More photos from early last December when Tess Rosch and Win Ross from Early American Life magazine came to photograph our house. All of these photos are of our second floor. I’m posting lots of views of our master bedroom which was not included in the magazine article.
All of the bed linens are antiques. The sheets and pillow covers date to the mid – 19th century, except the tiny purple and white homespun pillowcase with handmade thread buttons and the purple and white overshot coverlet, which are earlier. Look closely at the bottom right corner of the homespun pillowcase and you will see an embroidered red W!
I collect purple vintage glass ornaments to hang on my master bedroom and kitchen Christmas trees. Last year my collection adorned a white feather tree in our bedroom. The tree was surrounded by my antique bisque dolls. The three dolls on the left were all made from the same mold. Brian gave me one of the dolls as a Christmas gift when we were living in Minnesota; it was my very first antique doll!
I buy antique purple and white lindsey woolsey coverlets whenever I find one. In 38 years of collecting I’ve only seen four, and I own all of them! The one shown in this photo is purple, green and white.
Our bedroom mantle is hung with antique mid 19th century hand knitted children’s stockings and topped with 18th and 19th century infant pincushions. These small handmade baby presents are one of my favorite collections. The pincushion in the middle of the mantle is one of the reproductions that I make. If you are interested in collecting antique infant pincushions/christening pillows Peggy McClard usually has some for sale on her website.
This red mid – 18th century blanket chest, with snipe hinges and bun feet, was previously in the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
This is the Christmas tree in our guest bedroom. It is surrounded with antique Martha Chase and Alabama Baby Indestructible Baby cloth dolls and antique mohair bears and bunnies.
The rocking horse in the upstairs guest room was carved in the later half of the 19th Century by an unknown maker. I purchased it because of its resemblance to the Dare horses on the Watch Hill, Rhode Island and Oaks Bluffs, Massachusetts flying horses carousels, the two oldest carousels in the U.S. On the shelf above is a paint decorated wooden tray. Tiny c. 188o’s children’s stockings hang from the shelf, which also holds black and white early 19th Century transferware, a turn of the 20th Century chalkware Father Christmas purchased at a Paris flea market, and three miniature mohair bears that I made.
Our back upstairs hallway is home to the 1930’s radio that I gave Brian as a wedding gift. It holds 1920’s and 30’s dolls and toys.
The cat was very unimpressed by all of the fuss and excitement.
If the Early American Life article piqued your curiosity about our house, read on …
The following is information that I put together for Jeanmarie Andrews when she was writing the EAL article.
Owners:
The first deed to the house and property is obscure. Extensive searches by Paula Walton and local historian Michael John Cavallaro have failed to turn up definitive information about the original owner of the house. Mr. Cavallaro* has speculated that the house may have been built for John Nobel, the first Anglo-American to settle in the town in 1707, in his later years (2nd house ?). Records at the New Milford Tax Assessors office give the construction date of the house as 1790. If the house did belong to John Nobel at one time, then the house would be older than the 1790 date.
The first owner shown in existing files at the New Milford Town Hall was Ezra Ferris, born in 1804 in Milton, CT and a clothier by trade, who acquired the house around the time of his marriage to Sophronia Guild in 1829. The Ferris’ had three sons, Jay Ferris 1830-1863, Alban Guild Ferris born in 1832, and Hilliard Bryant Ferris 1839-1862. Jay and Hilliard died while serving with the Union forces during the Civil War. Ezra owned the house until his death of “old age” in 1895.
The following owners were:
Delphine A. Clark and John D. Clark March, 1895- October, 1907
Julia M. Millington and Annis F. Martin October, 1907 – October, 1919
Bertha M. Roebling and John H. Roebling October, 1919 – 1961, when the deed was transferred to their daughter and son – law, Alice R. Cooper nee Roebling and George L. Cooper with the stipulation that the elder Roeblings retained “life use” of the home.
