Stoddartsville Historic District
The Stoddartsville Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. Portions of the content on this web page were adapted from a copy of the original nomination document. [‡]
Description
The Stoddartsville Historic District consists of houses and cottages, outbuildings and wells, as well as the ruins of mills and mill races, barn ruins, walls and landscape features, and early roads that were once part of an early nineteenth-century milling and transportation center named for its founder, John Stoddart. The district also includes extensive archaeological remains from one of Pennsylvania's most important early water-powered industrial projects, including surviving elements of water-powered mills as well as the best-preserved remains of the "bear trap locks" and wing dams that made the upper Lehigh River navigable. In addition to the early remains, a group of cottages that form the small resort village that succeeded the industrial complex are a part of the district. Because Stoddartsville straddles the Lehigh River, which is the boundary of Monroe and Luzerne Counties, the village and archeological remains lie within both Monroe County's Tobyhanna Township and Luzerne County's Buck Township. Stoddartsville is compressed into the narrow river valley whose central focus is the natural landscape feature of the "Great Falls of the Lehigh that represented the absolute up-river limits to future barge traffic as well as the focus of prehistoric and Revolutionary era routes across the river. The south and east portions of the district on the Monroe County side of the river are wooded and slope steeply down to the river from the plateau where most of the present houses and the archaeological remains of the village are located. The opposite, Luzerne County side contains a broad flood plane on which are located the remains of the principal grist mill which was the industrial centerpiece, and additional cottages and related buildings. Despite losses to floods and fires, the existing buildings, mill ruins and sites at Stoddartsville survive with sufficient integrity to give a clear sense of the daring and vision of John Stoddart's effort to monopolize transportation and manufacturing in this area of Pennsylvania while the later buildings reflect the evolution of the site into a resort that, because of its isolation, has few modern intrusions.
Stoddartsville stands fourteen miles southeast of Wilkes-Barre on the Susquehanna River and thirty miles northwest of Easton on the Delaware River, the two principal cities of northeast Pennsylvania at the time that the village was established. The village is located at the point where the Easton-Wilkes Barre Pike could cross the Lehigh River, first over a ford and later over one of a succession of bridges. The bridge over the river and the turnpike determined the location of the principal buildings of the community on either side of the original and subsequent bridges that stood just above the falls (Inv. #17, bridge ruins).[1] The last of these bridges, a 1930s steel truss, was demolished in 1955 by Hurricane Hazel. With the destruction of the bridge and its removal from its historic location to a new position upstream where the main highway has been relocated, the turnpike is no longer continuous, forming instead dead-end roads that connect to Route 115 on both sides of the river. Attached to these stubs of the old turnpike are single-track, unimproved roads that serve the later clusters of resort cottages that stand on either side of the river to the west of the original community. As a result of the movement of the road and removal of the bridge from the community, the community has become a quiet backwater that is isolated from traffic.
Two principal visual features of the Stoddartsville Historic District, one natural, the other man-made, are awesome. The natural feature which determined the location of Stoddartsville is the "Great Falls of the Lehigh River." Here a band of bedrock has been worn by the river into a multi-story cascade that descends to a deep pool of water carved by the force of the fall. Directly confronting the falls is the other remarkable element of the district, the two remaining walls of the giant grist mill that formed the economic focus of Stoddart's village (Inv. #14, Stoddart's Grist Mill, and associated archaeological sites, Inv. #12, and #13). Built of roughly-shaped, local stones that were carefully cut only at the corners, the mill remains heroic despite the loss of the roof and of a substantial portion of the structure. Looming higher than any agricultural building of its era, it has a footprint of 50 by 70 feet. Chimney or vent shafts at the corners provide clues to the evolution of the automated Oliver Evans-type gristmill that was pioneered in the Philadelphia region. The mill was damaged by flooding in 1862, and was largely destroyed in the 1875 forest fire that swept through the region.
Adjacent to and west of the ruined gristmill are the stone walls and below grade remains of Stoddart's Saw Mill, begun in 1815 (Inv. #12). Pictorial evidence from an engraving on the script of the Easton and Wilkes-Barre Turnpike and a primitive painting of the site and the surviving portions of the roughly-laid, local stone basement walls indicate that this was a two-story, rectangular plan building with an adjacent, two-story high room. According to the "Archaeological and Architectural Evaluation of Historic and Prehistoric Sites: Francis E. Walter Dam: Lehigh River: Carbon, Monroe and Luzerne Counties, Pennsylvania," prepared by SJS Archaeological Services (1989), the projecting wall attached to the south side of the building probably held the water wheel. Associated archeological sites include the sluiceway that continued the line of the raceway of the upstream Gristmill, and what is described as "an elaborate water delivery system for Stoddart's sawmill (Inv. #13, Stone Ruins). A separate water supply for the mill was carried by a covered wood conduit supported by masonry piers."[2] The remains of the gristmill, sawmill, and millrace constitute the principal artifacts of the industrial buildings and structures of the district.
The gristmill and sawmill were located on the river bank to take advantage of the water power of the site and to make it possible to ship finished products directly by barge down the river to waiting markets. Presumably a cartway (indicated in the painting of the site) connected these sites to the overland transportation of the turnpike. Because of its connection to the wider region, and to travelers, the turnpike determined the location of the administrative center of Stoddartsville and was a principal spine of the village. Along the north side of the turnpike stood the home of the resident manager whose house contained the offices of the mill complex on the far side of the road; on the south side of the turnpike, in close proximity to the manager's house stood the general store and post office. This location placed these facilities at the administrative center of the community and made them accessible to the traveling public. On the opposite side of the bridge, on the Monroe County side of the river but still near the administrative group, was the hotel for travelers which stood on the north and east side of the turnpike, again separate from the work community.
The blacksmith's house and shop were located near to the hotel at the Easton end (Monroe County side) of the community, also facing the Easton-Wilkes Barre Turnpike where he could presumably provide services to the traveler as well as to the industrial settlement. Built c.1815, as the home of the blacksmith, the so-called "Appleyard" house (Inv. #23) is the best-preserved building from the original era of construction. It is presently a private residence. Archival evidence indicates that it housed a Mr. Kinney, the blacksmith, whose shop stood near to the house (Inv. #21). It is a two-story vernacular house of plank construction with a gable-roofed main building and rear el; the front porch is a more recent addition that denotes the shift of the community from industry to resort after the great fire of 1875. It is constructed of heavy 2" by 20" vertical planking spiked into beams at the sill and second story to stiffen the structural plank skin. A modern vinyl clapboard covers the building. Double hung, six-over-six sash light the interior; paneled lower and louvered upper shutters reflect the Philadelphia custom. Brick chimneys on one gable end and another on the rear wing provide evidence of the original heating systems.
By contrast with the administrative center and the buildings that served the traveler, the houses of the work community were placed further to the west along the turnpike on the Luzerne County side of the river, above the plateau where the mills stood. The 1873 Pomeroy and Beers Atlas of Luzerne County shows the school and the Methodist church near the turnpike, on the hillside above the worker's village. Presumably, these buildings and the workers' houses stood on the hills above the mill on land that was less valuable for manufacturing, yet still near enough to work for efficiency. The houses are now gone but the foundations of numerous house sites remain to be located.
