BEVELLED BOARDS AT LOCATIONS OTHER THAN AT THE FORTRESS OF LOUISBOURG

September 2008 - Present

Please note:

These files  were once available on the web fortress.uccb.ns.ca, later on the web fortress.cbu.ca. Unfortunately this site has been removed from the internet. Fortunately Krause House has archived this site off-line.

[Several 18th-Century (1713-1758) Louisbourg Examples: see web fortress.cbu.ca/search/Domestic6.htm  and  web fortress.cbu.ca/search/Domestic7.htm ]

Salem, Massachusetts

1665

Existing House [Possibly the Gedney House, Salem, Massachusetts]

On a circa 1665 house in Salem, Mass., the sheathing consists of one inch boards, "skived or bevel-lapped at top and bottom, are eighteen and a half inches wide on the average and enclose the frame entirely." Abbott Lowell Cummings, The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, 1625 - 1725, (London, 1979), pp. 134.

Turner House, 54 Turner Street,  

Salem, Massachusetts, Essex County

House of the Seven Gables Historic Distruct

1677

Addition of the Parlor Wing, 1677

Nine years after the initial construction and three years before he died, John Turner built a large, high studded parlor wing, twenty-one feet, five inches by twenty-two feet in exterior dimensions, south of the hall of the original house and extending beyond the west wall of the hall by two feet. The wing increased the size of the house by almost two thirds. Although the original interiors of the parlor and chamber were concealed behind later Georgian finish materials and the original exterior treatment was concealed behind later clapboards, information uncovered during previous repairs and building archaeology in 2005 has provided some information about the wing’s original appearance. John Turner’s addition incorporated a number of progressive features. The exterior of the wing was covered with horizontal sheathing boards beveled at the top and bottom for weatherproofing and given shadow moldings along the lower edges. The somewhat weathered nature of the boards indicates that the sheathing remained the exterior wall finish of the parlor wing for a decade or two. The ceiling heights in the parlor and chamber of ninety-eight and one hundred and four inches, respectively, exceed those of the typical seventeenth-century house by a substantial amount. While we have no knowledge of the appearance of the fireplace wall in the parlor or chamber, the curved jambs of the original parlor fireplace that are visible in a closet are a stylish feature associated with finer houses of the late seventeenth century in New England ...

[http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/ma/ma.htm ] For the complete pdf file, go to: http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/ma/House%20of%20the%20Seven%20Gables.pdf

Salem, Massachusetts

Prior to 1680

Existing House

On other buildings, built in Salem prior to 1680 and in Cambridge circa 1689, the bevelled boards served at one time as an exterior cladding. Thirteen to seventeen inches wide, they were molded at their bevelled edges. Abbott Lowell Cummings, The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, 1625 - 1725, (London, 1979), pp. 134 - 135.

Pierce House

Boston, 24 Oakton Street, Dorchester, Massachusetts

c. 1683

• Link

We respect the methods that were used to construct the house. We use similar tools, we use a lot of modern fasteners and adhesives, but we choose very wide sheathing boards with beveled edges top and bottom. We try to retain as much original fabric as we possibly can," says O'Shaughnessy ...

http://www.dotnews.com/oldhousepierce.html

Loomis House

Windsor, Connecticut

1688

 Existing Structure

"There are also to be found in certain regions, as a covering of very old houses, broad boards of white pine, three-fourths, or seven-eighths of an inch in thickness, applied directly to the studs. The horizontal edges of such boarding have bevelled joints, so that the outside finish is flush. (figure 88.) The Hurd house, in Moodus (1760), (Plate XVI), is completely covered with boarding of this variety. In the lean-to attic of the Loomis house in Windsor (1688), bevel-edged boards of width varying from 12 to 15 inches may still be seen covering the rear wall of the original main house ..."

J. Frederick Kelly, Early Domestic Architecture of Connecticut (1924), p. 83.

Cambridge, Massachusetts

[Cooper-Frost-Austin House?]

