History Archives - Page 4 of 15

White Pine Monographs: Dalton House and Other Early Massachusetts Treasures

Posted on December 28, 2016October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

dalton house today

An important stop along the development of New England’s colonial architecture, simple farmhouses of the early to mid 18th Century shed some of the compulsory Gothic trappings carried overseas to the first English American settlements for a more streamlined, humble, fuss-free appearance. The second edition of the White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs ever to be published, written in April 1916, catalogues notable examples across Massachusetts as they stood over a century ago. Some of these homes are still incredibly well-preserved today, including Dalton House, pictured above in recent years and below in the early 20th century.

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These dwellings had uncomplicated pitch or gambrel roofs and were typically one room deep and two stories high, built with one ridge pole and two end gables. In later years, as settlers grew more prosperous, the homes were often altered or expanded, with ‘service ells’ added to the rear or side, or the houses were doubled, with an identical-plan addition set right behind the first.

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The General Putnam House in Danvers, Massachusetts, built around 1744, is an example of a gambrel-style colonial home with a service ell added in the rear. Says the writer of this monograph, “This house presents as much of a contrast as is possible to the Dalton House at Newburyport. While variously dated as being from 1750 to 1760, the photograph of this house speaks for itself, presenting an unusually spacious and generous treatment of the gambrel roof slope (now slated, while the house has a new end bay and suspiciously widely spaced columns at the entrance!) The whole design nevertheless shows much more refinement of handling than is apparent in the other example mentioned.”

Built in 1720, the Dalton House is generally held to be an example of “a plain house of the purest colonial type,” yet it was a mansion in its time (and many of us would still consider it one today.) Visits from George Washington, President Monroe, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams and John Hancock are among the reasons it’s considered an architectural and historical treasure. Having always been occupied by wealthy people since it was built, it has never deteriorated, and its porch is a particularly fine example of colonial woodworking.

Celebrating Eastern White Pine: Maine’s Enduring Love for Its State Tree

Posted on December 21, 2016 by Jeff Easterling

forests for maine's future

Spotting towering Eastern White Pine trees in the forests and on rocky outcroppings, New England’s first settlers must have marveled at their majestic heights. At the time, the trees had never been touched, growing for hundreds of years until they soared to 200 feet into the sky. The settlers saw in them potential for strong, stable homes – and ultimately used them for virtually everything they made, from eating utensils to masts for ships. The Eastern White Pine even played a central role in the Revolution (perhaps you’ve heard a little story about this tree and the King’s Broad Arrow.)

Mast-suitable virgin pines didn’t last long – it only took thirty years or so through the mid 1800’s to wipe out nearly all of Maine’s tallest white pines. But the tree remained a symbol for Maine’s early prosperity, so much so that the fledgling state put an image of it on its seal and deemed itself “The Pine Tree State.” The white pine cone and tassel is even Maine’s official state ‘flower.’

Today, Eastern White Pine remains an integral part of Maine’s industry and identity and the state is the largest producer of white pine lumber in the nation.

“Maine is the home for the largest white pine mill in the U.S. and three of the top five producing individual mills in the northeast,” says Jeff Easterling, president of the Northeastern Lumber Manufacturer’s Association (NeLMA) in an interview with Forests for Maine’s Future. “As for the rest of the country, only North Carolina and Wisconsin have mills that produce eastern white pine, but low volumes compared to the northeast.”

Mixed pine and oak forests still represent about 25 percent of the timberland acres in southern Maine, and cover about 700,000 acres state-wide. Careful attention to protective forestry methods have helped the species flourish; Eastern White Pine responds very well to shelterwood management, in which the overstory is thinned so light can get to the forest floor. That helps them reach heights of 100 feet with 27-inch-diameter trunks, perfect for producing beautifully long and stable board feet.

Read more about Eastern White Pine’s relationship to Maine at Forests for Maine’s Future.

Modernist Wooden Grotto Immerses You in 390 Million Years of Trees

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Jeff Easterling

The entire history of trees on earth, from the very first species that emerged 390 million years ago to species only recently discovered, comes together in a single sculptural installation on the grounds of a garden in the UK. ‘Hollow’ by artist Katie Paterson and architects Zeller & Moye is a meditation space made of lumber sourced and gathered from around the globe, immersing visitors in a miniature forest of spectacular diversity.

