Joe:

I rummaged around through my entire map collection, including half a dozen
worn out copies of the great Delorme NY State atlas, all my scattered field
notes, etc. and found nothing but the notations on the slides saying they
were from near Cossayuna, taken in April 1994.  Unfortunately, that area is
one that I traveled for years in my explorations.  I long sumered with
friends in Argyle, and I explored up and down just about every road and
path I could find.  My recollection, though, is that it was near Riddle
road, or parallel to it, in the northeast corner of Greenwhich, south of
Cossayuna Lake.  I think the house was on the east side of the road (facing
west) just north of where the road bends to the east.  (Yes, now tell the
joke abut the old Yankee who gave directions by telling the tourists to go
past where Farmer Jones' chicken house used to be.)

I had saved a sample of the mud brick but know it to be lost now.  The
photos are over 8 years old, so I doubt much of the house remains.  I would
be surprised if it were the only one in the area.

I've always thought that we (researchers) could apply the strategy and
methodology of Bob Kuhn's Iroquois pipe and clay analysis to bricks to
determine where the clay came from.  That would be interesting, for
sure.  When living in Albany I got a sample of the really sticky Blue Clay
and wondered what the brocks made of that stuff looked like.  I also
wondered if the early Dutch had made bricks of the stuff that they had to
dig out for their cellars.  That would help pin down some domestic sources
for the clay rather than thinking that all the unique Dutch bricks are
imports (I may be wrong on that theory).

Dan W.





At 12/2/02 09:40 PM, you wrote:
>Is there any way for us to locate the Cossayuna House, in hopes a sample
>brick could be saved for future analysis? I would be happy to approach the
>owner if I knew where the house is/was.
>
>Joe Cutshall-King, Washington County Historian
>Home email: E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>[log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> > Re: Mud brick nogging:
> >
> > I measured the Van Der Zee house in Feura Bush this past summer.  The
> older portion of the house dates to the mid-1750s, and a large addition
> dates to the first decades of the 19th century.  The wall which divides
> the two portions of the house is lined with unfired brick, matching that
> noted by Paul Huey in his house- that is, it appears to be the size of
> the yellow brick, and is buff in color.  While I didn't note any seeds,
> the brick clearly had a lot of organics in it- they appeared to be
> grasses.  The position of the wall (under the stairs to the second floor-
> original to the older part of the house) suggested to me that it formed
> part of the 1750s house.  I collected a sample, thinking that it would be
> good to do analysis on its components at some point....
> >
> > Walter R. Wheeler
> > Architectural Historian
> > Hartgen Archeological Associates, Inc.
> > Rensselaer, NY