Several buildings of the present community were built on the foundations of earlier structures that were destroyed by the 1875 fire. On the Monroe County or southerly side of the river is the late nineteenth-century "Miller's House" (Inv. #18), which takes its name because it stands on the stone foundations of the original Miller's House. The present simple, vernacular building was built between 1890 and 1893 by Joseph Stoddart, the grandson of the founder, who used it as a summer house. It is a two-story, clapboarded, frame, gable-roofed house that, because of its foundation-based footprint, recalls the scale and character of the original village. Remarkably, it was built near the bridge and the turnpike, but across the river from the mill, suggesting a hierarchy that separated the principal craftsmen/managers from the less-skilled workers in the village.
Another building that was oriented to the turnpike and served the traveling public was the Inn. The present building is the result of its being rebuilt shortly after the 1875 fire (Inv. #15). Because of its location, this building may have done double duty as the toll-house for the turnpike. The original inn of the village was operated by Leonard Stoddart, brother of John Stoddart and was still listed as a hotel in the 1873 Pomeroy and Beers Atlas of the Luzerne County. It had eight bed chambers, a dining hall, parlor and detached outside kitchen and dated from the heyday of the community (1815-20). Its surviving rubble-stone foundations under the present building indicate its significant footprint of 40' by 26'. Original chimney foundations supported massive chimneys in the gable ends linking the plan of the building to the conventional English-based, two-room-deep Georgian plan that was part of the regional vernacular. As a stage stop, the original complex also included a barn for horses that now survives only as a ruin and is isolated from the district by modern route PA 115. Associated sites with the Inn include a stone-lined "trash-burning pit" (15a) and a storage shed, formerly an ice house with attached privy (15b).
Although the present building is a private residence, it is still called "the Inn." Like many of the buildings that were rebuilt after the 1875 fire, its elevations reflect the continued use of the architectural forms and proportions of the early nineteenth century. Six-over-six sash and louvered shutters suggest the Colonial Revival, but the evidence of other buildings in the village suggest that into the 1870s, regional design was very much retardataire. One important change is the front porch (which, because of changes in the foundation construction is probably a twentieth century addition) that marks the shift of the former inn to its present role as a private house. The original plan of the Inn placed the kitchen in a separate one-story, gable-roofed frame building that was joined to the main building by a breezeway. This has been joined to the house in a recent renovation. The old kitchen wing still contains dry sinks and cupboards that denote its original use. Clapboarding of the original exterior wall, still visible in the link to the kitchen, demonstrates that originally it was a separate building.[3]
One other existing building dates in part from the Stoddart/Lewis Stull era. This simple vernacular building was erected in the early nineteenth century to serve the Methodist Church (Inv. #11) and was later adapted to serve as a village school. It has since been converted into a house. The stone foundations date from the original Stoddart village. Like so many of the other buildings of the community, the upper walls of the church were destroyed in the 1875 fire; it was rebuilt by Lewis Stull. Nearby to the east is the village cemetery (Inv. #32), containing headstones that date from the early nineteenth century, including members of the Stoddart, Stull, and Butler families. Two of the more interesting monuments are obelisks of a dull grey zinc-like metal dating from the 1870s.
In addition to these principal existing pre-resort-era buildings, there are numerous visible remains. Of these, the most important are the foundations, chimney foundations and infilled cellar hole of the ca.1810 Stoddart House. When it was converted to an inn, it was renamed "The Maples," the name that the site is still called (#10). Built as the home of the resident manager of the site, Isaac, the son of John Stoddart, and Isaac's wife Lydia Butler Stoddart, its importance is suggested by its two-room-deep, center hall, so-called "fall Georgian plan" that was larger in area than the nearby Inn.The main block was nearly square (39' by 35'); unlike the Inn, the kitchen wing (18' by 28') was attached to the house and in turn was attached to an additional volume (27' by 28') that was linked to the kitchen by a breezeway. This large house was one of the few buildings to survive the great fire of 1875 and was operated as a guest house until it was destroyed by a fire in the twentieth century. Postcard views show a handsome fan and side-lighted central door facing on to what appears to have been a Colonial Revival porch. Additional archaeological remains related to the Maples include "The Well," (Inv. #10a), and a drainage system that served a drinking fountain, (perhaps these are elements from the tourist era). In addition, there are the foundations and stone walls of a cow barn (Inv. #10b) that was probably built for a later owner, Lewis Stull, who purchased the house in 1860. The grounds of the mansion were surrounded by a carefully cut, squared stone wall which was interrupted by two iron gates, one for a footpath, and the other for the carriage drive. The remains of a hothouse (#10c) to the north of the Maples, along with chicken houses and carriage sheds were also part of the complete gentleman's estate. Associated with the foundations of the resident manager's house, but nearer to the remains of the Easton-Wilkes Barre Turnpike stood a General Store and Post Office, which is physically evident as a depression in the ground (#8).
Another resource that only exists as an archaeological site is found at the Easton (Monroe County) end of the village. It contains the remains of the Hoffman House (Inv. #25). In the 1860s it was the home of a J. Hoffman, the proprietor (a term often used to designate a lessee) of the Stoddartsville Stage Line and a confectionary shop. This site has since been completely filled. Remains of a barn associated with the Hoffman House (Inv. #24) are to be found to the south of the Hoffman house site.
With the destruction of the mill by flood and then by fire in the 1860s and 1870s, the main resident manager's or Isaac Stoddart house was converted into a guest house which was renamed "the Maples" which, in turn led to the construction of numerous smaller summer cottages that form a distinct subgroup of buildings of the present village. These buildings are distributed on both sides of the river and were located more for their scenic views and privacy than for access to the by then demolished work sites. While the first of these vacation buildings was the reconstruction of the Miller house (Inv. #18) on the Monroe County side, most of the early cottages were located near to the Maples, the central inn of the resort. These earlier cottages were the Eyre House or Eugene Stull house (Inv. #7), c.1900; The Barnery (Inv. #6), a carriage barn erected c.1900 and converted to a cottage c.1930; June Stull cabin (Inv. #2, ) erected c.1911; the Little Cottage (Inv. #5), built as a storage battery house for the Eugene Stull house (see above); the Orchard (Inv. #4,), a cottage built in 1922; the Lodge (Inv. #3), a rustic Arts-and-Crafts cottage built c.1925; Camp-bell Cottage (Inv. #1) built ca, 1930 for Eugene Stull, Jr. a son of Louis Stull. Another group of cottages, "the Cabin" (Inv. #19) the Fieldstones House (Inv. #20), also known as "the Febiger House"), built c.1932, Wac-Zip (Inv. #25), and similar small frame resort buildings were constructed in close proximity to the larger houses of the opposite side of the river.[4] The earlier of these buildings including the Miller house, the Eugene Stull cottage and the converted barn of the Stull residence recall the Colonial Revival in proportions and in the use of clapboards as the principal exterior materials. Later cottages shift toward the use of river rocks, rustic logs and the architectural vocabulary of associated with the Adirondack cabins and fishing cabins of the Rangely areas of Maine.
Associated with many of these cottages are a variety of outbuildings that contribute to the informal character of the landscape. These are enumerated in the inventory. These are typically of simple construction, often built on rubble foundations, or in some instances simply being constructed on wood frame on the ground. They are sided with a variety of materials that range from vertical siding to clapboard and more recently to modern shingles and plywood. Roofs are invariably gabled, except for the smallest structures. With the exception of one barn, these buildings are of secondary importance to the history and design of the community.
From pictorial and documentary evidence, it would seem likely that there are additional archeological remains to be found within the district including those of an earlier saw mill that was on the site when Stoddart made his first land purchases. There should also be traces of former roads, including what are depicted in the primitive painting of the site as corduroy roads along the river, as well as the remains of foundations for workers' housing, and the school on the highlands of the site. It would seem likely too that there are remains of the boat yard where the river barges were constructed.