Set into the grass at the Historic Royal Fort Gardens in Bristol, ‘Hollow’ is a beautiful and evocative tribute to the history and importance of trees, each individual piece telling a story. The 10,000 wooden components range from tiny little cubes of rare samples to beams that run nearly the entire height of the installation, glued together in a seemingly random arrangement to create a sort of cavern. Look up from the inside and you’ll see the sky through a series of apertures, designed to mimic the way sunlight filters through the branches in a forest canopy.

“Some samples are incredibly rare – fossils of unfathomable age, and fantastical trees such as cedar of Lebanon, the Phoenix palm, and the Methuselah Tree thought to be one of the oldest trees in the world at 4,847 years of age,” says Paterson. “Also, a railroad tie taken from the Panama Canal Railway, which claimed the lives of between 5,000 to 10,000 workers over its 50 year construction, and wood salvaged from the remnants of the iconic Atlantic City Boardwalk devastated by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.”

Lumber and Sons: White Pine Monographs Chronicle Family-Owned Mills

Posted on May 6, 2016October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

Continuing the tradition that began over a century ago, the Northeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association presents modern-day editions of the White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs, a publication promoting the use of white pine as a building material. While many of the older issues focus on Colonial architecture in the Northeast, others put the spotlight on the material itself, and the people who make it available to the world. In Volume XXX, Issue II, published in 2011, we get to meet the families that run several mills, including Robbins Lumber Company and Pleasant River Lumber.

NeLMA visited with these families and spoke to them about their passion for forestry, their sustainability practices, and how they manage transition to keep up with the changing times. Jim Robbins, for example, is a steward of the land his family owns, ensuring that both the forests and his business remain healthy. They’ve got 30,000 acres under their direct management, with 130 years of family experience. Says Jim, “You give the best soils, the best seed stock, the best management techniques and hopefully we will come out with the best pine product in the end.”

The Brochu Brothers are the fourth generation to run Pleasant River Lumber, a 100% family-owned Maine business producing over 100 million board feet of spruce dimensional lumber and Eastern White Pine annually. While the brothers initially went their own way after college, choosing not to enter the family business, they ultimately returned, bringing fresh ideas with them.

Read the whole story in this issue of the White Pine Monographs.

Massachusetts Style, Circa 1916: A Look Back at Farmhouse Architecture

Posted on August 4, 2015October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

As the style of New England Colonial architecture continued to evolve into the eighteenth century, certain settlements made their own modifications, developing variations that are particular to those locations. These shifts in things like materials, window style, roof pitch and overall proportions might be influenced by the local economy, climate or contact with people from other parts of Europe. In Massachusetts, the classic and unpretentious farmhouse outgrew its English Gothic origins and became a vernacular of its own.

Written in April 1916, Volume II, Issue II of the White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs takes a look at how this particular region adapted its farmhouses through the latter part of the 1700s. For example, the authors note that although builders broke from Gothic tradition to pitch roofs at a more Georgian proportion, it wasn’t really a stylistic choice. They needed to ensure that coastal rain was properly deflected from the sides of the houses, and make use of the shortest and smallest rafters they could get away with.

Being purists primarily interested in the least compromised forms of Colonial architecture, the Monograph authors typically turned their noses up at any Greek influence, but here acknowledge that the first blending of Greek revival style with English architectural traditions “produced such beautiful and dignified results.”

This issue explains how factors like growing prosperity caused changes over time, like rapid expansions that led to houses growing until they “ran slam into the big barn itself.” Check it out for lots more details and over a dozen beautiful black-and-white images of historic structures, including some that still stand today.

Architectural Monographs: The Eastern Shore of Maryland

Posted on June 15, 2015October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

When you’re looking to get a sense of the history of a particular place, look no further than its architecture – especially when various forms of it have been cobbled together in a mishmash that’s unique to that particular locale. While ‘pure’ architecture that’s built entirely in a certain style leaves us with what are essentially museum exhibits remaining in their original context, they’re few and far-between, having been demolished, renovated or added to over decades and even centuries.

On the Eastern shore of Maryland, in 1916, the writers of the White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs went looking for original Colonial architecture. What they found was a unique breed of structures that retained the simplicity and gentility of the period, but “lacing the spirit of thrift possessed by the Puritans,” combined it with the spaciousness of Southern plantations.

When this issue was written, the peninsula still contained “many quaint old towns that possess such of the charm of earlier days and innumerable old farmsteads, many of which are still owned and operated by descendants of the original settlers.” Preserved in black-and-white photographs, these homes likely do not look the same almost exactly 100 years later, if they still exist at all.

See the whole series of photos and read about what makes this collection of architecture unique at the White Pine Monograph Library.