Alice R. Cooper and George L. Cooper 1961 – 1983
Mary Ellen Burns and Richard J. Zavoluk 1983 – November, 1990
Paula D. Walton and Brian R. Walton November, 1990 – to present time
Interesting Bits and Pieces:
The Ferris’ raised three sons in the home, as did the Walton’s
John Roebling was a farmer who also worked at theRobertson Bleachery & Dye Works, a fabric mill in New Milford, and according to one of his granddaughters, he would bring home so much cloth from the ends of the bolts that the bedroom on the main floor (currently the stenciled room) was so full of material that it was almost impossible to enter the room. Currently the attic and Paula’s studio, located on the site of the former chicken coop, are over flowing with fabric. Thanks to the generosity of a friend, Paula does own several yards of cloth made at the Bleachery. The same granddaughter recounted the fruits and vegetables that her grandmother, Bertha Roebling, grew in her kitchen garden. Long before they knew what Bertha planted, Paula and Brian had planted and were growing the same things Bertha did (plus many more varieties). When the Waltons first moved into their home, townspeople were still referring to house as “the Roebling house”
Ezra Ferris had his occupation given as a clothier at the time of his marriage in 1829. Several shoe lasts, dating from the 1820’s and 1830’s, with his initials on them remained in the house when the Waltons purchased it. Paula routinely makes miniature reproduction leather shoes for her dolls and occasionally makes a few full size shoes as well. She owns and uses two antique Singer shoemakers’ sewing machines.
One of the owners of the house was a stonemason and there are many impressive examples of his work on the grounds surrounding the home. Most notable is the stone lined pigpen with exterior and interior pens in the tack barn and a recessed area cut into the hillside behind the barn.
There are three barns on the property, a cow barn, a tack barn and an 85-foot long tobacco barn. The front half of the tobacco barn is pre-Revolutionary, and pre-dates the house, if the 1790 construction date is accurate; the back half of the tobacco barn was built following the Civil War.
The house and barns sit on approximately 9-1/2 wooded acres. A small brook runs behind the barns. There were no surviving gardens when the Waltons purchased the house, other than one lone heirloom rose and a handful of naturalized bulbs. Paula added numerous flower and herb beds and the couple worked together to create two large vegetable gardens and plant two-dozen heirloom fruit trees.
In 1994 the Waltons were presented with a preservation citation and plaque from the New Milford Trust for Historic Preservation.
The house was boarded up and sat empty for many years before being purchased by the Zavoluk-Burns.
Structural/Architectural/Interior Design Notes:
The house has 42 windows and 39 doors. All doorways, except one, have doors. There are five exterior doors, there used to be seven, the previous owners removed two exterior doors and replaced them with windows. All doors, except four, are antique – two of the four are newly made commercially purchased doors and two were constructed to fit odd size doorways. 31 out of the 42 windows are original to the house and retain almost all of their antique glass panes (one window opening in each bathroom was added and windows from elsewhere in the house/barn were used).
The Waltons have replaced the roof on the house twice. The first time they had multiple layers of asphalt shingles and the original wood shakes torn off and replaced with new cedar shakes. Three sections of the roof leaked with the shakes, due to a very low pitch, and were subsequently replaced with standing seam copper. In 2011, after incurring damage to the interior due to multiple instances of ice dams and additional storm damage, the Waltons had all of the cedar shakes removed and replaced with a standing seam steel roof. The cedar shakes would normally have lasted much longer, but the roofing contractor had improperly installed them.
The house has been repainted twice in the 23 years that the Waltons have owned it. Most recently in 2012, when the entire exterior was scraped, sanded, repaired and painted by hand. All of the windows were repaired and reglazed before painting.
The house is comprised of nine rooms on the main floor, eight on the second floor, with an attic above the main c.1790 section of the house and the c.1840 addition. There is a stone lined basement under the original 18th century house, with crawl spaces under the c.1840 and c.1890 additions. The 18th century house has wide board chestnut floors; the 1890 addition has wide board pine floors. The floors in the 1840 addition have been replaced.
The story goes that the four rooms in the 1890’s wing of the house were rented out to summer visitors.
The Waltons have replaced virtually all of the lighting fixtures in the house with reproduction lighting.
Going Room by Room:
Main Floor:
Parlor: previous owners (Zavoluk-Burns) added a fireplace and antique mantle/surround. Paula repainted the room in 1991, then later repaired cracks in the plaster ceiling, stripped portions of the ceiling, walls and woodwork to determine the original paint colors and repainted a second time, returning the ceiling to a pale buff color, the walls to a very light Prussian blue and the woodwork to white. She also grain painted the fireplace mantle and surround. The Shaker box stove was a Christmas present from Brian to Paula. Brian had to convince furniture maker Ian Ingersoll to sell him the stove, one of two that he had displayed in his furniture shop in West Cornwall, CT.