The final artifact group of the Stoddartsville Historic District are the best-surviving remains of a "bear trap lock" constructed by Stoddart and Josiah White as a part of White's effort to make the Lehigh River navigable. The site is located some 500' downstream from the settlement of Stoddartsville (Inv. Site #34). It consists of remnants of underwater decking, side planking, and remains of the in-water dam and earth and stone berms that channeled the held-back water into the main river channel. Portions of a stone and earthen berm on either side of the river are survivors of White's first method of building wing dams to channelize the river from 1818 that was later augmented by the more sophisticated operable wood lock system the following year. While some of the material including the operable lock has been lost to weathering and floods, much of the structure is visible at times of low water. It constitutes the most complete surviving remains of White's system of bear-trap locks and dams that made the upper Lehigh River navigable.
Although the topography of the valley has been altered by the construction of the Francis E. Walter Dam, which backs the still-water of the impounded Lehigh River up nearly to the fall line at Stoddartsville, there is a free stone creek below the pool of the Great Falls of the Lehigh River, indicating that the uppermost sections are essentially at the water levels of the historic period, as they have always been. With the landscape, the existing buildings and remains and the remarkable archaeological sites, Stoddartsville survives with sufficient integrity to add significantly to the historical record of Pennsylvania's commercial and transportation development. The architectural development of the community is well represented by the surviving houses, while the rebuilt houses contribute to our understanding of the continuity of the forms of the early republic throughout most of the nineteenth century in areas divorced from cities. The few non-contributing buildings are part of the character of the community in scale, material and design and are non-contributing only because of age.
Significance
The Stoddartsville Historic District reflects the patterns of internal improvements in commerce and transportation in the early republic; its ensemble of buildings reflect regional variations on the architecture of the early republic and later for recreational/resort designs, and for the engineering significance of the best-preserved remains of Josiah White's bear-trap locks; and has the potential to yield important archaeological information about the evolution of the communities and workplaces of regional industry as exemplified in the milling village built by John Stoddart and the canalization of the upper Lehigh River by Josiah White. With the demise of the industrial phase of Stoddartsville after the flood of 1862 and the fire of 1875, the subsequent adaptation of the village to tourism describes the continuing evolution of many regions of Pennsylvania's countryside. At the end of the nineteenth century, the scenic features of the river, the waterfall, and the valley in a renewed forest and its proximity to nearby industrial centers made the village a suitable location for a small resort. Adapting first the architectural styles of the regional vernacular, and later the architectural log-cabin forms of the Adirondacks and northern Maine camps, these resort cottages describe the increasing desire for rusticity of the twentieth century.
Stoddartsville was founded by John Stoddart, an early investor in the Easton-Wilkes Barre Turnpike Company which crossed the river to the north of the location of the village prior to 1812. By 1815, Stoddart constructed numerous buildings including an immense grist mill and a saw mill, houses for family members who ran the site, and other structures which were to become the core of an important milling village. Over the next few years, to ensure adequate transportation of the products of his mills, Stoddart provided the crucial backing for Josiah White's system of locks and dams that made the upper Lehigh River navigable, and eventually led to White's successful shipment of coal to Philadelphia markets.
Stoddartsville's founder, John Stoddart (1777-1857) was an English immigrant who resided in Philadelphia. He married Rebecca Ashton there in 1798, and they had thirteen children (6 boys and 7 girls). From an early date, Stoddart's efforts were directed toward commerce and trade. By the first years of the nineteenth century, his mercantile efforts had produced sufficient capital to invest in new ventures, the most important of which was the Easton-Wilkes Barre Turnpike Company that crossed the Lehigh River in the vicinity of the Great Falls. Chartered in 1802, that road was intended to link the Delaware River port of Easton with the newly developing communities and agricultural regions to the north of the Pocono mountains. Between 1801 and 1812, Stoddart's stake in the region grew to encompass nearly the entire valley from the Tobyhanna Creek to Bear creek.[5] So important was Stoddart to the economy of the region that the Easton and Wilkes-Barre Turnpike Company used an image of the immense grist mill and downstream sawmill of Stoddartsville on its script.
Central to Stoddart's scheme was the creation of a monopoly of the most economical routes to the Philadelphia markets where he was already active.[6] In the eighteenth century, the lower Schuylkill and the Delaware Rivers were the great highways for bulk materials into Philadelphia, while promoters of the Susquehanna River advocated its links to Baltimore and the south. Stoddart's investments at the point where the Lehigh River intersected the route of the Easton-Wilkes Barre Turnpike (roughly along the line of modern day Route 115) were based on the prospect that he could shift the shipment of local timber and grain from Baltimore via the Wilkes-Barre port on the Susquehanna River to the Philadelphia markets where he had his interests. This hinged on whether the Lehigh River could be made navigable and if Stoddart could develop a transportation center that would attract local farmers to bring their grain. By building a grist mill on the banks of the river, Stoddart hoped that he would attract the regional grain production which could be shipped more economically as flour by efficient water routes toward Philadelphia. This in turn would shift trade routes away from Wilkes-Barre on the Susquehanna River, fourteen miles to the west, and would divert trade from the competing port in Baltimore.
The issue of the control of trade in Pennsylvania was part of the much larger story of the "internal improvements" of Pennsylvania. Through channelizing of rivers, and where necessary the building of canals, it was hoped that Pennsylvania could control much of the nation's trade because of its strategic position on the Delaware, the Susquehanna, and the Ohio Rivers. The early nineteenth century push to make the Susquehanna navigable was quickly seen as a threat to Philadelphia interests, leading to projects such as Stoddart's to divert trade to Philadelphia on the Delaware.[7]
To accomplish this goal, in 1816 Stoddart began the construction of one of the largest grist mills in the state, a five-story, 50' by 70' behemoth, that attests to the scale of Stoddart's vision. Designed on the automated model of Oliver Evans (1755-1819), the master mill builder of the Philadelphia region, it was as fully automated as the turn-of-the-century master could achieve. When it opened in 1818, water power hoisted grain to the top of the building, and then impelled it up and down through the milling, bolting, grading and casking procedures, finally depositing filled casks at grade.[8] Following the quintessential American model in a labor-short frontier market, complex machines would supplant scarce manpower. Around the mill Stoddart created a village described by John Watson as "...consisting of a large mill, a store-house, a hotel and many neat cottages, making it one of the most attractive villages this side of Wilkes-Barre and upon the summit of the Pokono."[9]
Shortly after Stoddart completed his land acquisitions at the Lehigh River, another Philadelphia capitalist, Josiah White (1781-1850), determined to mount a challenge to the Schuylkill Navigation Company's control of inland Pennsylvania shipping by organizing a new canal and river route that would link the coal-bearing headlands of the Lehigh River to the Delaware River and thus to Philadelphia.[10] He made this decision because the managers of the Schuylkill Navigation Company who controlled the rights to the Schuylkill were insufficiently interested in providing access to the coal deposits north of Blue Mountain that White needed to effectively operate his iron foundries at the falls of the Schuylkill in Philadelphia. Those coal deposits could be linked to Philadelphia via either of the two rivers that breached the great east-west ridge of the mountain — so long as either could be made navigable. With the Schuylkill controlled by his rivals, White proposed to use the Lehigh River for the same purpose. However, he found fund-raising for his rival project nearly impossible, raising little from conservative Philadelphia businessmen.
