Newburyport Powder House, 57 Low Street, Newburyport

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS MA-288. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Following the American Revolutionary War, the newly-formed federal government enacted laws and regulations that oversaw the formation of the militia and munitions supplies within each state. A specific focus was placed on powder and ball munitions storage. 1 Massachusetts enacted its own laws for munitions storage, but followed the requirements based on the new federal laws. As part of those requirements, powder houses were built in each town and became a historic symbol that reflected America s new independence. As time moved on, however, powder house structures began to disappear due to physical neglect and lack of use.

Godfrey s Hill Powder House, located in Newburyport, Massachusetts was one of the few remaining powder houses that existed in the New England area on the East Coast of the United States. Description: Godfrey s Hill Powder House is a round brick structure approximately 18' in diameter on the exterior, and in diameter on the interior. The pattern used is American bond or common bond and many of the Federal-period replacement bricks are donated by the local community. The original mortar is a combination of slaked white lime and a beige colored sand that feels fine. 2 A three-course high cornice extends out from the top of the wall. The cornice has a bottom course that acts as a header course that projects roughly 3 out from the wall below. It carries two courses of stretchers above it.

3 The powder house structure sits on a stone foundation that measures 32" below the brick wall and is located at an elevation of above sea level. There is only one entrance to the interior which is through a green-painted wood door on the southerly side. The door is made from two layers of 1" boards; a vertical outer-layer and horizontal inner layer.4 The masonry opening height and how the door materials are laid out do not match the door shown in the 1890s-period photographs. The top of the opening is slightly less than two brick courses below the current opening and is formed with a row of rowlock headers. The brick at the top of the current opening are stretchers supported with a narrow iron bar under 1 Stone, Ebenezer W. Digest of Militia Laws of Massachusetts.

Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, pp. 2 Tom Kolterjahn Interview, August 31, 3 Finch and Rose, Historic Structure Report, The Newburyport Powder House, March 13 4 Finch and Rose, Historic Structure Report, The Newburyport Powder House, March 13 NEWBURYPORT POWDER HOUSE HABS No. MA-288 (Page 2) the outer width. The door in the photographs is faced with six vertical boards, whereas the current door has five boards. The bottom of the earlier door appears to have been an inch or two below the height of the original floor. 5 A photograph from shows the doorway bricked up. It has not been confirmed when it was re-opened but it has been suggested by Tom Kolterjahn that it was for the bi-centennial held during the The interior step is granite and hand-cut.

It is not known if it matches the original granite step. Peter Ross, a White Smith, has made the traditional iron box lock. This lock is three times larger than those found in barns due to concern with security and theft. The cone-shaped roof is covered with wood shingles over wood sheathing. The roofing system is supported by 12 rafters sitting on a circular wood plate that is set into the brick cornice. 6 The rafters end on a short vertical post above the center point of the brick dome, and have three sets of purlins between each pair of rafters. The tops of the purlins are curved to conform to the finished surface of the conical roof. 7 There is a brick drip course located around the perimeter of the structure.

Some of the bricks are original to the structure, and some are replacement Federal-style bricks donated by the local community. The drip course allowed rain run-off from the roof to flow away from the building, hopefully keeping the interior As one enters the space, the dirt floor has been replaced with a hand-hewn, hand- planed 2"-thick white oak plank floor attached with " x " wood head pegs.8 There are no iron nails on the floor due to the possibility of sparks setting off the gunpowder. The oak shelving to the right of the entry door is hand-hewn, hand- planed and its backside is curved to fit along the wall. Originally, shelving would have been used to store the gunpowder off the floor, but no evidence has come forth indicating what the shelving would look like.

The current shelving holds historical and architectural artifacts associated with the powder house. By the right-side of the door, hand-hewn, hand-planed white oak vertical wall planks are seen. The planks are attached to three wood rails (nailers) inset to slots about one brick high, and their depths range from The bottom rail is located approximately above the wood floor. The second (middle) is about above the wood floor and the third (highest) is about above the wood floor. One can see an imprint of the original wood grain on the mortar in the pockets that are not covered. There is an air space between the brick wall and the wood planks to allow for air circulation which helps keep the moisture low within the building.

Little to no moisture is required within a powder house in order to keep 5 Finch and Rose, Historic Structure Report, The Newburyport Powder House, March 13 6 Finch and Rose, Historic Structure Report, The Newburyport Powder House, March 13 7 Finch and Rose, Historic Structure Report, The Newburyport Powder House, March 13 8 Finch and Rose, Historic Structure Report, The Newburyport Powder House, March 13 NEWBURYPORT POWDER HOUSE HABS No. MA-288 (Page 3) the gunpowder The vertical wall planks cover half of the powder house so that one can see how the materials fit together. From the exterior, the brick dome begins 13 courses below the top of the exterior brick cornice. 9 From the interior, the brick dome is seen.

