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NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Rev. 10-90) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form RECEIVED 2280 542 IAPR | 7 1998 NAT. REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking "x" in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classitication, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories andsubcategories from the instructions.
Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets (NPS Form 10-900a). Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items. 1. Name of Property historic name Townsend House other names/site number_ "Bittersweet" -2. Location street & number 290 Paine Hollow Road n/a not for Publication city or town Wellfleet N/A vicinity state Massachusetts code MA county Barnstable code 001 zip code 02667 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1986, as amended, 1 hereby certify that this nomination - request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60.
In my opinion, the property Emeets does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant C nationally - statewide locally. (O See continuation sheet for additional comments.) nduz . MeDanough 4/10/98 Signature of certifying official/Title Judith B. MéDonough, Executive Director Date, Massachusetts Historical Commission, State Historic Preservation Officer State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion, the property meets ] does not meet the National Register criteria. (See continuation sheet for additional Comments.) Signature of certifying official/Title Date State or Federal agency and bureau 4. NatjonalPark Service Certification 1, hereby certify that this property is: Mentered in the National Register - See continuation sheet. - determined eligible for the National Register - See continuation sheet.
[ determined not eligible for the National Register - removed from the National Register L other (explain): Tson Vt. Beall Date of Action 5-20.98 Townsend House Name of Property 5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply) X private - public-local _ public-State -public-Federal Barnstable, Massachusetts County and State (Check only one box) X building(s) district site structure _ object Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing Noncontributing 3 Name of related multiple property listing (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing.) N/A 6. Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions) DOMESTIC: single dwelling, secondary structure buildings sites _structures
3 _Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register 0 Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) Domestic: single dwelling, secondary structure 7. Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions) EARLY19* CENTURY OTHER: Cape Cod Materials (Enter categories from instructions) foundation brick wallswood weatherboard wood shingle roof asphalt other Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) (See continuation sheet) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _7 Page - OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Townsend House Wellfleet (Barnstable County) Massachusetts 7.
DESCRIPTION The Townsend House is situated in the town of Wellfleet, near the northern end of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, and consists of a full Cape Cod dwelling with two additional outbuildings, an outhouse and a former summer kitchen/wood shed. Set back approximately forty feet from Paine Hollow Road on a tidal cove of Blackfish Creek, and nestled behind a dune for protection from wind and storm, the house is set on a low knoll above the street level and is now largely obscured by the mature trees along the road. The property retains a high level of integrity of location, design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and association. Of post and beam construction, the main house is a 1 1/2-story, full Cape with a five-bay facade. It is oriented with its corners corresponding to the points of the compass and its principal elevation faces the road to the southeast.
Measuring 32' x 29', the building is clapboarded with the exception of the rear and southwest elevations which are sheathed in wood shingles. The clapboards decrease in width on the lower courses and extend nearly to the ground where the house rests on a brick foundation. The Townsend House is capped by a gable roof which is sheathed in asphalt shingles and punctuated by a central brick chimney. Fronted by a concrete step, the center entrance contains a wooden door with six recessed panels decorated by small cornerblocks. Four fixed transom lights cap the door, which is over-fitted with a screen door. The original latch has been replaced by a late 19th century door knob. The surround consists of simple tapered pilasters; the cornice of the frame projects slightly above the pilasters.
The four facade windows all contain 2/2 windows which have 2 x 2 exterior wooden storm windows, hinged at the top. The original windows, probably 9/6 sash, were apparently removed in the late 19th or early 20th century. Architectural trim is minimal and includes plain cornerboards. The boxed cornice is located 32 inches above the tops of the windows and projects slightly. On the gable ends the eaves are nearly flush and the raking consists of two boards; the top board is beveled. The northeast gable end is lit by six window openings consisting of two 2/2 windows on the first floor with two additional 2/2 windows centered on the second floor, flanked by two smaller 2/2 windows on the ends of the elevation. The southwest gable end is sheathed in wood shingles and fronted by a single-story, flat-roofed wing measuring 21' x 23'.