In August of 1818, with his Lehigh River venture hanging in the balance, Josiah White realized that he needed the backing of one man, John Stoddart, to secure success. In White's words:
"...endeavg [sic] to get subscriptions to the Lehigh Navigation Co. & finally John Stoddart, who was then a leading man among the Mound characters, being esteemed Luckey [sic] and to never mis'd in his Speculations, carried a strong influence with his actions, he being of an open and accessible habit, gave us frequent opportunities with him, & his large Estates at the head of our Navigation, authorized our beseaging [sic] him, which we did frequently."[11]
After White gained the ear of a Stoddart associate, Stoddart provided the initial investment of $5,000.00 with the option to take an additional like amount of stock subject to the requirement that White's navigation system begin at Stoddartsville. As White had hoped, Stoddart's influence was such that White's goal of $100,000.00 was fully subscribed within 24 hours, ultimately leading to White's successful completion of the Lehigh navigation system. White immediately made good on his promise to Stoddart by beginning his navigation system in 1818 downstream from Stoddartsville. White's first approach to the problem of a navigable channel was to build wing dams that he believed would create a sufficient flow of water for canal barges in the central channel of the upper Lehigh River from Stoddartsville on its route south through the gap in Blue Mountain.[12] A dry summer during the first year of operation in 1819, and damage to the wing dams caused by ice the following winter made it apparent that a more complex system would be required. This led to White's development of the "bear trap lock" to augment the navigation system. White reported:
"I devoted myself for several weeks, especially to form a plan of a Sluice that would answer to us, be cheap made, & be safe in all stages of the water, & in which I providentially Succeeded in producing the Lock or Sluice, called the "Bear Trap", a name the Workmen gave it, while we were experimenting with it...to elude the inquiry of persons who teased them with wanting to know what we were making &c., &c."[13]
Bear trap locks employed an operable hinged wood leaf that was held in place by the flow of the river, impounding water above the lock. When it was lowered, barges could be carried by the resulting "artificial freshet" across low sections of the river to the next impounded section. All of the bear trap locks of the lower river have been lost to flooding while those of the upper river that survived the 1862 flood were covered by the impounded water of the Francis E. Walter Dam. The sole exception that can be studied are the remains of the uppermost lock below the Great Falls. As the site where White's river system is linked with its principal source of financing, at Stoddartsville, the district has remarkable historical interest.
With this second round of improvements, White was able to make the Lehigh River navigable in a downstream or descending direction from Stoddart's holdings at Stoddartsville. However, his own interests lay further to the south along lower sections of the river where nearby coal deposits could be brought to market. As result of the new lock technology, by 1825, contemporary accounts report that more than four times as much coal was being shipped to Philadelphia on White's Lehigh River system than on the more suitable but unimproved Schuylkill.[14] With White's success, the industrial supremacy of Philadelphia in the new nation was assured in the first generation of the age of coal.[15] Paradoxically, though the activities of White and Stoddart were contemporary, Stoddart's goals formed part of the older agricultural and water-power exploitation of the state that reached back to the early eighteenth century, while White's looked forward to the industrialization of the nineteenth century.
White's proposal to make the Lehigh River navigable meshed with Stoddart's interests and for a time enhanced the prospects of Stoddartsville, because the village could also provide milled timber used to produce the "arks" or barges that carried coal south toward the new industrial communities that developed along the route of the Lehigh River and its canal links. Indeed, access to vast amounts of timber was the other important component of the shipping business, because, until White had sufficiently tamed the Lehigh River through subsequent improvements so that boats could make multiple return trips, shipping was a one-way proposition in which the large barges were dismantled and sold for the value of their lumber upon completing their lone voyage. White reported that a failure to have access to timber would have been as fatal as a failure of the mines to produce marketable coal.[16] Stoddart was able to provide access to immense timber holdings at the head of the Lehigh which he could mill in two saw mills at his mill site.
Because of greater water flow downstream from White Haven, six miles to the south on the Lehigh River, where White's Lehigh Navigation Company was headquartered, the system succeeded in providing economical transportation for coal from the immediate vicinity. The noted chronicler John F. Watson reports on the immense tonnage of coal that was shipped by the 1830s, and describes the slack-water navigation (conventional lock system) that White put in place during the 1820s on the lower Lehigh as far as White Haven.[17] In the end, navigation of the upper Lehigh River did not spell success for Stoddartsville or for John Stoddart. Even with the economies of scale of milling flour in the largest mill in the region and with the lower costs of shipping by river, the costs of ark building for each trip made it difficult to compete with those providing flour from other sources where the boats could do double duty, carrying grain toward the central markets and finished goods back toward the frontier. In part this was a consequence of the economical system of bear trap locks that White used. Instead of the conventional water-tight locks that could be filled to raise boats on their course up-river, the bear-trap locks were useful only for downstream traffic while their downstream "freshets" would have been impossible to overcome traveling upstream. Further, because of the costs of overland travel to the Susquehanna River port in Wilkes-Barre, Stoddart still could not attract sufficient numbers of farmers who intended to ship to the other market. It was Philadelphia or nothing, and when White could not make the upper Lehigh navigable in both directions above White Haven, Stoddart was finished. The vastness of Stoddart's scheme was typical of the age and his financial ruin was equally immense. With debts of over $600,000.00 (more than five times the capitalization of White's Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company), Stoddart's assets were vastly outweighed by his debt. By the end of the 1820s, Stoddart was bankrupt with most of his assets assigned to creditors. He returned to Philadelphia where he lived out his life as a clerk. Stoddart died in Philadelphia in 1857.
After Stoddart's bankruptcy, much of the original forest lands around Stoddartsville were then acquired by new investors, including Josiah White, who gained a measure of return on their investments, not from the giant grist mill, but from the saw mills and the timber holdings. Logs could be floated to the falls and sawn into timbers for the ongoing boat-building business that served the coal industry to the south. When the charter of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, which called for two-way navigation to the Great Falls, was amended by legislative action in 1837 to permit the construction of a railroad from White Haven to Wilkes-Barre, Stoddartsville's decline was assured. By the 1850s, Stoddartsville was a backwater, still milling timber seasonally by the old water-powered technology of the Early Republic.[18] When Thomas Baldwin's New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States was published in 1854 Stoddartsville was mentioned only as a post office village.[19] Still, enough timber could be milled that White's Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, the merged product of the original Lehigh Navigation Company and the later Lehigh Coal Company, continued to maintain the locks of the upper river until the great flood of 1862 that destroyed most of the locks from Stoddartsville to Easton. By that time, the railroad offered a year-round transportation system that supplanted the canals and locks of the pre-industrial nation. The locks of the upper river were not rebuilt, and the regional economy declined.
The 1862 storm that wrecked the upper locks of the Lehigh Navigation Company was followed in 1875 by another disaster, the great forest fire that destroyed the raw material for the local mills and burned many of the structures of Stoddartsville including the gristmill, the church, the inn as well as other secondary structures. With this second catastrophe, Stoddartsville faded from memory, surviving only as the property held by members of the Stoddart family and Levi Stull, a Wilkes-Barre minister, who had purchased a portion of the property in 1851. He provided for 10 lots for his children in the vicinity of the main house which he renamed "The Maples." Stoddart descendants continued to hold property on the Monroe County side. One of John Stoddart's sons, Isaac, married Lydia Butler, daughter of Colonel Zebulon Butler, a Revolutionary War hero of the 1778 battle that led to the Wyoming Massacre.[20] Their children have continued to hold ownership of the land to the present.
