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