Front Hall and Entryway: Paula repainted the woodwork in the hall and entryway soon after moving into the house. She repainted all of the woodwork, with the help of her son Blair, in 2012. Its current color is a very close match to its original dark terra verdi (green earth) paint. Paula is in the process of painting a reproduction Rufus Porter mural in the hallway. She has the scenes sketched in, a yellow ocher wash applied to the walls and the white background for the sky painted in. Her son Colin, an illustrator, sketched the scene for one wall.
Original 18th Century Kitchen: Brian removed vinyl floral wallpaper from the walls, and Paula repainted the walls and woodwork. Later Paula and Brian repaired the plaster in the ceiling and repainted the walls with milk paint and repainted portions of the woodwork. In April, 2011 a plaster and painting contractor repaired and repainted the ceiling, as part of the work done due to ice dam damage. The original chestnut floor in this room has been covered over with narrow oak flooring by one of the previous owners (most probably the Roeblings). The chimney was rebuilt from the first floor up in 1984, with four flues added, one dedicated to the furnace (which is a combination oil/wood burning furnace). The Rumford cooking hearth still functions beautifully as does the beehive oven. The woodwork color is a Spanish brown (actually a dark red) that was originally made by mixing brick dust and buttermilk and was the most common color used for kitchens in early America because it was so inexpensive.
Main floor bedroom: Was repainted by the Waltons a few years after moving to the house. They also repaired the plaster ceiling where it leaked before the copper roof was added over a portion of this room. The room had additional plaster repair and was repainted in April, 2011 by a contractor. Paula, Brian and son Blair, sanded down the walls of this room after a botched glazing job done by the contractor, then Paula repainted all of the walls and woodwork. Paula and a friend reglazed the walls with hand mixed paint, and then Paula stenciled all of the walls with some measuring assistance from Brian for stencil placement.
“New” c.1840 Kitchen: Brian removed vinyl wallpaper and fluorescent lighting that ran above the counters, plus one upper cabinet. Paula and Brian repaired the ceiling and wall plaster. Paula painted the ceiling, walls and woodwork, and then painted the Reproduction Rufus Porter mural (which she cleaned and touched up in the fall of 2012). A contractor repainted the kitchen walls and ceiling in April, 2011. Paula and son Blair repainted the woodwork and cabinets in the fall of 2012. The kitchen sub-floor and flooring (Mexican tiles that look like bricks) were added by the Zavoluk-Burns when they had to pull up the original flooring and replace joists in the 1980’s, due to carpenter ant damage. The Walton’s removed the Jenn-aire stove added by the Zavoluk-Burn’s to replace the wood burning cast iron stove that was in the house until 1983. Brian laid a piece of cut stone on the floor to go under the “new” c. 1980’s Elmira Stoveworks reproduction range that they bought on eBay. The woodwork in the kitchen is “claret colored” which is a color made by mixing Spanish brown with white. Paula chose this color, as it seemed appropriate to paint the newer kitchen a pastel shade of the traditional spanish brown kitchen color. She also likes the pale plum/lavender color because is goes so well with her extensive collection of purple transferware, which are the Waltons ”everyday” dishes.
Pantry: The wallpaper was removed and a contractor did extensive plaster repair in April, 2011. The walls and woodwork were painted to match the kitchen. Brian removed the open shelving, covering two walls that was added by the Zavoluk-Burns. Brian also cut down the height of one of the many antique cupboards, that Paula collected for 18 years until she had enough to fill the pantry. Paula stripped peeling paint from some of the cupboards, which Brian sanded. Brian painted the cupboard interiors and Paula painted with exteriors (with help from her daughter-in-law) with milk paint in a color that she hand mixed. It took the Paula, Brian and all three of their sons to move the cupboards into the house and maneuver them into the pantry.
First Floor Bathroom: This room was a “preserving room” where canning could be done outside of the main kitchen. It is located in what was originally an attached barn. The Zavoluk-Burns turned this room into a bathroom and it was the only bathroom in the house when the Waltons purchased the home. While Paula and Brian were still unpacking, after moving into the house, their children explored the barns and found where the cupboards from the preserving room and all of the canning jars had been moved and stored. Brian and Paula cleaned and repaired the cupboards, and washed the canning jars. One of the cupboards resides in the hallway, just off the kitchen and adjacent to the former “preserving” room, a second is in Paula’s office and the third is in her studio. She uses the antique canning jars to store her huge supply of sewing notions. Brian removed the vinyl wallpaper and manufactured composite hardwood flooring. He replaced the floor with boards that he removed from the attic (he put wideboard pine in the attic). Paula stained and finished the floor, painted the walls and the woodwork. The Waltons had the shower rebuilt about 10 years ago. Paula and son Blair repainted the woodwork in 2012.