Constructed in 1988 it is sheathed in clapboards and resting on a brick foundation. The portion of the main house not fronted by the wing displays two 2/2 windows on the upper level. The rear elevation of the original house is also sheathed in wood shingles with a simple wooden baseboard. There are four 2/2 windows punctuating the rear elevation. Fenestration on the 1988 wing includes (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number -/ Page -< OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Townsend House Wellfleet (Barnstable County) Massachusetts elevated, rectangular, single pane windows and 2/2 sash with a multi-pane sliding door and projecting picture window on the southwest end.
Accessing the southwest elevation of the main house, adjacent to the addition, is a wooden door with four vertical panels and a horizontal panel above. The Townsend House is situated on a parcel of land containing 28,546 square feet and extending to the tidal flats. Nearby the landscape is heavily wooded, primarily with locust trees. Overgrown ornamental evergreen bushes are planted against the front of the house. A dirt driveway extends from the road to the north of the house. The ground in this area originally sloped down to the foundation. The present owners excavated the area to expose the brick foundation and provide an area for parking, constructing a stone retaining wall to the north. There is a garden area northwest of the house which includes asparagus and grape arbors. The property has a broad view out over Wellfleet Harbor and Cape Cod Bay.
The land surrounding the property is presently residential, subdivided from the original parcel. The adjacent residence to the southwest was constructed in the late 1970s. To the southwest of the main house is a small, non-functional, clapboarded outhouse resting on a concrete block foundation and capped by a wood-shingled, gable roof. There is a vertical board door with a cutout moon shape and a small elevated window on the gable end. Inside the outhouse includes a low seat for children. The privy was donated by the present owners to the Wellfleet Historical Society and temporarily relocated for use in an exhibit. The building was returned to the property in 1994. To the west of the house is atwo-story wooden building which formerly served as the woodshed or summer kitchen and was originally located 32" to the southwest of the house, in the approximate location of the 1988 addition.
It was moved to its present location west of the house in 1980. Measuring 20' x 14°, the building appears to be of considerable age and the gray cast of the clapboard sheathing suggests that it may have been partially constructed of salt vat timber. It is capped by a wood-shingled roof and has been raised above a concrete block foundation. Now oriented with its gablefront facing the street, the building is fronted by an exterior staircase and two-story deck which is supported by simple wooden posts resting on concrete supports. The sidehall entrance on the gablefront consists of a two-panel door which is flanked by a single 6/6 window. Remaining fenestration consists of a single 6/6 window lighting the rear gable and two 6/6 windows on each of the broad elevations. A second entrance, containing a four-panel door, is located on the west elevation.
(continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ / Page - 3 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Townsend House Wellfleet (Barnstable County) Massachusetts Interior Description The Townsend House is notable for the retention of its original full Cape floor plan, grouped around a central fireplace/chimney block, and for its numerous original details. There are various features which appear to reflect the affluence of the house's builder, Dr. James Townsend. In addition to the fine craftsmanship of its cabinetry, the house displays generous proportions, ceiling heights of 7' 8" and a wide front stairway measuring 46" , all of which are uncommon in local Cape Cod houses of this era.
Just inside the front door there is a triangular wooden rainboard which was intended to dispose of the rain which was driven in under the door during heavy storms. The water which collected in the trough was channeled to a hole through which it dripped onto the sand below the house. To either side of the small entry are two rooms, each with its own fireplace. Of note is the hand- planed woodwork and wainscoting which incorporates boards up to 21" wide. The carefully crafted woodwork includes a paned, split door cupboard for china adjacent to the fireplaces in each of the two front rooms. The two mantels in these rooms display moldings which curve slightly. Throughout the house there are two basic door types - a six-panel door with the two upper glazed panels and a five-panel door exhibiting a horizontal panel at the top with four vertical panels below.
