Nomination for Wolcott, Benajah, House

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior FEB 0 4 1991 and areas of significance, enter only the categories and subcategories listed in the instructions. For additional space use continuation sheets (Form 10-900a). Type all entries. 1. Name of Property Wolcott, Benajah, House 2. Location street & number city, town zip code 43440 3. Classification Ownership of Property Category of Property X building(s) X public-local Structure _ Total Name of related multiple property listing: listed in the National Register N/A. As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, 1 hereby certify that this Signature of commenting or other official 5. National Park Service Certification 1, hereby, certify that this property is: determined eligible for the National Register. See continuation sheet.

determined not eligible for the other, (explain:) 123 code site district Date public-State public-Federal private REGISTER NATIONAL state National Register. Noncontributing Ohio other names/site number Registration Form historic name State/Federal Agency Certification Number of contributing resources previously National Park Service Lakeside - Marblehead See continuation sheet. entered in the National Register. State or Federal agency and bureau This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations of eligibility for individual properties or districts.See instructions in Guidelines removed from the National Register. National Register of Historic Places Signature of certifying official not for publication Number of Resources within Property 9999 East Bay Shore Road Date of Action object Old Stone Fort (Rev. 8-86) the requested information.

If an item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable."For functions, styles, materials, nomination Jrequest for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the NationalRegister ofHistoric Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. 1-29-91 [xvicinity 251 6. Function or Use Current Functions (enter categories from instructions) DOMESTIC/single dwelling 7. Description Materials (enter categories from instructions) walls _ -The Describe present and historic physical appearance. The Benajah Wolcott House, circa 1832, is located on the south side of the Danbury first cemetery in Ottawa County, is located approximately 500 yards northeast of the home. War of 1812 fought on Ohio soil, is located some 200 yards southwest of the stone house.

The Benajah Wolcott House is a simple, rectangular, 40'x 25' one to one-and-a-half story treated in an uncut, uncoursed rubble stone arrangement. The residence favors the lines Federal architectural style. Symmetry is emphasized in the massive stone chimneys, which arrangement of the front facade. Windows are flush with the outside walls and are facade includes a simple, open, 22' x 12' wood frame porch which is a somewhat late A 6/6 double-hung window is found in the west gable end, while the east gable end An aluminum-sided, one-story 28' x 13' frame addition with a low pitched gable roof around the turn of the century, while the siding is a fairly recent alteration. The also panelled and some feature glazing in the top panels.

Federal Limestone roof foundation Wood Asphalt Architectural Classification (enter categories from instructions) See continuation sheet Benajah Wolcott,other members of his family and other early Danbury settlers and shoreline area which was historically referred to as the orchards,"or more specifically Historic Functions (enter categories from instructions) stone residence with a normal-pitched, side gable, asphalt-shingle roof.The house is Peninsula overlooking Sandusky Bay and Johnson's Island.The residence is located in a are located below the west gable and along the east side of the addition.Outbuildings cottages.A large limestone quarry is located to the north of the home and subdivision.

of the traditional British folk form of a hall and parlor and bears elements of the "the Middle Orchard,"named for three fruit orchards left behind by earlier French- known road on the peninsula, which follows the bay shore and whose existence and location doub le-hung 6/6 sash with mostly original glass panes. The outside doors are deep ly extends northward, slightly west of center, from the rear facade. The addition features apparent foundation of a porch sits before the addition to the west, while cellar entries include asmall, recent metal storage shed and an old gable-roofed, narrow shiplap-sided is found throughout the house. Window openings display deep VACANT recessed Into the thick stone walls and are unglazed and panelled.The south-facing front Canadian and/or Indian inhabitants.

The house itself faces the Bay Shore Road, the first Today the Wolcott House is situated in a small resort subdivision amid summer homes and addition. Before the porch, a date stone step bears the apparent inscription of Jun shed. The interior of the Wolcott house is functionally plain. A simple wood baseboard United States Congressman Johsua Giddings in 1857 to commemorate the first battle of the OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Bena jah Wolcott House Lakeside - Marblehead, Ohio 43440, Ottawa County Marblehead, Ohio c. 1900 #9 camera facing n. K.

