Richmond. Also 1895 Atlas of SurveysSouthern Rhode Island. Richmond Town Hall.

aF,rm No it-300a

FIt-v. 10-74

IjNjIIi-.I SI, IFS IFP-I<INIENI UI- 1Ilk irII-:RIORNATIONAL PARK SERvICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESINVENTORY-- NOMINATION FORM

CONTINUATION SHEET- S ITEM NUMBER 8 PAGE 2

1784 house, which once continued east to Usquepaugh. The fourthstructure was - a 1750s saltbox which formerly stood south of the 1house and was built by Stephen Hoxsie, grandson of Lodowick i-Iawksthe ruins of an earlier house.5

The John Floxsie house isIn some respects

horn May 28, 1752 ‘‘settled on a portion of[n 1784 he built a new house’’, 6and carvedstep. The account book of John’s son Henry

Culture. The house passeden to his grandaughter, Vetta

long narrow

for a varietyIsland rural

houses built inchof Rhode IsLand-;lintels on theridge, is characorientation ismuch documented

K. Scudder , Descendant of the builder.of hobse before dl added, with

FOR NPS USE ONLY

RECEIVED

DATE ENTERED

- Stephen’s son,his father’s farm..his initials on the

John- where

ron t

1-toxsie784ie, on

17 79-1842work was doa small-scaanxious tothemselvesfarm use. -

White Brookdirectly to

is in the house - and showsne in the shop with smallle enterprise was typ icalsupplement their usual 1’with simple finished woodHenry Hoxsie’s cousin Johnwhich is now the Americana grandson, Ab in 1 Kenyon

that wood, leather, and metalfireplace east of the house. Suchof nineteenth century farmers

meager farm incomes and to provideand metal products for home an ci

W. had a trout farm on nearbyFish

and th

of reasons.

Kenyon Scudder, who owns the western half of the originalfarm and lives there 1. 2 miles from the homestead.

archi tecturally interestingit i.s -typical of many Rhode

farmhoues : - its -five- room plan is a standard one forthe last half of the - digh teenth centurthroughout muits stone chimney, fieldstone with -cut-stone fireboxinterior and cut stone on the exterior above the roofterist-ic of ‘‘South County’’ construction; its southernalso typical. What is nOt typical, or, at least, notin other houses of the same period, is the very plain and in some casesretardataire detail and finish of the house: the late use of feather-

L.

! :!t

b

the surprisinn firebox. Aof the house

e, an impressci clearly po

edged vertical plank wall andin the rear wall of the kitcheframing in the eastern portionrun the full do1th of the hon svarious pieces of cv i:dence wh i

5Personal interviews. - VettaPhotographs in her possession

-- old-barn etc. -

6Leslie IL Hoxsie, Op. Ciii.

g location of the hake ovenlso unusual is the ceiling

where at least some beamsive twenty-seven feet. Theiii ii to the fi ni sh ing - of the

ct___.4

Li:.r-,,rm No 1O.300a-

H’-v. 10-74 -

UNI1UDSI A IFS lI-.i’,RiNIi-NI 01:11111 IN Il-klUX FOR NPSUSE ONLY - - --

- NATIONAL PARK SERVICE - - - -

- -- RECEIVED - - - 2-

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES - - - - -

INVENTORY-- NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED

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CONTINUATION SHEET , ITEM NUMBER 8 PAGE 3 -

house in stages are also somewhat unusual and worthy of study: the-ox-blood red paint found on wall sheathing beneath what might otherwise

have been taken as original plaster, the lack of any clear physical iroof j1--that either -fireplace in the front rooms ever had a mantel or plasteredchimney breast, and the late characteristics of the kitchen mantel, which -

suggest that it, too, was not original. Although many rural houses must F -

have followech a similar evolution i.n their finishing, few- suggest this -

sequence as clearly today as does the house John Hoxsie built in 1784.

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A,ForntNo. -30Ca -

11ev. 10- 74

UNITED SlAtES Dfll’tiMENF UI: illE INI ER lO FOR NPS USE ON VNATIONAL PARK SERVICE - -

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- RECEIVED

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES -

INVENTORY--NOMINATIONFORM DATEENTERED

John Hoxsie House, Richmond, Rhode Island

CONrINUATION SHEET 7 ITEM NUMBER 10 PAGE 2

A certain tract or parcel of land, with the dwelling house andother improvements thereon, lying easterly of the easterly side of theRichmond Town House Road, so-called, in said Town of Richmond, Rhode-Island, bounded and described as follows:

Beginning at a point marked by a drill hole in a boulder at a wallintersection, said point being the southwesterly corner of the tractherein described; thence running northerly - following the course of astone wall a distance of one hundred fifteen- and 7/10 115.7 feet toa drill hole on the northerly side of the right-of-way leading to thehere-in described prOperty; thence turning an interior angle of l65053Iand continuing northerly a distance of two hundred thirty-five and2/10 235.2 feet to a drill hole; thence turning an interior angleof l84o23t and continuing northerly a distance of three hundred fiftyand 6/10 350.6 feet to a drill hole; thence turning an interior,