Originally built over wood-centered framing that consist of 16 ribs attached from the base of the dome to the top center-point, two opposite-end dome sections would have been constructed. The framing would be moved to the next position once the first two sections are This process continues until the final facets adjoin the original two. The ribs are curved to the shape of the dome, and narrow 1"-thick wood boards have been nailed across the ribs to establish the full shape of the dome and support the bricks while they were being laid. 10 Thicker mortar can be seen nearer to the top center. Once the mortar is completely cured, the framing is taken down. There are no existing drawings indicating what the centering construction details looked like.

The original wood framing for the roof remains mostly intact. Based on a section of the roof that was opened up for repairs, the rafters are approximately 6 x 6" in dimension. The bases of the rafters are seated on a circular wood plate about 6 high that ranges in width from about 8" to The plate is made up of separate curved sections ranging in length from 3' to 8' that are joined together with horizontal scarf joints secured with a minimum of two wood pins per joint, and is therefore able to resist any horizontal thrust from the rafters. The rafters are not tendoned into the plate, but each rafter is secured by a single pin into the plate. The plate is seated on the brick masonry just behind the top stretcher course of the cornice, with its upper 4" rising above the top of the cornice.

Its outer face above the cornice is beveled to conform to the pitch of the roof sheathing, which is nailed to that face. The upper portions of the rafters are blackened with char that is presumably from a fire, and one has been sistered with modern 2x stock. The tops of the rafters are nailed into a round vertical timber that still retains much of its bark and probably dates to the repairs following the fire. The round timber sits on a horizontal 2x8 that spans between two opposing rafters and does not bear on the top of the dome. The first row of purlins is about 32" above the base of the rafters. The second and third rows of purlins are positioned with similar spacing up rafters, but were not measured. The tops of the purlins are curved to fit the curvature of the dome.

The purlins measure approximately 3" x 4", but vary in size. Many of the purlins appear to date to the repairs following the fire, as they do not show any char. Most are set in the open cogs in the rafters that housed the original purlins, and are also nailed to the rafters. The sheathing boards also appear to date repairs following the same fire. 11 History: Around the Town of Newburyport had a powder house located closer to the main port, but due to a growing community and a continued concern about 9 Finch and Rose, Historic Structure Report, The Newburyport Powder House, March 13 10 Finch and Rose, Historic Structure Report, The Newburyport Powder House, March 13 11 Finch and Rose, Historic Structure Report, The Newburyport Powder House, March 13 NEWBURYPORT POWDER HOUSE HABS No.

MA-288 (Page 4) unstable munitions (as they were prone to explode spontaneously), a committee decided to look for a new site to build a powder house further away from town. One of the potential sites was Godfrey s Hill. Peter Godfrey, one of the first settlers, owned 13 acres of land on which the powder house was later located. Peter Godfrey s great-grandson, Joseph Godfrey, inherited 6 acres of the land upon Peter Godfrey s death. When Joseph died in the land was placed into probate where his will indicated that his wife and his children would split the 6 acres of land amongst themselves. In Joseph Godfrey s wife, Mary (Sewall) Godfrey, died and subsequently, his son, Jonathan Godfrey, began to sell off the remaining 6 acres of land for reasons unknown to various neighbors.

In an auction ad was placed which offered the remainder of Godfrey s Hill farm which included cow grazing rights. The Town of Newburyport assumed the land and in the town decided to relocate the town powder house to Godfrey s Hill. The location was perfect as it was away from the main town; therefore lessened the risk of injury due to explosions. Leased cow grazing rights to the townspeople continued after the powder house was built. An survey map documented by Philander Anderson showed the powder house and a house across the street from the old Godfrey s Hill land. The house was owned by an E. Battell. Deed records documented that E. Battell bought acreage originally part of the Godfrey farm.

The open land surrounding the structure was still owned by the Town of Newburyport until the National Guard Armory building and its parking lot was constructed adjacent to the powder house in When the powder house was built, it was laid out on a 30-foot wide flat terrace in the center of a small rise and about 300 feet south-southwest off of Low Street, which was also referred to as the main highway. 12 The land sloped down sharply from the flat terrace which continued to the National Guard Armory parking lot. It was evident that the area seemed to have been heavily re-graded during the Armory s excavation phase of construction when comparing to the and photographs.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS MA-288. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

A team from Boston Architectural College completed this documentation during a semester-long endeavor in the Fall of The documentation was donated to HABS through the Peterson Prize student drawing competition. . 12 Finch and Rose, Historic Structure Report, The Newburyport Powder House, March