Dining Room: Brian removed vinyl wallpaper. Paula painted the walls, ceiling and woodwork. A contractor did plaster repair in 4/2011 and the walls and ceiling were repainted. Plaster repair was done a second time in the fall of 2012 to rectify work done by the previous contractor. Paula and son Blair re-painted the ceiling, walls and woodwork. Paula and friend Joy Gaiser stenciled the floor, with some help from Brian in figuring out the stencil layout. Paula chose the historic salmon pink simply because she likes the color and it goes very well the multiple sets of pink depression glass that she has been collecting since she was 15.
Paula’s Office: Paula repainted the walls and woodwork in the mid 1990’s. This is the room she used as her sewing room until getting her new studio, which is located out by the barns on the site of the former chicken coop.
Back Hallway: Paula repainted this hall in historic colors in the 1990’s.
Laundry Room: Part of the attached barn, turned into a laundry room by the Zavoluc-Burns. Brian removed vinyl wallpaper and Paula painted the ceiling, walls and wood work in historic paint colors.
Second Floor:
Master Bedroom: This room was originally two rooms; a wall was removed by previous owners to create the current space. The Zavoluc-Burns added a fireplace. Paula and Brian bought the antique cast iron woodstove at a local flea market. Paula had the mantle shelf made to match a built in shelf, original to the house, in the adjoining room. Paula repainted this room immediately after the Waltons bought the house in 1990. Brian chose the purple woodwork color to match one of the antique quilts that the couple has collected. Plaster repair (due to ice dams) and painting was done in 4/2011 by a contractor. Paula chose a slightly different purple for the woodwork the 2nd time around, this time matching the color to one of her several purple antique Lindsey-woolsey overshot coverlets. A second contractor did additional plaster repair in the fall of 2012 to rectify mistakes made by the first plaster contactor. Paula repainted the walls and ceiling.
Tiny Bedroom: This room was used as a nursery by the Zavoluk-Burns. The Waltons had custom, stand alone, storage pieces built so that they can use this room as a Master closet. The storage units are all free standing and can be removed to return the room to a bedroom, keeping it’s original plaster and woodwork intact. Paula painted the woodwork and storage units in an historic paint color. Plaster repair and painting was done in April, 2011 to repair water damage due to ice dams.
Guest Room/ Sitting Room: We have used this room at different times as a sitting room and a guest bedroom. Currently it is furnished as a bedroom. Plaster repair and painting was done in April, 2011 to repair ice dam related water damage. The woodwork color has been painted to match the room’s original dark grey color.
Upstairs Bathroom: When first built in the 1840’s this room served as a bed chamber, later when plumbing was added to the house the room was turned into a bathroom. When the Walton’s purchased the house this room had been gutted. They hired a contractor to add plumbing, add one window, install the floor boards that Brian removed from the attic ( replacing the attic boards with wide pine planks), and build an L shaped wall. The new wall allows the hallway, closet and 2nd floor office to be accessed when the bathroom is in use. Paula stained the floorboards and painted the room. There was extensive water damage to this room in the winter or 2010-2011, which was repaired in April , 2011. The room was repainted at that time. The toilet and one of the sinks are original to the house. The Walton’s hunted to find the matching sink, urinal and foot bath at selvedge yards and antique shows. The bathtub is an oversized reproduction.
Back Hallways: Along with the rest of the home, these hallways suffered water damage from ice dams in 2010-2011. The hallway that leads to the office was also damaged by a tropical storm in the fall of 2011. The ceilings and walls were repaired by contractors and repainted by both the contractors and the Walton’s. The woodwork has been painted to match the original color of the 1890’s addition hallway.
Brian’s Office: This room was originally part of the attached barn. The Zavoluc-Burns had floors built to create a second floor in the barn addition. The barn had originally been open from floor to roof. When the Walton’s first moved to the house, they used this room as a bedroom.
Bedroom #1 1890’s Wing:
Bedroom #2 1890’s Wing: Sustained plaster damage due to ice dams. The plaster was repaired in April, 2011 and the room was repainted, with the woodwork painted the same color as the back hallways on the second floor.
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Paula Walton's 18th Century Home Journal 