Johannsen Please note: the name of property, location of property, photographer, date of photographs, Continuation Sheet PHOTOGRAPH LIST Unknown Ohio Historic Preservation Office National Register of Historic Places 9999 Bay Shore Road June 1990 February 1990 National Park Service United States Department of the Interior and location ofnegatives is the same for all photographs and is therefore listed only once. NPS Form 10-000-e Section number _ - Page . (8-86) NPS Form 10-900-e OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Wolcott, Benajah, House, Lakeside-Marblehead, Ottawa County, Ohio 1800's. 18-25 is now twenty-five. The name of the property, location of property, photographer, date of photographs, and location of negatives is the same for all of the additional #18 Bena jah Wolcott House Marblehead, OH K.

Johannsen January, 1991 Continuation Sheet National Park Service National Register of Historic Places #23 camera facing sw. REVISIONS AND ADDENDUM Ohio Historic Preservation Office 2.Please note; with the additional photographs taken to show the Benajah Wolcott restoration of the Wolcott House.Among the early restorative efforts were the "de- United States Department of the Interior photographs and is therefore only listed once. #21 camera facing ne. #19 camera facing nw. porch.As a result of these efforts, the house looks today much as it did in the vining"of the outside walls of the structure and the removal of the added front Section number _ 2 Page House after work was begun restoring the structure, the total number of photographs 1.In September 1990 a work party from the Ottawa County Historical Society began the 8. Statement of Significance

Statement of significance

Applicable National Register Criteria Areas of Significance (enter categories from instructions) Significant Person William Kelly State significance of property, and justify criteria, criteria considerations, and areas and periods of significance noted above. Wolcott, a native of Connecticut and a Revolutionary War veteran, was a pioneer settler of keeper of the Marblehead Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse in Ohio. The Wolcott House is such western speculator was Epaphrus Bull, whose landholdings in the far northwestern To help settle his western land, Bull enlisted the aid of his friend Benajah Wolcott.

X See continuation sheet 1832 Architecture Exploration/Settlement Significant Dates Architect/Builder interested in western expansion acquired the grants of these Connecticut citizens.One Cultural Affiliation further significant under Criteria C, as an excellent example of Federal frontier of northern Ohio then claimed by Connecticut and known as the Connecticut Western native state of Connecticut had their homes burned to the ground as the result of British Period of Significance destroyed became know.as the Sufferers' Land or the Firelands.Speculators and others first English-speaking settlers in what is now.Ottawa County.Wolcott erecteda small log corner of the Firelands included an island in Sandusky Bay, and tracts opposite the island Wolcott would have been familiar with the area, as he is believed to have been a member of an 1806 survey party which surveyed the western reaches of the Firelands.In.the spring the oldest known extant residence in Ottawa County and one of the oldest in all of LX locally Criteria Considerations (Exceptions) A veteran of the Revolutionary War, Benajah Wolcott served from 1778 to 1783 as a foot soldier in the famed Connecticut Line.

During that war, many residents of Wolcott's on a small peninsula separating Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie. of 1809 Wolcottand two other men arrived at Bull!s property on the Danbury peninsula, the 1812 the peninsula had a population of around one hundred. statewide nationally Certifying official has considered the significance of this property in relation to other properties: raids along the coast.To compensate those citizens who had suffered such losses, the Ottawa County and the Firelands District of northern Ohio.He was the first lighthouse Northwestern Ohio.It has strong association with the county's early settlement period.

state of Connecticut granted these sufferers property in the western section of that part house on the north shore of Sandusky Bay just west of the Wolcott House.He was joined on The Benajah Wolcott House is locally significant under Criteria A and C.The building is 9.

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

Major Bibliographical References Huron County, Ohio Deed Records and Probate Records Alfred H. Knoph, 1989. January 1921, June 1937) Wolcott, Merlin D. "Ohio Yankee: Benajah Wolcott, Revolutionary Soldier and Jpreliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) Primary location of additional data: previously listed in the National Register designated a National Historic Landmark recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey # |recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # 10. Geographical Data Situated in the Township of Danbury, County of Ottawa and State of Ohio and being: Mineyahta-On-The-Bay, a subdivision in said Township. 130' x 200' 11.

