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“The Waite-Potter
Chimney Stands Alone” EverythingWestport.com March 1, 2008 Photos by EverythingWestport.com
except as noted.
Above left: Muriel (Potter) Bibeau. Center: The west exterior wall of the
original Waite-Potter house. Right: The restoration efforts revealed
the original firebox and beehive oven (seen in the right of the photo). The
brick-faced liner (seen in the left of the photo) was added much later for
heating efficiency and to accommodate improved cooking methods. My first
on-site visit this year to the Waite-Potter restoration site was monumental.
The remains of the original homestead were much more than the small chimney
I’d imagined. It was the entire west wall of the house! An enormous structure
of field and quarried stone, and mortar. It’s a true memorial to the 1670’s
house that may be Westport’s earliest known European-built structure. “Pete”
Baker gave a methodical PowerPoint presentation on the restoration recently
at the Lees Community Room to a packed audience. She took us through the
time-consuming and sometimes overwhelmingly picky work of preparing the ivy
and bittersweet encrusted chimney portion of the remaining wall for masonry
restoration. Trees were cut down, and the area was cleared of brush and
debris. Stevens Masonry of
Cranston, RI dispatched employees Brian
Jones and Mike Pierro
to the job site to assist Pete in this labor of love. “I first saw the
chimney in 1978,” Pete said. It wasn’t until 2007 that I actively took an
interest in the chimney’s restoration.” A two week scheduled effort lasted
over two months! CPC funding of over
$16,000 funded the effort.
Above left: “Pete” Baker taking us through the
history of the Waite-Potter house. Center:
Audience members review the table full of artifacts uncovered during the
restoration. Right: The
Waite-Potter house less than two months before the August 31, 1954
devastation of Hurricane Carol. As an
architectural style, “stone enders” were built c. 1640-1700, and incorporated
a massive stone chimney for most or the entire north wall. According to
American Houses: A Field Guide to the Architecture of the Home by Gerald L.
Foster, lime needed to make mortar was scarce in 17th century Massachusetts,
and builders were forced to import it from England, making stone and brick
masonry work expensive - early masons set their fireplace and chimney bricks
in clay, using lime mortar only above the roof where the chimney was exposed
to the weather. However, lime did occur naturally around Narragansett Bay,
and stone was commonly used for very large fireplaces and chimneys. The
“stone ender” seems to have begun as a typical one-room English cottage with
sleeping space upstairs and a massive stone fireplace making up nearly one
entire end of the house. The steeply gabled roof reflects the medieval
English tradition of thatching (promotes rain run-off). The construction of
the stone chimney was commonly embellished with at least a heavy cornice if
not multiple pilasters.
Pictures
of the “stone-ender” before restoration. Photos by Pete Baker. Our
“stone ender” ended up in Westport because the original owner, Thomas Waite,
was from Portsmouth RI, where many “stone- enders” had been built. We
certainly had lots of stone, and lime was readily available. The year of construction
is blurred, somewhere between 1667 and 1677. Robert Kirby added one room on
the opposite side of the chimney in 1760.
Above left: Map highlighting locations of
“stone-enders” in southeastern Rhode Island and Westport. “Stone-enders” indicated
by yellow stickers. Right:
Restoration complete!
In the
photo to the left, Muriel (Potter)
Bibeau is seen as a young girl standing next to the
doorway with her dogs and grandmother. The
Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) is the nation's first federal
preservation program, begun in 1933 to document America's architectural
heritage. HABS photographer Arthur C. Haskell took the picture below left on April, 1934; the
drawing on the right was done by
Eugene L. Morgan at the same time.
At the
recent presentation, Carlton Brownell of Little Compton lamented that
preservation efforts after the war were under-funded and drew little interest
from everyday folk. After Carol’s destructive rampage, Carlton used some of
the floor boards and other salvageable pieces of the ruined Waite-Potter
house to help in the restoration of the Wilbur house in Little Compton. “Many of
the stones used to rebuild the front of collapsed chimney’s throat came from
the borders of my gardens,” Muriel (Potter) Bibeau
said. “These stones originally came from the chimney and were used as borders
when the chimney’s lintel rotted, allowing the stones to fall.” She mused for
a moment. “Pete and her crew did a wonderful job. In the spring I plan to plant
some hydrangeas around the chimney to ground it into the yard’s landscaping.”
Above left: Carlton Brownell. Left Center: Anne “Pete” Baker. Right
Center: Jenny O’Neill introducing “Pete” Baker to the gathering at the
Lees Community Room meeting on January 17, 2008. Right: A proud Stevens Masonry crew on a job well done. The Waite-Potter restoration is
located on private property, and the owner requests that everyone respect her
privacy, and not to attempt to visit the property. She is very appreciative
of your consideration.
Above left: Waite-Potter house just after
Hurricane Carol - 1954. Center: Muriel
and Pete. Right: Site location
showing excavated house basement foundation and chimney. - - - - - - End - - - - - - Community Events of Westport ©
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