1689

Existing House

On other buildings, built in Salem prior to 1680 and in Cambridge circa 1689, the bevelled boards served at one time as an exterior cladding. Thirteen to seventeen inches wide, they were molded at their bevelled edges. Abbott Lowell Cummings, The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, 1625 - 1725, (London, 1979), pp. 134 - 135.

Deacon Tuttle House

Connecticut

c. 1700

 Existing Structure

In Connecticut, the boards of the exterior siding on the lean-to portion of the Deacon Tuttle House, built c. 1700, were bevelled along their long sides, to produce a flush, weatherproof surface. Nailed horizontally to the building's studs, each 3/4 inch thick board carried a 1 1/2 inch long bevel designed to protect the brick infill laid in clay mortar set in the wall cavities behind.

J. Frederick Kelly, Early Domestic Architecture of Connecticut (1924), p. 79, figure 84.

Tuckahoe Plantation

Richmond, Virginia

Post 1714-1720, Post c. 1733

The south [slave] cabin was found to have 1 1/2-by-13-inch pine sheathing beneath the shingles. These boards overlap each other at an angle so that rain cannot seep into the building ...

Jessie Thompson Krusen, "Tuckahoe Plantation", Winterthur Portfolio, Vol. 11 (1976), p. 119.

The James House

Hampton, New Hampshire

1723

The James House is recognized as a true "first period" colonial. The house built for Benjamin James in 1723, near the salt meadows of Hampton, New Hampshire, is regarded as perhaps the earliest surviving example of the two-room deep, center-chimney colonial in New Hampshire. All of its original framing remains intact.

[http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/houses/jameshouseAN05052006.htm - Photo from Joseph Dow's "History of the Town of Hampton, 1638-1892 and not in original article]

The James House reveals much about a Hampton family and the Town of Hampton at various periods of history.

James House Association P.O. Box 234 Hampton, NH 03843-0234

• Horizontal beveled pine sheathing, weathered before clapboards were first applied.

For a larger view of the building with the bevelled boards, go to: http://jameshousemuseum.org/jh_preservation.htm

Johannes Radliff (Radcliffe, Radley) House

48 Hudson Avenue, Albany, NY

Circa 1728

The house was originally one-and-a-half stories in height with a steep gable roof of 54-degrees. There are seven full rafter pairs and one partial pair. The roof is boarded with close-fitted, bevel-jointed boarding. The rafters are joined at the ridge with a halflap that was nailed rather than having the more usual wooden pin. There had been two tiers of collar ties, joined to the rafters with lap, half-dovetails and fastened with nails ...

http://www.hvva.org/radcliffe.pdf - See also: HWA Newsletter. April 2006. Vol. 8, No. 4

Mr. Parker had a dendrochronological study made on selected timbers in the house by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Sciences Laboratory of Columbia University. The results came back in early May and revealed a date of circa 1728 for its construction ...

Mr. Wolcott's research had determined that it was occupied by Johannes van Ostrande between 1728 and I734 while he was a member of the Albany County Council, representing the First Ward. There is also the record of a mortgage on the house given to Johannes Radliff in which it is referred to as "formerly van Ostrande." ...

The house was originally one-and a-half stories in height with a steeply pitched gable roof of 54 degrees. There are seven full rafter pairs and one partial pair in the way of the chimney of the fireplaces on the west wall. The shortened rafter on the west side was footed on a trimmer set between two full rafters. The roof is boarded with close-fitting, bevel-jointed boarding ...

 http://www.hvva.org/hvvanews9-6-7.pdf - The Society for the Preservation of Hudson Valley Vernacular Architecture, June-July 2007 Vol. 9, No. 6-7, Van Ostrand-Radliff-Holt-Saul Building by John R. Stevens

Pendergast Garrison House

Durham, New Hampshire

c. 1735

Wall detail, Pendergast Garrison House, Durham New Hampshire. At the right is the wall of the original log house of circa 1735, showing the mill-sawn logs and dovetailed corner joints. At left is the wall sheathing of a framed addition, showing sawn boards with beveled and lapped edges. Photograph by LC Durette, 1936. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Historic American Buildings Survey, Reproduction Number HABS, NH, 9 - DUR. V. 1.

