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The Alexander Knight House
Raising scheduled for 4 September 2010
The project is a re-creation of an early, English-style timber frame house dating to 1657 as described in Ipswich town records. It represents what many of the Town's First Period homes looked like during the early 17th century, many of which were only one room.
The project is presently: an on-going, live exhibit of building with traditional tools, and construction methods and permanently: an exhibit offering a chance to see and experience how an ordinary person lived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, with hands on opportunities and open hearth cooking demonstrations.
The AKH Team, along with others and a generous donation (for materials only) are working to provide this gift of the past to the Ipswich Museum for present and future citizens.
- James D. Whidden ~ Timber framer
- Mathew Cummings ~ Architect
- Richard Irons ~ Restoration Mason
- Susan S. Nelson ~ Architectural Historian
- Tim Chouinard ~ Arborist
The Ipswich Museum is adding the building to the grounds of the Whipple House, 1 South Village Green, Ipswich, MA located in the Essex National Heritage Area and a National Historic Landmark.
"The Knight house is a modest dwelling typical of the Bay Colony's first quarter-century of settlement. The houses of the First Period (1625-1725) that survive today are in some sense extraordinary, through the sheer fact of their survival and especially in their size and decoration. Their superiority of construction and condition may be, in fact, why they survived at all. The Knight house gives us a unique glimpse into the kinds of buildings that ordinary people built for themselves."
From the 1657 Town Meeting:
"secure a house to be built for Alexander Knight of 16 foote long & twelve foote wyde & 7 or 8 foote stud upon his ground & to pryd thatching & other things nesasary for it."
Timeline of Alexander Knight of England and Ipswich Prepared by Susan S. Nelson 4-20-2009
This exciting project includes many processes and will be a living exhibit; an example of what the early settlers were able to accomplish.
- Research and planning
- Researching Town and County records
- Documenting evidence
- Evaluating the Site
- Drawing plans
- Tools:
- Hewing axes and hatchets, chisels, drawknives, adzes, drills, froe and a shave horse.
- Materials:
- The foundation: dry laid local stone
- The frame, including the sills, will be of the White Oak species. This wood is naturally very strong and rot resistant. White Oak retains its integrity, unaffected by the fact it is not old growth, while being historically correct.
- The sheathing will be clear heartwood Eastern White Pine; the decay prone sapwood will be removed.
- The door, window frame and trim (which can be susceptible to water damage)— also of White Oak.
- The hardware will be antique wrought iron strap hinges and thumb latches.
- Make the pieces:
- Hew beams
- Mortise and tenon English style joinery
- Hand shaved pegs
- Erect the frame, pinning the joinery, sheathe, build a door and sash on site.
- The chimney to be of "wattle and daub" type construction; that is, woven sticks and clay, which hardens with use.
- The roof will be thatched.
Updated 22 August 2010