The Boyertown Area Times

Orth: Architectu­re in our rural countrysid­e.

- Richard L.T. Orth A Look Back In History

No matter what one’s station in life in America during Colonial times, there was room for all to make a home and seek happiness if they were able to meet the challenge. That so many of our ancestors exceeded in not only meeting that challenge but having devotion and inspiratio­n to provide their families with “more” than the necessitie­s of life, had given this nation a rich legacy of extraordin­ary architectu­re. These pioneer families, who came to America and settled in the wilderness of the East Penn and Oley Valleys in the mid18th Century had enough wealth by the beginning of the 19th Century that they were able to build impressive homes that matched the landed aristocrac­y anywhere in the Nation.

The hallmark of a Georgian mansion is its keystones (placed over windows) and a central architectu­ral doorway whereby an equal number of windows and wall space are balanced on either side of it. It is the symmetry of the facade, which accented by the keystones in relief, that created an imposing structure of some grandeur. In actuality though, a Georgian mansion was not generally a huge building, but its details which can be quite ornate at times magnify its size. The most common way of constructi­ng a fieldstone home was to lay the stone walls in a random fashion, which is, laying the stones in no particular pattern but just as they come out of the field. However, if one wishes to be fashionabl­e, one can “dress” the stones (cut them square) and lay them in straight courses (rows).

The dressed stone method was considered high fashion in the early 1700s, and obviously took considerab­le time for masons to cut each stone. When one thinks of a façade, the architectu­ral front of a building, one is prone to think of churches and government institutio­ns with their embellishe­d fronts. However, even the simplest stone homes also had facades. Several early Colonial homes in Berks County’s rural countrysid­e have facades of dressed stone that is in direct contrast to random laid stone, and was obviously an attempt to keep up with the fashionabl­e architectu­re style of Colonial Philadelph­ia. The cornice trims were often very intricate, the equivalent of carving. A popular style can found on the Schaeffer mansion in the village of Oley, for example, and is known as wall-of-Troy cornice trim.

Another type of trim was known as dental molding, which was used as widely outside the house as inside on the interior ceiling trim. The most common of all cornice trim, and found mostly in the Oley Valley, this type is a slender, rectangula­r series of curved blocks. Obviously, the small panes of glass which were in the window sash of early Georgian mansions had the effect of making them appear large and grandiose. Early sash in the third quarter of the 18th Century had heavy cross bars but by the beginning of the 19th Century the crossbars were thinner and more elegant.

Besides the historic roads which led to Philadelph­ia in the Colonial period, travelers who visited this quaint agricultur­al center known as the Oley Valley were often amazed at its early American trade route known as the “Oley Valley Turnpike.” Organized in 1862 by local farmers to improve commerce between the early Oley Valley plantation­s and the more modern developmen­t of Reading, founded in 1748 by William Penn’s sons, Richard and Thomas Penn. A well-traveled commercial turnpike, connecting Pleasantvi­lle to the Black Bear Tavern on the outskirts of Colonial Reading, this was an industri- ous traveled route marked by historic turnpike mile markers. Pioneers were able to take advantage of a modern roadway route in which they could pay their pro-rated fee at turnpike Toll booths, often operated by general stages or taverns, which became the economic backbone of our early American trade routeprior to the American Civil War and the modern Reading Railroad..

 ?? SUBMITTED PHOTO - COURTESY AMERICAN FOLKLIFE INSTITUTE COLLECTION ?? English architectu­re, German builders, the 1783Georgi­an Hottenstei­n Mansion is limestone with red sandstone accents located in Maxatawny Township but the simplicity of these keystone crowned window lintels allows attention to be focused on the stylish...
SUBMITTED PHOTO - COURTESY AMERICAN FOLKLIFE INSTITUTE COLLECTION English architectu­re, German builders, the 1783Georgi­an Hottenstei­n Mansion is limestone with red sandstone accents located in Maxatawny Township but the simplicity of these keystone crowned window lintels allows attention to be focused on the stylish...
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