Stone House In A Small Town With A Long History Santa Monica

Local Chimney Cleaning Santa Monica — The vast number of fieldstone houses was the first thing I noticed when I moved to the Delaware Valley as a native Midwesterner. To be honest, I’d never seen anything like it. For those of us who grew up in much younger cities, what people in the East take for granted is a source of wonder.

Currently on the market, this home is a treat to see, as it has been meticulously renovated with every detail in mind. However, the transition was not easy! It takes a lot of knowledge (and money) to complete such a job. Fortunately, this lovely stone house in Sergeantsville, NJ, demonstrates that such a makeover can provide wonderful results, and it is ready to be renovated.

Charles Frischmann, the current owner, was the ideal candidate to take on the project. Charles had already repaired two stone buildings and was ready to take on the third as an organist, music professor, historian, and antique collector. He’d learnt a lot from the other project, and this one didn’t even give him pause for thought.

Some of the restoration has already been started by the previous owner. To install the wood stove, the 10-foot wide stone fireplace had to be converted into a closet; the panels had to be removed. Using old barnwood beams in the ceiling and exposing the stone on the inside wall, a spacious kitchen/dining area was constructed to the rear of the house. It was originally an exterior entry because the only entrance to the basement was an exterior entrance.

But that was only a first step. All the old doorways and window frames needed replacement. “The new windows are all hand-built in the 18th-century style, and have early glass in them,” Charles explained. He found period hardware for the doors and windows, and added working shutters that are so tight they practically create a vacuum seal when closed. He also fitted removable custom storm windows to the inside of the frames, to make this period house more energy-efficient.

Although probably original, the front doors had been cut and fitted with windows, which didn’t really work for the house. To improve this look, Charles commissioned new doors and period-style paneled doorways to take the place of the weathered jambs.

When removing the old door frames, they discovered that early on – probably in the 1830’s – someone had done a significant renovation to the house. The floor had been raised about nine inches, apparently to make more headroom in the cellar. Although the owner has not been able to trace the house sales back farther than 1857, this renovation dates the house closer to the turn of the century, making it one of the oldest surviving structures in Sergeantsville.

Then, on to the stone walls. It is commonly thought that the raw stone exteriors were exposed, but in reality, unless the builder was using “dressed stone” these walls were considered unsightly rubble, and only the poorest homeowner would refrain from covering them with plaster. Charles decided to at least stucco the front wall to make the house look more appropriate to the period. But in order to please the modern eye, he left the sides of the house exposed.

As one might expect from a 200 year-old roof, the rafters needed to be shored up. Indeed, they were actually splayed from the weight, and Charles decided to remove the roof altogether. Once the old roof was off, the carpenters actually winched the rafters back into place, then added additional rafters that cannot be seen when coming up the steps. He also decided to add a new pent roof to replace the small porch that formerly shaded the two front doors; all that was left of this porch was an oddly-placed cornice above the doors. Both the pent roof and house roof were shingled with cedar shakes, cut thicker than is usually done with today’s materials. A molded cornice has been added to the eaves, matching the details of the doorways.

As with many houses from the 19th century, this house has two front doors. There’s a very logical reason for this. One door leads into the “keeping room”, where the family keeps house. The keeping room contains the large fireplace for cooking, and of course a table and chairs for the family to relax. This is not the room you want to introduce your guests into! So a second door would lead into the living room, which was probably only used for special occasions.

The two second-story bedrooms are reached with Jersey Winder – or pie-shaped – staircases. The floors in the master bedroom and bath, as well as the stairs, are stenciled. The uncovered stone wall may still be seen in the upstairs hallway. The faux graining on the upper closet and bathroom doors is hard to tell apart unless you touch them.

Green Sergeant’s Bridge, New Jersey’s last remaining covered bridge, is just down the road from Sergeantsville. The bridge was completed around 1750, and the town is believed to have been founded around 1830. The original Old York Road that connected Trenton to Flemington and then on to New York was Route 523, which runs through Sergeantsville. This community is not distant from Hunterdon County’s Delaware Township, not far from New Hope PA and just a few miles east of the river.