Settlers House

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Settlers House and Barn Settlers House and Barn, Shelburne Museum, Shelburne VT.jpg
Settlers House and Barn

The Settlers' House was built in 1845 in East Charlotte, Vermont. The house is set up at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont, to show visitors life in the 18th century. The barn situated next to the house was built as a working demonstration in 2001. [1]

Shelburne Museum Museum of art and Americana in Shelburne, Vermont

Shelburne Museum is a museum of art, design, and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the museum grounds. It is located on 45 acres (18 ha) near Lake Champlain.

Shelburne, Vermont Town in Vermont, United States

Shelburne is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. Located along the shores of Lake Champlain, Shelburne is a suburb of Burlington, the largest city in the state of Vermont. Shelburne's town center lies approximately 7 miles (11 km) south of Burlington's city's center. The population of Shelburne was 7,144 at the 2010 census.

Contents

History

French Canadian lumberjacks probably built the Settlers' Cabin in East Charlotte in about 1800. Constructed of hand-hewn and dovetailed beech and pine timbers, Settlers' Cabin is typical of the type of structure that Vermont settlers, loggers, and trappers often built as temporary homes. [2]

When the Shelburne Museum acquired the structure in 1955, clapboard facing obscured the log structure beneath. After moving the building's exterior walls to the grounds intact, the museum provided a new foundation, replaced the roof, and restored the cabin's single interior room, stone fireplace, and sleeping loft. The structure, in combination with the adjacent hay barn, which the museum constructed in 2001, now houses the museum's only living exhibition that reveals how early Vermont settlers lived. [2]

Clapboard (architecture) wooden siding on a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping

Clapboard or clabbard, also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping.

In 1959 the museum constructed the sawmill adjacent to the Settlers' Cabin. In colonial America wood was needed to construct everything from sailing ships to storage kegs, and lumber, forested by loggers like the French Canadians who built the Settlers' Cabin, quickly emerged as the most important cash crop of 18th-century America. The museum's sawmill illustrates how this cash crop was prepared for market. [3]

Sawmill facility where logs are cut into timber

A sawmill or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern saw mills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes. The "portable" saw mill is iconic and of simple operation—the logs lay flat on a steel bed and the motorized saw cuts the log horizontally along the length of the bed, by the operator manually pushing the saw. The most basic kind of saw mill consists of a chainsaw and a customized jig, with similar horizontal operation.

Cash crop an agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit

A cash crop or profit crop is an agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate marketed crops from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family. In earlier times cash crops were usually only a small part of a farm's total yield, while today, especially in developed countries, almost all crops are mainly grown for revenue. In the least developed countries, cash crops are usually crops which attract demand in more developed nations, and hence have some export value.

Swiftly moving water can create energy powerful enough to run machinery. While in operation, the water's motion forced the sawmill's saw blade up and down, enabling it to cut through logs directed into its path. At full speed, the saw cut two strokes per second, which allowed a sawyer to cut a 10-foot (3.0 m) board in eight minutes. [3]

Historically the term "sawmill" referred both to the mill building and to the machinery it contained. Shelburne's Sawmill was built to house equipment from a South Royalton, Vermont, sawmill that was operated by Jeremiah Trescott and his partner Captain Stevens from the late 18th century. The Shepard family, descendants of Trescott, continued to operate the mill until the early 20th century and later donated its contents to the museum. [4]

South Royalton, Vermont Census-designated place in Vermont, United States

South Royalton is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Royalton, Windsor County, Vermont, United States. With a population at the 2010 census of 694, South Royalton is the largest village in the town. It is the home to Vermont Law School. The central portion of the village is a historic district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the South Royalton Historic District. The Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial is located approximately 2 miles to the east. South Royalton is the town pictured in the opening credits of the WB television show Gilmore Girls.

Related Research Articles

Log cabin dwelling constructed of logs; mostly used in a log house

A log cabin is a small log house, especially a less finished or architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first generation home building by settlers.

The Prentis House, built in 1773 in Hadley, Massachusetts, by the Dickinson family, is typical of the indigenous style of saltbox architecture that developed in New England during the Colonial period and remained in use, particularly in rural areas, through the American Revolution. The Prentis House was relocated to the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont, and furnished with 17th and 18th century period furniture and decorative arts.