The community of Stoddartsville and its related archaeological remains have the potential to tell us much about early industrial sites, their organization, and technology. Because the mill was never profitable, there was little incentive to make later alterations, and because of the distance of the village from other centers, there was no incentive to switch to new technologies such as steam power. Hence Stoddartsville remained what it was when it began, a water-powered industrial site, designed on the model of the premier mill designer of the day. As a result it is possible to gain understanding of a large-scale Oliver Evans industrial site, and at the same time gain understanding of the layout and hierarchy of an early nineteenth century industrial community.
The building types at Stoddartsville, such as the resident manager's house, the smaller miller's and blacksmith's houses and the worker's cottages were similar to those of like buildings at contemporary mills, iron foundries and other industrial communities. For example, the photographic and archaeological evidence makes it clear that the character of the resident manager's house would have been similar to the contemporary early nineteenth century house-office of Richard D. Wood in Millville, New Jersey as well as the large house-offices at many of the iron foundries in Pennsylvania. These shared plan and design characteristics of two-room deep, center-hall houses that resulted in immense roofs, usually interrupted by dormers that emphasized the importance of the building. Within, the hierarchical arrangement of interior spaces permitted a distinction between public and private zones that would have been useful in separating work from the needs of the family. By contrast, the miller's and blacksmith's houses are of a less imposing one-room deep plan but with the added amenity of a kitchen wing that permits the separation of household activities — not to the extent of the big house, but more than the workers' houses. This suggests that these sites are drawing on common architectural forms that were widespread in the Mid-Atlantic region and especially in the industrial communities centered around Philadelphia.
The dispersal of the existing buildings, ruins and archaeological sites describes the social hierarchy that the site represents. The location of the grist and sawmills and related structures were determined by the requirement of a flat plateau near but downstream of the main water flow. Because of the peculiar topography of the region, which formed a natural constriction upstream at the falls, there was enough of a head of water to avoid having to build a storage dam above the mill. The turnpike became the focus of the administrative and commercial buildings, providing the location of the resident manager's house, the post office and general store, and the hotel and nearby blacksmith's shop. These were placed to serve the traveling community, while doing double duty in serving the needs of the workforce. The location of the miller's house across the river from the mill, in close proximity to the blacksmith suggests that the more skilled workers were viewed as management, and were housed separately from the main workforce. The workers' houses were placed on the less usable up-hill slopes above the mill. There too were the church, the school and the cemetery which mediated between the workers and the administrative center. This organization of the site is in accord with patterns at other contemporary industrial sites such as Cornwall Iron Works near Lebanon, PA, and the R. D. Wood Manufacturing Company in Millville, NJ. In both cases, the main house of the owner was near to the workplace while the workers were housed in a separate village. At Stoddartsville, the sawmill, the giant grist mill, the inn, general store, post office and the blacksmith shop and the boatyard would have provided employment for up to 40 households that included millers, smiths, carpenters, shipwrights, as well as the houses of the mill operators.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the idea of the retreat to the natural world as an escape from urban industry and commerce gained currency, stimulated in part by railroads that could profit from hauling tourists to the second growth forests, and in part by hotel operators who sought to revitalize old inns and mansions by the new trade. By the 1870s, popular magazines such as Scribner's Monthly were publishing articles on such topics as "Trout Fishing in the Rangeley Lakes," (February 1877, 13, p. 3) and railroads published summer excursion routes illustrated with views of scenic wonders and tips on fishing under such titles as The Northern Tourister.
The new owners of the Lehigh Great Falls saw a tourist opportunity and by 1900 were renting rooms in the former home of the resident manager of the mill complex which they renamed "The Maples." It was described as being "open May 1st to December 1st, Stoddartsville, PA. A Rare Old Colonial Mansion overlooking the Lehigh River and Falls. For full information write L. R. Stull, Prop."[21] With this came a new set of architectural issues, the construction of small cottages and cabins to serve the summer trade. Stoddartsville was a bit atypical as a resort in being both a family compound of cottages for the Stull, Stoddart, and Butler families and offering hotel services in the main house. The hotel operators soon added a few cottages for those families who wished to have the advantages of the resort while maintaining their family unit. This idea dates back to 1860s railroad hotels at such resorts as Cape May where the Stockton Hotel built the Stockton Cottages across the street from the hotel; late nineteenth-century resorts such as the Idlewild Hotel, to the south of Media, PA provided central services to cottagers such as Frank Furness who built his own house nearby but used the hotel for meals.[22]
Architecturally, the Stoddartsville cottages are more rustic than the more accessible resorts that drew style-conscious residents of large cities. Its earliest buildings such as "The Inn" reflect the local vernacular after the 1875 fire, while the Lodge and the Orchard, for members of the Stull family are based on the conventions of the Arts and Crafts that were found in such nearby Pocono resorts as Twin Lakes. The rental cottages near the so-called Miller's house were derived from the exposed log construction of the New England camps that became the customary image of the woods cabin in numerous pattern books such as William Wicks, Log Cabins and Cottages (New York: Forest and Steam Publishing Co. 1920) which had reached a seventh edition by 1920. These became common resort cottages in the Poconos in the years before the Depression. Because Stoddartsville was neither on a major rail line, or on an important highway, it retains its old-fashioned appearance and suggests the simple qualities of a resort centered on the river and the woods, where the "strenuous life" advocated by Teddy Roosevelt could be enjoyed.
After World War II, the mini-resort on the Lehigh was once again affected by a disaster. The Maples, the great Stoddart mansion that had become the hotel, was destroyed by fire caused by the dropping of an oil lamp. With the loss of the mansion, the cottages became the principal focus, further shifting the character of the community to the minor cottages. The most recent event that has affected the community was the decision to dam the Lehigh River below the mouth of Bear Creek to create a reservoir and recreational area. This completed the destruction of the features of White's navigation system below Stoddartsville.
For the remains of the mills, houses and associated buildings of the mill-village and the later resort of Stoddartsville and the remains of the best preserved bear trap lock, Stoddartsville meets Criterion A in representing the broad patterns of internal improvements characteristic of the Early Republic; its array of resort buildings provide a record of the simple cabins and cottages of the early Pocono resorts and thus represent Criterion C for recreational architecture; and its treasure of archaeological sites have been partially investigated in previous archaeological studies and demonstrate the potential for providing information thereby meeting criterion D of the National Register of the United States.
Endnotes
[1] To avoid confusion with previous documentation, property names are taken from SJS Archaeological Services, "Archaeological and Architectural Evaluation of Historic and Prehistoric Sites: Francis E. Walter Dam: Lehigh River: Carbon, Monroe and Luzerne Counties, Pennsylvania." Further, we have followed their numbering system, which, instead of being chronological is organized spatially beginning at the western end of the Luzerne County side, and then continuing in a broad sequence around to the Monroe County side. Their numbering system links associated structures to the site number by giving those additional structures alphabetical suffixes, as 15a, b, c. We have followed this system.
[2] SJS report, PHMC files, p. 200. Similar elevated water courses are to be found at other industrial sites such as the Hopewell Iron Foundry.
[3] The Inn and ancillary structures were to have been moved from their original foundations to avoid possible flooding in the event that the Francis Walter Dam was raised. They have not been moved at the present time.
[4] These are more thoroughly described in the SJS report, PHMC files.