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angle of 152P57’ and running northeasterly a distance of one hundredforty-three and 4/10 143.4 feet tQ a drill hole at a wall corner; -

thence turning an interior angle of 2400_531 and running northwesterlya distance of seventeen and 0/10 17.0 feet to a wall corner; theselast five courses being bounded on the west by land of Clara V. Kenyonand Vetta K. Scudder; thence turning an interior angle of 79036’ andrunning easterly, bounded on the north by land now or formerly belonging äto Peter Hoxsie; thence southerly, bounded easterly by land formerlybelonging to Stephen Hoxsie and laud late of Enoch Hoxsie; thence

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westerly, bounded southerly by land of said Enoch Hoxsie and landformerly of Thomas TV. Hoxsie, to the point and place of beginning.

Being the same premises conveyed to John F. Nyc and Myrtle M. Nycby Clara V. Kenyon and Vetta K. Scudder, by deed dated July 2, 1952and recorded in Land Evidence Records in said Town of Richmond.

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MAJOR BIBL!OGRAPFIICAL REFERENCES.Hoxsie, Leslie It.

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Beattie Li Co. , PoTtland,Irish, Dr. J. R. History ofScudder, Vera K. Interviews -

the builder, 1974.

r -.c -

p.- -

ft.-C.

*

, ;l- . -

The Hoxsie Family: -_Three Centuries in America.Oregon. 1950. -

Richmond. 1877.with Vera Skudder, descendant of

GEOGRAPHICAL DATA -

60 acresACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY -

UTM REFERENCES - - -

ALUDI 121781610’d [4519,41&2ffl Btl9j I2l7S2,0I 1451915111001ZONE EASTING NORTHING ZONE EASTING NORTHING

- - cR191 I2j79I5i9 ci I45I9i4I8,4 ol 01191 12171 9160 o1 i4i5I9i4I 49i0l.VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION -

LIST ALL 51ArEs AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES

STATE CODE COUNEY - CODE

STATE - CODE COUNTY - CODE

WFORM PREPARED BY - - -

NAME / TITLE

Andree Phillips Doherty, Docent-ORGANIZATION DAlE

Providence Preservation Society May, 1977STREET Ps NUM REP - I FLEPH ONE -

- 24 Meeting Street home phone 364-3796CITYOR TOWN STArE

Providence Rhode lsland

- ESTATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION -

- THE EVALUATEO SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS.

NATIONAL_K. SEATE.__ LOCAL_.. -

1

As the designated State Historic Prosorvalion Officer for tho National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 Public Law 89-6651.1

hereby nominate this property for inclusion,jn-tbo National Reqister and certify that it has been evaliialed accorEling to the

Criteria and procedures set forth by file Nati pal P k 5cr- Cii- -

FEDERAL nErnEScEJIArIvE SIGNArU1f

-c&t .

TITLE State Historic Preservation Officer DAIE 1-11- 78FOR NPS USE ONLY - I

- -: I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS PROPERTY IS INCLUDED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER

-- DATE

- DIRECTOR. OFFICE OF ARCHEOLOGY AND HISTORICPRESERVATIONATTEST: - . - DATE -

- KEEPER OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER - -

7

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r

John Hoxsie House

Richmond, Rhode Island

Warren Jagger, Photographer April, 1977

Negative: Rhode Island Historical PreservationCommis sion

View from the west southwest, showing stone walls,house with rear eli and corncrib.

Photo # 1

‘V

John Hoxsie House

Richmond, Rhode Island

Warren Jagger, Photographer April, 1977

Negative: Rhode Island Historical PreservationCommission

House viewed from the south, southwest.

Photo # 2

t

John Hoxsie House

Richmond, Rhode Island

Warren Jagger, Photographer April, 1977

Negative: Rhode Island Historical PreservationCommis sion

Staircase, from first floor hail.

Photo # 3

w

John Hoxsie House

Richmond, Rhode Island

Warren Jagger, Photographer April, 1977

Negative: Rhode Island Historical PreservationCommission

Front bedroom, looking east.

Photo # 4

John Iloxsie House

Richmond, Rhode Island

Warren Jagger, Photographer April, 1977

Negative: Rhode Island Historical PreservationCommission

Kitchen, looking southeast, showing unusualceiling framing and fireplace.

Photo # 5

RHODE ISLAND-WASHINGTON CO.7,5 MINUTE SERIES TOPOGRAPHIC ‘

7137’3O413O

John HoxsieRichmond

278600279520279590279600

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FEET

House

4594820459510045948404594490

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CAROLINA QUADRANGLE