Beach Lodge and Gallery

The Beach Gallery and Beach Lodge are two exhibit buildings at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. They are both made from logs and are designed to resemble an Adirondack hunting camp. The Beach Lodge exhibits a large selection of hunting trophies (taxidermy), while the Beach Gallery exhibits art depicting the North American wilderness; this includes work by Carl Rungius, Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, and Sydney Laurence.

Dutton House (Shelburne, Vermont)

The Dutton House is an exhibit building at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont; it is also known as the Salmon Dutton House.

The Hat and Fragrance Textile Gallery is an exhibit space at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont which houses quilts, hatboxes, and various other textiles. The name "Hat and Fragrance" refers both to Electra Havemeyer Webb's collection of hatboxes and to the fragrant, herbal sachets used to preserve textiles. In 1954, Shelburne Museum was the first museum to exhibit quilts as works of art; prior to this exhibition quilts were only shown as accessories in historic houses.

Horseshoe Barn and Annex

The Horseshoe Barn and Horseshoe Barn Annex are two exhibit buildings located at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. Both buildings exhibit a variety of horse-drawn vehicles, including carriages, trade wagons, stagecoaches, and sleighs.

Stencil House

Stencil House, built in 1804 on one hundred-acre farm in Columbus, New York, was modeled after a Capen house, a small, side-gabled structure prevalent throughout the colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries. Named after Parson Joseph Capen of Topsfield, Massachusetts, who built one of the earliest such structures in 1692, Capen houses reflect the British influence on early Puritan architecture. The house is now an 18th-century period historic house museum located at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.

44°22′40.07″N73°13′46.21″WStone Cottage and The Smokehouse are two exhibit buildings at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.

Castleton Jail

The Castleton Jail is an exhibit building located at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Constructed entirely of slate, it was originally built in 1890 in Castleton, Vermont, where it operated for over fifty years.

Charlotte Meeting House

The Charlotte Meeting House was built in 1840 by the Methodist congregation of Charlotte, Vermont. In 1952 it was moved to the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. It now serves as an exhibit building on the museum grounds.

Shelburne Railroad Station and Freight Shed

The Shelburne Railroad Station and Freight Shed are two exhibit buildings at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.

Shelburne Museum Round Barn

The Round Barn serves as a gallery space for special exhibitions at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.

Shaker Shed

The Shaker Shed is an exhibit building at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. It exhibits the museum's collection of hand-tools and household equipment.

Stagecoach Inn (Vermont)

The Stagecoach Inn is an exhibit building located at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.

Variety Unit

Variety Unit is an exhibit building at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.

Shelburne Museum Vermont House

The Vermont House is an exhibit building at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. It features rotating exhibits, which change yearly.

Webb Gallery

The Webb Gallery is an exhibit building located at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. Webb Gallery is the Museum's primary showcase for American art and serves as a gallery for special exhibitions.

Royalton Mill Complex United States historic place

The Royalton Mill Complex is a three-building residential site in what is now a rural setting of Royalton, Vermont. The two houses and barn are historically associated with a mill, whose breached dams and remnant foundations lie just to the north. One of the houses, built about 1780, is believed to be Royalton's oldest surviving building. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Sutton Farm (Shelburne, Vermont) United States historic place

Sutton Farm is a historic farm property at 4592 Dorset Road in Shelburne, Vermont. Established in 1788, the farm was operated continuously into the late 20th century by a single family, and includes a well-preserved Greek Revival farmhouse. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-03-15. Retrieved 2009-03-25.Cite uses deprecated parameter |dead-url= (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. 1 2 "Settlers' House and Barn". Archived from the original on 2009-02-04. Retrieved 2009-03-26.Cite uses deprecated parameter |deadurl= (help)
  3. 1 2 Shelburne Museum. 1993. Shelburne Museum: A Guide to the Collections. Shelburne: Shelburne Museum, Inc.
  4. ↑ Lovejoy, Mary Evelyn Wood. History of Royalton, Vermont.

Coordinates: 44°22′34.69″N73°13′46.89″W / 44.3763028°N 73.2296917°W / 44.3763028; -73.2296917

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