South Room
In an unusual, but not unprecedented, configuration, entry from the front door leads directly into a relatively plain public room (referenced in Enos Kellogg’s will and hereafter as the South Room), rather than into an entryway. This room, currently used as a family room, contains a large fieldstone fireplace with an original granite hearth stone. The corner of the hearth is clipped, perhaps to provide a less constrained pathway for those passing deeper into the house from the front door. The room also contains a wall of built-in bookshelves on the north side, which were installed in the mid-20th century. One major ceiling beam and several vertical posts are exposed, although it is clear from nail marks and two pieces of wood casing that remain in place that all framing elements were previously cased. The floor in this room is uniform width wide plank pine, although this is a later replacement for the original. A likely original raised panel door leads from this room into the Kitchen.
North Room
To the north of the South Room is a second, more formal room (referenced in Enos Kellogg’s will and hereafter as the North Room), which now serves as a master bedroom. This room contains a wall of likely original raised paneling surrounding a fieldstone fireplace. There is evidence that, subsequent initial construction, this wall was relocated into the room by approximately 6 inches in order to make additional room for a closet. Paneling around the closet door appears to be of a later date. As noted by architectural historian James Sexton, while the South Room shows evidence of wood casings on the framing elements, in the North Room the “major timbers were scored to create a matrix for plaster. This combination of casing everywhere except the best room in the house suggests a last quarter of the 18th century construction date. It was at this time that casings were going out of style and plaster covered timbers were becoming the norm.” The flooring in this room is a modern replacement. Exposed joists in the ceiling show evidence of a previous plaster and lath covering.
A large Kitchen (now a living room) occupying the majority of the rear of the original first floor is dominated by a massive hearth containing a beehive oven located somewhat antiquatedly for the late 18th century in the rear right corner of the firebox. Unlike the other three fireplaces in the house, the firebox here is built of dressed stone, rather than random sized fieldstone. The faint remnants of a red wash are visible on the masonry. A likely original granite hearth stone fronts the firebox, and an extremely large wooden lintel tops the firebox opening. Nails driven into small strips of wood on the either side of the firebox opening provide locations to hang cooking implements. While nail hole patterns indicate that there was originally wood trim on the lintel, the stonework above the fireplace may have been exposed since construction. Two doors lead off of the north wall of the Kitchen. The first leads into what is now a small dressing room that may originally have been part of the North Room. The second door opens into a small closet that is referenced in Enos Kellogg’s will and hereafter as the Milk Room. Shadow marks on the original beaded paneling dividing the Kitchen and the Milk Room indicate shelving that was present in the Kitchen in the home’s early years, prior to application of the first coat of paint. As elsewhere on the first floor, modern sub-flooring has been installed in both the Kitchen and the Milk Room. A 1961 study of the house states that the wide plank oak flooring in the living room was moved to that room from the attic when the sub-flooring was installed in 1937. As in the North Room, exposed ceiling joists in the Kitchen show evidence of a previous plaster and lath covering. The massive rear posts of the original house stand fully exposed, having been revealed when a later addition was placed on the rear of the Kitchen.Staircase
From behind a board-and-batten door in the southwest corner of the Kitchen, a narrow staircase winds upward to the second floor, opening into a large hall. The banister and newel at the top of the stairs are 20th century replacements.
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| Uncovering and restoring the original stair treads. |
The staircase presents something of a mystery, as there are indications that the stairs may have been originally designed, and perhaps partially or completely installed adjacent to the front door of the house, directly in front of the chimney stack. Over the present staircase, an empty pocket for a floor joist is visible in the exposed beam, indicating that flooring was once intended to cover the opening between the first and second floor. Moreover, unusual horizontal planks run alongside a portion of the staircase, and are inconsistent with the plastering elsewhere along the staircase, and with the more refined vertical sheathing elsewhere in the house. This appears to be a patch of some sort, although its purpose is unclear. Despite this evidence of possible reconfiguration, the stair risers are affixed to the walls with wrought nails, and the stair treads are similarly affixed to the risers with period nails. The horizontal planks in the stairway are also affixed with wrought nails, indicating a likely 18th century installation. With this inconclusive evidence, it is impossible to establish whether the location of the stairs may have been changed during the initial construction of the house, or whether they were moved for some reason shortly after construction. James Sexton, an architectural historian who has inspected the house, is of the opinion that the location of the staircase is original to the house.