James L. Garvin, A Building History of Northern New England (UPNE, 2002), p. 7.

Bolduc House in Ste Genevieve

Please Click On The Image To Enlarge It

[Source: Louis Bolduc House, Ste. Genevieve, Ste. Genevieve County Built 1740. Call number: HABS, MO,97-SAIGEN,6- ]

[Query: http://memory.loc.gov/pp/hhquery.html ]

 House

 Near South Schodack, NY.

Mid-Eighteenth Century

A properly beveled and fitted plank roof sheds water and snow efficiently and was as satisfactory as any other roof covering. If, after the passage of years, boards split or shrank, the plank roof made a solid base for wood shingles. While some plank roofs undoubtedly were intended as temporary expedients, others were installed with sufficient craftsmanship to survive as the sole roof covering for many years. One of the best examples survives on a mid-eighteenth century house near South Schodack, NY. (See illustrations.) ...

[Although now covered, the plank roof on this Dutch-style house near South Schodack, NY remains visible in the attic of the addition shown at left.
Photo, spring, 1988, by Shirley Dunn.]

[Part of the original plank roof, preserved when an addition was put on the house shown on page three.
No shingles were ever nailed over these fitted boards.]

However, surviving Dutch plank roofs are different from the clapboard roofs of Virginia. Existing roofs in Schenectady and Schodack contain wide milled planks laid horizontally in uniform lengths up to ten or eleven feet. These planks met and were nailed at a seam over a central roof rafter. The seam and the plank ends probably were covered by a narrow strip of wood. The lengthwise edges of the planks were beveled to provide a water-resistant lap over the plank below. There were no gaps in the original tightly fitted installation. A common phrase in New Netherland building contracts is "roof and floor tight," referring to the fitting together of boards or planks. In contrast, common roof sheathing intended to support wood shingles consisted of irregular boards which provided gaps and openings. ...

http://www.dutchbarns.org/dbpsnewsfall90part2.htm - Dutch Barn Preservation Society,  Newsletter, Fall, 1990, Vol. 3, Issue 2.  Shirley Dunn, "The Plank Roof:  met planken bequaem decken."

Hurd House

Moodus, Connecticut

1760

 Existing Structure

"There are also to be found in certain regions, as a covering of very old houses, broad boards of white pine, three-fourths, or seven-eighths of an inch in thickness, applied directly to the studs. The horizontal edges of such boarding have bevelled joints, so that the outside finish is flush. (figure 88.) The Hurd house, in Moodus (1760), (Plate XVI), is completely covered with boarding of this variety. In the lean-to attic of the Loomis house in Windsor (1688), bevel-edged boards of width varying from 12 to 15 inches may still be seen covering the rear wall of the original main house ..."

J. Frederick Kelly, Early Domestic Architecture of Connecticut (1924), p. 83.

New Orleans, Louisiana

1762

a) October 2, 1762. 
No. 8271. 2 pp. 
[p. 545]

"Contract for the sale of lumber passed before the Royal Notary of the Province of Louisiana, residing in New Orleans. Appearers. Sieur Francois Roquigny, resident of this city; and Monsieur Augustin Chantalou, Councillor Assessor of the Superior Council of the Province of Louisiana.

Sr. Francois Roquigny promised, bound and obligated himself to deliver to Sr. Chantalou, during the month of December next, five hundred pieces of mill lumber, beveled on two sides, measuring from ten to twelve feet in length and one foot in width, sound, fine and marketable merchandise of good quality, for which Sr. Chantalou promised and obligated himself to pay at the rate of forty sols per linear foot, ... "

http://fortress.cbu.ca/search/WRC2003.html

William Scott Farmstead
[Roberts House; Ennis Pond House]

Windsor, Isle of Wight County, Virginia

c. 1770 - 1785

The roofing boards are cut with a bevel on each edge and laid so that they fit snugly against each other. The sheathing boards are also beveled where they butt each other end to end ...

http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/IsleofWight/046-0086_Scott,_William,_Farmstead_1991_Final_Nomination.pdf - National Register of Historic Places Registration Form

 Persinger House

Covington Vicinity, Allegany County, Virginia

Log House Section

c. 1778

One of the earliest of Allenghany County's pioneer dwellings, this house was built by Jacob Persinger ... including a finely joined vertical board partition with beveled joints  ...