[5] Biographical materials on Stoddart are conflicting. The SJS report, Butler files, p. 118 (see note 1, section 7) reports that Stoddart was an English immigrant, son of a shoemaker who married in 1798 yet managed to send a son to supervise the Stoddartsville project in 1801! Some of these issues are clarified in Glenn W. Sheehan, "A Dream Betrayed," Archaeology 41 no.5 (Sept./Oct. 1988): pp. 36-42. See also Willis Hazard, ed. John F. Watson, Annals of Philadelphia in Olden Times, 1857, (Philadelphia: Edwin S. Stuart, 1899) 111, 450-1 which reports that "About the year 1816, Mr. John Stoddart of the city of Philadelphia was one of our most active businessmen, commanding unlimited credit and the confidence of the community. Whatever he touched, either in real estate or merchandise, made a 'rise in the market' ... ."
[6] The control of markets provides a framework for understanding the significance of Stoddartsville and the work of Josiah White. In the early 1800s, schemes were developed to further the competing ambitions of Baltimore at the mouth of the Susquehanna, leading to efforts to canalize that river. See Darwin H. Stapleton, The Engineering Drawings of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980, pp. 89-109. Stoddart was trying to keep Pennsylvania produce flowing through Philadelphia where his interests lay. According to James Robinson, Philadelphia Directory, City & County Register for 1804 (Philadelphia: William Woodward, 1804), p. 9, "...the staple commodity of Philadelphia is flour, of which 400,000 barrels have been exported in a year." It was this market that Stoddart sought to control.
[7] The story of the Susquehanna channel project is told by Darwin Stapleton, The Engineering Drawings of Benjamin Latrobe (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980), pp. 89-109.
[8] SJS report, Butler files, p. 118 lists Evans as the builder of the mill. Evans is one of the acknowledged giants of American industrialization, who was recognized for his genius in adapting machine power to solve the limited labor available in the new world. Siegfried Giedion, Mechanization Takes Command (Oxford University Press, 1948, republished, W.W. Norton, 1969), pp. 79 ff. details Evans's career.
[9] Willis Hazard, Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the Olden Time, 111, Philadelphia: Edwin S Stuart, 1857 p. 450. This includes a brief historical biography of Stoddart by Hazard.
[10] A brief period biography of White is included in Henry Simpson, The Lives of Eminent Philadelphians, Now Deceased (Philadelphia: William Brotherhead and Co., 1859), pp. 956-9. White's remarkable contributions to the economy of the nation are detailed in Josiah White, Josiah White's History, Given by Himself (Privately Published by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, n.d.). For a perspective based on the views of the Schuylkill Navigation Company see James L. Holton, The Reading Railroad -- History of a Coal Age Empire (Laury's Station, PA, 1989), Vol. 1, p. 94. Holton credits White with the crucial lock inventions as well as the demonstration that anthracite could be readily burned.
[11] White, p. 27
[12] White, pp. 27-38 describes the process of building the locks, and the house boat system that enabled him to move his camp from dam site to dam site as needed. This also chronicles his difficulties with weather, and the resulting improvements that he was forced to make at significant cost.
[13] White p. 36.
[14] Eli Bowen, Pictorial Sketchbook of Pennsylvania, or Its Scenery, Internal Improvements, Resources and Agriculture (Philadelphia: W. P. Hazard, 1852), p. 175. This book was largely a promotion of the Reading Railroad, which had links to the Schuylkill Navigation Company. Bowen recounts the tremendous boom in coal land purchases resulting from the commercial use of the mineral. p. 176. Most remarkable is the account of prefabricated houses being sent north on the return trip of coal barges with new towns appearing overnight, p. 177. See also Elwood Morris, "Bear trap sluice gates on the Lehigh descending navigation," Journal of the Franklin Institute, vol. 32 (Dec. 1841) pp. 361-368. Hansell, op cit contains an extensive bibliography on the canal work.
[15] See Bowen, p. 179, on the impact of anthracite for smelting iron. With a density of a ton per cubic yard, anthracite coal was a far more efficient fuel than wood or soft coal.
[16] White, pp. 38-39.
[17] John F. Watson, Annals of Philadelphia in the Olden Time, revised ed. Willis Hazard, 1857. (Philadelphia: Edwin S. Stuart, 1899) pp. 460-1.
[18] Indicative of Stoddartsville's status is its treatment in Bowen's larger history of the Wyoming Valley, p. 236, ff The recommended overland route passes from Wilkes-Barre via "Stoddartsville on the Lehigh River" through Wind Gap, Nazareth. It is noteworthy that by 1852, Stoddartsville needs a qualifier to identify it.
[19] Thomas Baldwin's New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States (Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co, 1854), p. 1114.
[20] See Bowen, pp. 252-257.
[21] SJS report, Butler files, illus. 7.05.
[22] For the Cape May Hotel see George E. Thomas and Carl E. Doebley, Cape May: Queen of the Seaside Resorts (Philadelphia: Art Alliance Press, 1976); another example was the 1880s Furness-designed Hotel Breslin and attendant cottages at Lake Hopatcong, NJ. See George E. Thomas et al, Frank Furness: The Complete Works (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, revised ed., 1996), pp. 258-61.
References
Baldwin, Thomas. Baldwin's New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Co, 1854.
Beers, D. G. Atlas of Luzerne County, PA. Philadelphia: Pomeroy and Co., 1873.
Bowen, Eli. Pictorial Sketchbook of Pennsylvania or its Scenery, Internal Improvements, Resources and Agriculture. Philadelphia; W. P. Hazard, 1852.
DeLorme Mapping Co . Pennsylvania Atlas and Gazetteer. Freeport, Maine, 1990.
Giedion, Siegfried. Mechanization Takes Command. 1948. Reprint. New York: W. W. Norton, 1969.
Hansell, Norris. Josiah White: Quaker Entrepreneur. Easton, Pa: Canal History and Technology Press, 1992.
Heite, Edward F. "Historical and Archaeological Assessment in Connection with Proposed Modifications of the Francis E. Walter Dam and Reservoir." Carbon, Luzerne, and Monroe County, for the Philadelphia District Corps of Engineers, 1981. PHMC files.
Holton, James L. The Reading Railroad: History of a Coal Age Empire. Vol. 1. Laury's Station, PA, 1989.
Morris, Ellwood. Journal of the Franklin Institute vol. 32 (Dec. 1841) pp. 361-368.
Oppel, Frank, ed. Fishing in North America. Secaucus, NJ: Castle Press, 1986.
Pomery, A. W and P. G. Beers. Luzerne County Atlas. Philadelphia, 1873.
Simpson, Henry. The Lives of Eminent Philadelphians, Now Deceased, Philadelphia: William Brotherhead and Co., 1859.
Sheehan, Glenn W. "A Dream Betrayed." Archaeology 41 no. 5 (Sept/Oct 1988): pp. 36-42
SJS Archaeological Services. "Archeological and Architectural Evaluation of Historic and Prehistoric Sites: Francis E. Walter Dam: Lehigh River: Carbon, Monroe and Luzerne Counties, Pennsylvania." September 1989, Part 1. PHMC files.
________, 1987 draft of same. Files of John L. Butler, Stoddartsville, PA.
Thomas, George E. and Carl E. Doebley. Cape May: Queen of the Seaside Resorts. Philadelphia: Art Alliance Press, 1976.
Thomas, George E. et a] . Frank Furness: The Complete Works. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. Revised ed., 1996.