Form Prepared By June 21, 1990 telephone _ (419) 734-2337 street & number _ city or town - state Ohio 43452 organization date University Northing Zone Easting Boundary Justification Local government Other State agency Federal agency Verbal Boundary Description Acreage of property UTM References Port Clinton Specify repository: The boundary description is the current legal description for the Wolcott House name/title Kyle Johannsen 229 Alice Street Previous documentation on file (NPS): State historic preservation office See continuation sheet has been requested The bounded area is historically associated with the nominated Other Lots one hundred eleven Less than I McAlester, Virginia and Lee, A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: previously determined eligible by the National Register property. The Firelands Pioneer, various articles.

(June, 1863, June 1870, January 1920, Ohio house and maintains sufficient integrity. 145197112.01 NPS Form 10-000-e OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 Benajah Wolcott House, 9999 East Bay Shore Road, Lakeside-Marblehead, Ottawa Co., Ohio regarded as a friend of the influential Ottawa chief Ogontz, whose village was located IIghthouse keeper by his widow Rachel Wolcott, who kept the light until 1834 when she was succeeded by her second husband, Jeremiah Van Benschoten. ports in the walls to ward off Indian attacks. Although It is unlikely that the Wolcott local significance of the structure. family from his widow, Rachel, and her second husband, Jeremiah Van Benschoten, to purchased by the current owners, the Ottawa County Historical Society. Although the hall and parlor is basically a New England folk style, many of the Continuation Sheet gatherings and celebrations.

National Register of Historic Places These settlers brought with them their architectural heritage, and the small hall and National Park Service constructed of heavy native timbers and native limestone which was quarried on location. early settlers of Ohio's Firelands and Western Reserve region were from New England. opposite Wolcott's cabin across the bay on the site of Sandusky, Ohio.During his early Following Benajah Wolcott's death in 1832,the Wolcott House passed down through his the house is belleved to have been used brlefly as a summer restaurant before being United States Department of the Interior The Wolcott House is an excellent example of frontier vernacular architecture.It is parlor plan proved particularly well-suited to frontier settlement.

The Wolcott House Itself Is situated on the north shore of Sandusky Bay, approximately two The residence is believed to have been constructed by William Kelly, a stone mason from Register).He also built the Marblehead Lighthouse (1822 -on National Register).

bulldings found in that city, Including the Eleutheros Cooke House (1827 -on National House was ever used as a fort or ever saw an Indlan attack, these storles do attest to the reference Is derived from local folklore which describes the presence ofholes or gun Section number - of the Marblehead Light, the first lighthouse erected in Ohio, untll his death in 1832, Rachel's and Benajah's son Henry Wolcott, a prominent Danbury township farmer and fruit years Wolcott engaged in agricultural pursults, raising food for his family and selling Page When the Marblehead Lighthouse was constructed in 1822 at the eastern tip of the Danbury The Wolcotts maintained good relations with their Indian neighbors and Wolcott himself was The Wolcott House may be defined as a hall and parlor or extended hall and parlor house ability, and often entertained guests at his home as well as at varlous frontier The Wolcott House was recently NPS Form 10-000# Benajah Wolcott House, 9999 East Bay Shore Road, Lakeside-Marbelhead, Ottawa Co., Ohio deep, Itis belleved to have originally consisted of two laterally arranged ground floor chimney.

Bull's Island was later called Johnson's Island and was the site of a Confederate Footnotes: Continuation Sheet 4.Kelly is believed to have constructed the Wolcott House as Wolcott's Probate records National Register of Historic Places Influences sometimes found in frontier vernacular houses.Most significant is the obvious houses are stlll scattered throughout the Western Reserve area of northern Ohio,intact 3.The Marblehead Lighthouse, which marked the entrance to the Sandusky Bay, was the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service In keeping with the characteristics of a hall and parlor, the Wolcott House is one story According to the authors of A Field Guide to American Houses, while New England folk designation of a National Historic Landmark. was a method Kelly used to contract for building a house. OMB Approvel No.

