Rain banished from the cottage
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The Cady Copp Cottage is starting to spread her wings.
The replacement of the floor in one of the first-floor rooms, plus work on the entry, plus work on the chimney is completed and the next step, in addition to more fund-raising, is that the Aspinock Historical Society is now in the position of giving small tours when “tour guides” are available, according to Aspinock President John Miller.
The society had collected about $49,000, including $15,000 from the Putnam Area Foundation, $10,000 from last year’s annual appeal and donations through the years and memorial gifts in memory of Fred Hedenberg. That was used, through the years, to create a driveway into the property from Rt. 21, a parking lot and work on the exterior. The last $25,000 of that was used to hire Luke Walker Construction to replace the rotted floor in one of the rooms, plus the entry way.
A couple years ago, according to Town Historian Bill Pearsall, Walker had bid $25,000 to do the project. He held to that two-year old bid and then fixed and capped the top of the chimney at no extra charge. That made sense, because one of the reasons for the rot in that room’s floor was rain running down one of the four fireplaces and sending water onto that floor. Pearsall said they will not be using the fireplaces so capping it was a good idea. Pearsall said “We had an inch and a quarter of rain yesterday and if the chimney had not been capped, this whole floor would have been flooded. In addition, Walker put the original doors back on. His work took a couple months, Pearsall said.
Small world. Walker is related to the Cutler family. Centuries ago, the pastor taught Manassas Cutler in the cottage. Manassas Cutler went on the wright the Northwest Ordinance.
The house, built around 1730, is unique because it has never had running water or electricity. Pearsall said the last owners left the house in the 1930s.
Job one, years ago, after archeologists’ digs to save all the artifacts, was stabilizing the foundation. One of the walls was tipping out and that had to be corrected, too. A $100,000 grant from the Historic Preservation Society was used for that. Pearsall said a couple years ago, they painted the outside and fixed many of the windows. Locks were installed on the door. Gutters, while not true to the building’s history, were added to help safeguard the foundation.
He said future projects might include having the asphalt that is to be removed and ground up by the town’s road projects laid down on the gravel driveway. Once place there, it would kinda melt and become a paved driveway, parking lot. And the donation/some help with a gate across the driveway would be excellent.
Pearsall also said adding period wallpaper might also be a future project. Some of the horsehair plaster has been replaced, but more work needs to be done on the walls.
caption:
Cady Copp Cottage
Left: Old rain stain. The chimney was capped off so no more rain can get in to ruin the floors. Town Historian Bill Pearsall stands on the new floor. Expanded photo array on our FB page Wed. night. Linda Lemmon photos.