With few exceptions the doors retain their original hand-forged hardware. Wide floor boards of hemlock are found throughout the house. Gunstock posts are evident in the corners of the front rooms. The house also retains its original interior plaster incorporating clam shell and horse hair. Extending along the back of the house is the kitchen/keeping room, dominated by a larger fireplace suitable for cooking. The large brick keeping room fireplace has been bricked up although the side bee-hive oven survives in original condition and includes some original hardware. Along the rear wall there is a dry sink with wooden drains under which waste water was collected in a bucket. Blood paint still covers the simple cabinet doors below. The room at the northern corner has a trap door leading to a food cellar, 9' 6" in diameter and built of bricks which are curved.
Many of the old shelves in the former buttery were removed years ago when a large water heater was installed. The northwest chamber was converted into a bathroom c.1930. The bathroom was subsequently made smaller in 1988 in order to accommodate a hallway leading from the main house to the addition, using the existing window as a door opening. (continued) MPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page _4 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Townsend House Wellfleet (Barnstable County) Massachusetts Steep staircases lead upstairs from both the front hall and the kitchen. The front stairway is particularly wide (46"). The treads on the back stairs are deeply worn. The upstairs fireplace mantel is quite simple in comparison to those in the first floor rooms.
The ceiling in the upstairs trunk room is notable for its curved plaster barrel ceiling. A full bath has been added upstairs. In the attic area hand-hewn beams with mortise and tenon joints and wooden pegs are visible. Archaeological Description While no prehistoric sites are present on the Townsend House property, a high potential exists that sites can be found. At least thirteen prehistoric sites have been recorded in the general area (within one mile) including several along the shoreline bordering Drummer Cove. The physical characteristics of the property represent locational criteria which are favorable for many types of prehistoric sites. Most of the property contains well drained level to moderately sloping land surfaces in close proximity (within 1000 feet) to a marine related ecosystems.
This area includes the tidal flats of Wellfleet Harbor and Drummer Cove to the south and may include fresh water springs along the coastline. The environment surrounding the Townsend House provided a wide variety of both upland and marine related resources which would have been available to Native American inhabitants of the area. The area surrounding Wellfleet Harbor also contains one of the higher prehistoric site densities for the entire Outer Cape locale. Most prehistoric sites types are represented in this area ranging from smaller special purpose type sites, including campsites and resource extraction type sites such as shell middens, to larger multicomponent habitation type sites. Excavations on the property have revealed a 6 inch to 8 inch layer of shell, however, it has yet to be demonstrated whether the deposit is prehistoric or historic in origin.
Regionally important ceremonial or funerary sites such as ossuaries are also present. Current information available for the Outer Cape locale indicates the potential for prehistoric sites in the Wellfleet area to span the Early Archaic through Contact Periods. Earlier sites may also be present. Given the above information and the size of the property(0.66 acres), a high potential exists for prehistoric sites to be found in the Townsend House area. Some impacts have occurred on the property in the area north of the house where the driveway was excavated into the natural ground surface. These excavations would have adversely effected and cultural resources in that area either prehistoric or historic. A high potential also exists for historic archaeological resources on the property.
Further documentary research combined with archaeological testing of the property can determine if additional outbuildings existed on the property possibly predating the outhouse and former (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page - OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Townsend House Wellfleet (Barnstable County) Massachusetts summer kitchen/shed now present. Archaeological testing can also determine if structural remains exist at the original locations for the latter two outbuildings, both of which were removed from their original sites then replaced at a later date. The woodshed/summer kitchen was originally located 32 feet to the southwest of the house in the approximate location of the 1988 addition.
It was moved to its present location west of the house in 1980. The privy, which is no longer functional, was given to the Wellfleet Historical Society then returned to the property on a concrete foundation in 1994. Additional occupational related features including trash pits, a well other privies may also be present. Archaeological testing can also determine if evidence of an early salt vat or related features survives that was located in the area northwest of the house. As indicated above, a layer of shells located on the property has yet to be associated with either a prehistoric or historic origin or function. (end) Townsend House Name of Property 8. Statement of Significance