White, Josiah. Josiah White's History, Given by Himself. Privately published by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, n.d. [c.1840]
DISTRICT INVENTORY
N.B.-Buildings and archaeological sites 1-14 and resources 29-34 are in Luzerne County. Buildings, structures and archaeological sites 15-28 are in Monroe County.* Buildings and sites are listed in the order of the archaeological report already prepared on the district which was based on a spatial rather than chronological sequence. County Tax numbers are included at the end of each entry
Buildings:
Buck Township, Luzerne County:
1. Camp-bell c.1930 one story log-cabin, erected for Eugene Stull, Jr.; set back from river; small sash, largely original. A lean-to porch has been screened on the front. A large rough stone chimney stands on the north end of the house. Luzerne County #468. Contributing.
2. June Stull cottage, erected c.1911; stone foundation with log walls, chinked with concrete, altered sash, large stone fireplace at gable end; more recent rear wing. Luzerne County #468. Contributing.
3. "The Lodge," an early twentieth century rustic arts and crafts bungalow with stone foundations and porch piers carrying rectangular porch columns which in turn support a shallow hipped roof over the cottage. Dark-stained wide clapboards of the arts and crafts bungalow style encircle the house. A massive rubble stone chimney is the dominant element of the side wall. Original sash. Luzerne County #474. Contributing.
4. "The Orchard," erected c.1922, a two and a half story formerly shingled cottage overlooking the river. Its porch is carried on stone piers that are infilled with frame panels. A broad gable spans from front to back with a shed dormer on the front slope of the gable. Small-paned French doors open onto the porch; some of the clapboarding may be later, but most is wide board, "bungalow siding." A large rubble-stone chimney rises from the gable peak. Luzerne County #470. Contributing.
Associated building:
Ice house, gabled, asphalt roof with exposed purlins, frame structure clapboarded with wide "bungalow" siding. Contributing.
5. "The Little Cottage," built early twentieth c. as a small carriage house and later used for storage batteries and generator for the Eugene Stull house, this was converted to a cottage with a local stone chimney in the center of the gable end. "German" or "drop" siding covers the building, and the windows and doors are framed with flat-profiled trim in the fashion of the early arts and crafts, suggesting its date. Small-paned sash are typical. A lean-to garage has been added to the side, but is part of the building. Luzerne County #465. Contributing.
Associated building:
Gable-roofed frame privy adjacent to the rear of the building. Contributing.
6. "The Barnery," a small barn erected c.1900 for the Eugene Stull house and later converted into a cottage, c.1930. The Barnery is a frame structure with a central gable and an attached front lean-to of the sort that are common English barns. Additional small-pane sash were added to convert the building into a summer cottage. Luzerne County #464. Contributing.
Associated building:
A gabled, asphalt roofed frame privy with clapboarded siding, and half moon cut-outs on door. c.1900. Contributing.
7. Eugene Stull house, erected c.1900. The main house of the Stull family was built when the Maples, the original Stoddart mansion, had become a successful tourist lodge. The Stull family then built their own gambrel-roofed, Colonial Revival cottage with a broad porch surrounding the entrance and river side. 2/2 paned windows, and clapboards, complete the Victorian cottage. Luzerne County #464. Contributing.
Associated buildings:
Tool shed, shed roofed frame structure with later lean-to porch on square posts. ca.1920. Contributing.
Garage: Modern (c.1980) frame with siding covered gable-roofed one car garage. Non-contributing.
11. "Peter Pan Cottage," clapboarded c.1875 Victorian chapel, converted to school and in early twentieth century to a cottage, built on the rough stone foundations of the original pre-1830 Methodist Chapel. A small entrance porch faces roughly east, and overlooks the cemetery on the adjacent hillside. Small-paned sash and an attached porch on the river side represent changes for its present use. Luzerne County #460 Contributing.
Associated building:
Hipped roofed square frame garage with sliding doors. ca.1920. Drop siding, asphalt roof, small pane sash. Contributing.
Tobyhanna Township, Monroe County:
15. "The Inn," ca. 1875 rebuilding after fire of earlier building on same foundations. Center hall, one-room-deep inn with large parlor and Victorian fireplace on north end, center hall with Victorian newel on stair, and dining room on south end. A clapboarded kitchen is attached by a breezeway, since enclosed, on the east side of the complex. The porch is an addition of the Victorian rebuilding. Pairs of small paned sash flank the slightly off-center door and central hall window of the second story. Large gabled dormers light the attic. Monroe County #19-21-1-1. Contributing.
Associated buildings:
15b. Shed-roofed frame, clapboarded privy with interior paneled Victorian door adapted to fill opening and adjacent frame, gable roofed ice-house with sawdust in walls for insulation, asphalt shingle roof, c.1875. Contributing.
15d. Modern (1990) car shelter, carried on 6 x 6 posts, gable roofed, asphalt shingled open building. Non-contributing.
18. The Miller House, c.1890 rebuilding after fire for Joseph Stoddart on early nineteenth-century foundations; originally a one-room-deep, center-hall house, rebuilt with entrance on the gable front to face the house toward the river. With the shift of orientation, the original rear kitchen wing became a side wing but kept the same function. Small-paned sash light the interior; various porch and lean-to additions within the local architectural vocabulary.
Monroe County #19-21-1-2. Contributing.
Associated buildings:
18a. Frame, clapboarded gable-roofed privy with asphalt shingle roof and a narrow wood vent stack, interior plastered. Contributing.
18b. Centennial-era frame carriage shed, later used as garage. Unusual pre-fab structure said to be from Centennial Exposition with grooved structural posts to receive tongue and groove siding; hipped roof with asphalt siding. Contributing.
19. "The Cabin," early twentieth century, bark-faced, one-room log cabin on rubble stone foundation with adjacent privy (19a)- small bark-covered frame front porch toward river on log posts- plank door; modern windows. Monroe County #19-21-1-20 Contributing.
Associated building:
19a. Shed-roofed privy, frame construction with modern siding, c.1955 Non-contributing.
20. "The fieldstones," c.1932 suburban house, perhaps a pre-fab in a generally English cottage look. Rounded river stones frame the door and form the chimney at the center of the house. Oversized clapboards give the house a "doll house" scale. The south wing is shingled and appears to be an addition; sash are variously 6/1 and 9/1. A lean-to porch has been added on the river side. Monroe County #19-21-1-2 Contributing.
Associated building:
20a. Adjacent frame barn with modern siding, c.1970. Non-contributing.
22. Frame barn with gabled roof, vertical board-and-batten skin, early twentieth-century design, with lean-tos on each side in the manner of the local English barn; the south lean-to serves as a shelter for the animals while the north lean-to has been infilled. Rebuilt on 1920s reinforced concrete foundations of earlier building. Enclosure forms the front yard of the building. Adjacent is a frame chicken coop from a slightly more recent period. Contributing.
23. "Appleyard," a two and one half story side-hall plan, early nineteenth-century house from the original Stoddart community, with a rear el. It is built of vertical 2" by 20" planks, and stiffened with heavy timber framing. It is carried on a stone foundation of the sort typical in the early buildings of the community. Paneled first floor shutters with louvered shutters on second story. The house has been covered with modern siding, but the historic small-paned 6/6 sash, and other elements are largely intact. Brick chimneys are a hallmark of the pre-resort era. Later side and front porches. Monroe County #19-21-1-1 Contributing.
Associated buildings:
23b. Small, gable-roofed, frame barn built on vernacular lines in 1960s. Non-contributing.