 Calder Loth, The Virginia Landmarks Register (University of Virginia Press, 19990, p. 32

The wall opposite the mantel is a vertically paneled walnut (painted) partition with beveled joints, a most unusual treatment of this type of partition  ...

The original log section was built in the last quarter of the 18th century and was expanded to its present form around 1888. A vertically paneled partition wall in the log section is distinct for its use of beveled joints, a feature rarely seen in the trim of simple log houses of western Virginia ...

http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/Alleghany/003-0018_Persinger_House_1982_Final_Nomination.pdf

Bernard (circa 1800 and 1840) and Castille (circa 1860) Houses

Village Acadien/Acadian Village,

200 Greenleaf Drive, Lafayette, Louisiana, 70506

 Circa 1800 and 1840

• Link 1
   

• Link 2

Randall House

Wolfville, Nova Scotia

c. 1800

• Link

NATHANIEL PRUDEN FARM
(Beside Lake Burnt Mills)

Isle of Wight County, Virginia

1820-1821

Developed in several stages over the first half of the nineteenth century, this intact farm complex and house beside Lake Burnt Mills includes a kitchen, slave house, smokehouse and three log corn cribs ... The earliest outbuilding is the kitchen, sited directly behind the original 1821 hall—and—chamber house, probably dates to the same period ... Like the smokehouse, this building is finished with bevel-lapped siding and beaded fascia boards. ... East of the kitchen stands a smokehouse of about the same date, finished with flush, bevel-lapped siding applied over closely spaced stud-wall framing typical of smokehouses and meat houses of the period ...

http://research.history.org/Files/ArchRes/VAF_2002_Southside_Tour.pdf

Lyford-Hutchins Cider Mill in Brookfield, New Hampshire,

Old Sturbridge Village

Early-19th-century

The original sheathing was beveled on the top and bottom edges to overlap in this manner. The end joints are also beveled. Replacement sheathing was sawn at the OSV Sawmill ...
Fabrication [i.e. reproduction] of the [original] sheathing was further complicated by the fact that it is beveled on the sides and ends so that adjoining boards overlap to shed water. The longitudinal bevels were all pre-cut, but the vertical end joints had to be custom cut and fitted on the job ...

http://www.osv.org/explore_learn/document_viewer.php?Action=View&DocID=1046 - The "NUTS" AND BOLTS of Restoring the Cider Mill by Frank G. White, 1985

SAINT JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK

1840

According to an estimate for an Ordonnance Storehouse, the roof was to be of:

dutchess slating on inch boarding, bevel edged, nailed with copper nails, having sheet lead to the ridge ...

[War Office, 55/876, 1840, p. 568]

Shirley Slave House

Charles City County, Virginia

Mid-Nineteenth Century

Fig. 6. ... Second period, post-civil war: Converted to single-family house facing present road ... Original exterior bevel-lapped sheathing covered with new weather boards ...

Orlando Ridout V, "Work in Progress: The Chesapeake Farm Buildings Survey", Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, Volume 1, (Vernacular Architecture Forum, 1982), p. 144

Dixon's Purchase

St Mary's County

Virginia

1858

This 20'x 16' dwelling is typical of the small spaces lived in by middling planters and tenant farmers in St. Mary's County  ... The walls of the ground floor were weatherboarded with flush, bevel edged white pine plank (Fig. 33) ...

Herman J. Heikkenen and Mark R. Edwards, "The Key-Year Dendrochronology Technique and Its Application in Dating Historic Structures in Maryland,"  APT, Volume XV, Number 3, 1983, pp. 23-24