1024-0018 Section number _ a window in the west wall -see photograph#10) to compl1ment the real east gable eed on the Great Lakes.Today it is the oldest light station in continuous service on the effort to maintain symmetry and balance through th w,d,w,w,d,w, arrangement of the front evident, particularly in the cellar and attic.The Wolcott House also displays Federal 1.Although it is not known in what engagements Wolcott may have participated, units of records are missing for the early 18o0's his ledger books reveal that measuring a house facade and the construction of a false west gable end chimney (revealed by the presence of first lighthouse built in Ohio, the third American lighthouse on Lake Erie and the fifth Wayne's assault on Stony Point, New York and in Washington's slege at Yorktown, Virginia. survivors are quite rare." The Benajah Wolcott House is such an intact survivor.

Officers Pow camp during the Civil War.The prison site has recently received the Page NATIONAL PARK SERVICE EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET NAME : DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF 45TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: NOMINATOR: STATE N PDIL: N PERIOD: N PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: COMMENT WAIVER: N ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS : 2/04/91 3/21/91 3/14/91 REJECT MULTIPLE DISCIPLINE REVIEWER RETURN RECOM./CRITERIA DATE OTHER: UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES DATE RECEIVED: REASONS FOR REVIEW: DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N Cntered in the 2/26/91 ACCEPT DATE OF PENDING LIST: National Registag _resource type _historic _architectural classification _descriptive text _summary paragraph _completeness _applicable criteria _justification of areas checked _relating significance to the resource _relationship of integrity to significance GEOGRAPHICAL DATA _acreage _verbal boundary description _boundary justification -presentation - Phone current FUNCTION materials DESCRIPTION context clarity Builder/Architect BIBLIOGRAPHY other Period CLASSIFICATION SIGNIFICANCE Date justification of exception _count ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION/PRESENTATION OTHER COMMENTS Specific dates Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to Areas of Significance--Check and justify below STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION _sketch maps Signed Statement of Significance one paragraph) UTMS _photographs USGS maps Benajah Wolcott House Benajah Wolcott.

Hause OHtawa County, OH Ottawa Connty, ON Benajah Wolcot House Oltawa County, OH Benajah Woleolt House Benajah Wolcott House 17-354-110 17-4597-120 KELLEYS ISLAND QUADRANGLE OTTRWACOUNTY FEB 0 4 1991 Ohio Historical Center 1982 Velma Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43211-2497 (614) 297-2470 SINCE 1885 January 28, 1991 Ms. Carol Shull, Chief National Park Service P.o. Box 37127 of two other leading industrialists, David Ames Gerrish and John McKeefrey. Leetonia, president of the Cherry Valley Iron Works, and treasurer of the Col umb iana County SOCIETY NATIONAL REGISTER HISTORICAL of tenure.

New Submissions Mckeefrey's productive years were not concurrent with his occupancy of the Leetonia's industrial and commercial development because it had been the home Charles Nelson Schmick was not a significant individual in the local context National Register of Historic Places Ohio Historic Preservation Office house, and the house currently resembles the structure during Schmick's period Leetonia Board of Trade.These events occurred during his occupancy of the resemblance to the Italianate structure occupied by Gerrish and that Wolcott House Dear Carol: Iam requesting a substantive review of the application of Criterion A for the notification procedures have been followed for these new submisslons. Enclosed are two (2) new National Register nominations.All the appropriate Charles Nel son Schmick House Department of the Interior Ottawa Washington, D.C.

20013-7127 Sites Preservation Advisory Board under Criteria B and C. The board felt that industry in the local context, being the founder of the First National Bank of ECEIVE OHIO house.Staff felt that Schmick was significant to the areas of commerce and Ms. Carol Shull January 28, 1991 Page 2 Cleveland, Ohio. In addition, please send us a copy of the Short North Historic District W. Ray Luce WRL/ jw:dh Cuyahoga Enclosures nrohp/trans.rev Sincerely, Crawford Auto Museum, at the Case Western Reserve Historical Society in State Historic Preservation officer Register.The building is currently being dismantled and moved to the McDonald's Drive-In Restaurant Please contact me if you have any questions. nomination, Columbus, Ohio, Franklin County. I am also requesting that the following property be removed from the National