23c. Small, gable roofed, frame garage, built on vernacular lines, 1970s. Non-contributing.
In addition to the above buildings which site numbers are consistent with those of the SJS Archeological Services Report, the following numbers are assigned to buildings located on the Monroe County side of the river that were not surveyed in the 1989 report.**
26. "Wac-Zip," early twentieth-century, Adirondack-style cabin with gable end turned toward river and fronted by a broad porch. A front door opens from the porch into a large lodge room with a great center fireplace; low, lean-to wings contain additional bedrooms. These are evident as additions by the breaks in the broad plank clapboards. Stone piers link it to the older building traditions. c.1929 Monroe County #19-21-1-20 Contributing.
Associated buildings and structures:
26a. Gable-roofed, frame garage with exposed purlins and asphalt roof, wide bungalow siding, similar to main house. c.1929 Contributing.
26b. Gable-roofed, frame pump house with exposed purlins and asphalt roof, wide bungalow siding similar to main house, to hold water pump and tank for cottage, c.1929. Contributing structure.
26c. Gable roofed, frame privy with exposed purlins, and wide bungalow siding like house, c.1929. Contributing.
27. Cabin, c.1920. Originally a simple cottage like the earlier log houses, this has been enlarged with an el on the west end carried on modern cement block piers. The porch is away from the river side, facing toward the open clearing in the forest. The original wing is clad in tightly fitted vertical planks while the modern wing is of T-111 siding with modern windows. Monroe County #19-21-1-20. Contributing.
Associated building:
27a. Modern "guest house," used as tool shed, c.1970. Non-contributing.
28. John L. Butler log house, c.1933. "Lincoln-log" type construction with interlocking logs and rough ends in the fashion of Maine logging camps, built as the summer home of John L. Butler. The logs are chinked with concrete and reflect the construction of the earlier Jane Stull house, across the river. A broad log-framed lean-to porch is fronted on the side toward the river and opens into a large room with a great stone fireplace -- later an addition was made on the west end. Windows are largely replaced. Monroe County #19-21-1-20. Contributing.
Associated building:
28a. Log privy, built of ends of logs for cabin, installed vertically with sapling fillers; shed roof, c.1933. Contributing.
In addition to the following buildings and sites on the Luzerne County side of the river were also not surveyed in the SJS Report. Here they are given a sequential numerical designation after the Monroe County listings:
29. Cottage on Old Easton-Wilkes Barre Turnpike: A post-World War II cottage, perhaps on earlier foundations, but with modern concrete foundations, and 1/1 sash; non-contributing by virtue of age and/or alterations. Luzerne County #461.
Associated buildings:
29a. Gable-roofed, frame privy c.1920 Contributing.
29b. 1980 gable roofed garage. Non-contributing.
29c. "Guest House" or one room camp, c.1940. Contributing.
30. "Echo Ridge," c.1920 Arts and Crafts bungalow with broad porch across front of house, paneled shutters, massive stone fireplace. Gabled dormers in second story. Luzerne County #457. Contributing.
Associated building:
30a. Rear privy, adapted to tool house, gable roofed c.1920. Contributing.
31. Pre-World War II shingled, gambrel-roofed cottage, recently reshingled with original small-paned sash. Luzerne County #463 Contributing.
Associated buildings:
31a. Gable-roofed, frame privy with shingle siding, c.1930. Contributing,
31b. Gable roofed, shingled garage, with pent eave over garage door. Contributing.
Historic Site:
32. Methodist Cemetery with numerous stone markers (small scale resources not counted separately in resource count) -- Luzerne County # untaxed. Contributing.
Note: Properties or portions of properties identified by tax number Luzerne County #453, 469, 471 fall within the district boundaries but contain no known resources.
Archaeological sites and ruins:
All archeological sites are contributing.
Lehigh County sites:
8. The foundations of the post-office and general store, c.1815, across the old Easton-Wilkes Barre Pike from the now-destroyed Stoddart house. Luzerne County #459 Contributing.
10. The remains of the resident manager's house also known as the Isaac Stoddart house, c.1815. It was later converted into a resort hotel called "the Maples." This is a nearly square, 35' by 39' foundation with a large rear el that once housed the resident manager of the site. Other related archaeological remains include a well (10a), foundations of a bank-barn for dairy cattle (10b), and a hot-house on the upper hill, across the road (10c). This site was largely surrounded by a stone wall that perhaps dates from the early period of the site and set off the resident manager. With the Maples demolished, the wall now appears to be related to the Eugene Stull house, across the road, but its position on the near side of the road to the Maples indicates its true purpose. Luzerne County #459. Contributing. (Inv. #10, 10a, 10b, and 10c are counted as a single site).
12. Foundations and ruins of two-room plan sawmill, c.1820 with evidence of north side water-wheel chamber. Luzerne County #459 Contributing.
13. Stone ruins, foundations and remains of masonry piers, c.1820 for water chute for sawmill. Luzerne County #459 Contributing.
14. Three-story high wall ruins and foundations, c.1816 for immense Oliver Evans system mill, with corner flues on surviving corners, and ruins of walls in basement. This is clearly the premier industrial site of the community and warrants extensive investigation. Luzerne County #459 Contributing.
15a. Trash pit associated with the Inn, Monroe County #19-21-1-1 Contributing.
17. Piers and other remains of original bridge on the Easton -Wilkes-Barre Pike, 1820-1930s. A large piece of the iron structure is located downstream on the shore of the river. Luzerne County #459 Contributing.
Monroe County sites:
21. Archaeological remains of the blacksmith shop associated with house #23. Monroe County #19-21-1-1 Contributing.
24. Early nineteenth-century barn foundations associated with the J. Hoffman House. Monroe County #19-21-1-1. Contributing.
25. Early nineteenth-century house foundations, later occupied by J. Hoffman, proprietor of the Stoddartsville Stage Line and owner of a confectionery shop. Monroe County #19-21-1-1. Contributing.
Additional archaeological sites not listed in the SJS Archaeological Services Report:
32. Site of additional workers' houses along Easton-Wilkes Barre Pike; evidence of additional foundations will likely be found along the route of the road before it connects to modern Route 115. Luzerne County #458 Contributing.
33. Site of School, top of ridge above village on west side of Easton-Wilkes Barre Pike. Luzerne County #458. Contributing.
34. Site of Josiah White bear-trap dam, downstream of village 500' with remains of stone and earth berms, and timbers from bear-trap dam. Luzerne County #459. Contributing.
*Property names and numbers are taken from the SJS Archaeological Services, "Archaeological and Architectural Evaluation of Historic and Prehistoric Sites: Francis E. Walter Dam: Lehigh River: Carbon, Monroe and Luzerne Counties, Pennsylvania." This report exists in two states -a 1987 draft in the possession of Cdr. John L. Butler, Stoddartsville, identified in the notes for this section and for the Significance section as "Butler files," and the September 1989 draft final report in the PHMC files, identified as "PHMC files." An earlier report that identifies important pre-historic archaeological sites is: Edward Heite, "Historical and Archaeological Assessment in Connection with Proposed Modifications of the Francis E. Walter Dam and Reservoir, Carbon, Luzerne, and Monroe Counties," for the Philadelphia District Corp of Engineers, 1981.
**The numbers of the inventory are those of the SJS report, PHMC files; those buildings not included in their report are designated by letters.
‡ Thomas, George E., Ph.D., Stoddartsville Historic District, nomination document, 1998, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.
Street Names
Route 115 • Wilkes-Barre-Easton Road
