Over the past month we’ve looked at where you can go to find octagon houses (2/8), Quonset huts and geodesic domes (2/15), and manufactured diners (2/22/ and 3/1). This week we’re looking for that delightful feature of western New York, the cobblestone house. In reading up a little, I was startled to learn that 75 per cent of cobblestone houses are found within 75 miles of Rochester. A glut of stonemasons, idled on the 1825 completion of the Erie Canal, drove this riot of construction, which had pretty much run its course by the start of the Civil War.

So what are we talking about? Simply put, a cobblestone can be held in the palm of one hand. Sometimes they’re placed randomly, but usually they’re set in courses (horizontal rows), with masonry between each course and between each stone within the course. If they’re set well, a first glance might give you the impression that you’re looking at brick.

Bath features a fine, large, well-maintained cobblestone house (a private home) on 120 West Washington Street, listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It’s a lovely home, and it’s said to be the southernmost cobblestone masonry building in New York state, which I can’t vouch for. But it makes a fine, impressive sight… a pleasure to walk by.

Livingston County Historical Society’s building, on Center Street in Geneseo, started out as a school in the 1830s. The (very) wealthy Wadsworths donated the land, and reportedly wanted a good solid building, and got what they asked for – it was the local school into the NINETEEN-thirties, and it’s been the Historical Society ever since. It’s unusual in having two cobblestone wings. Some structures have the stones set more or less randomly. LCHS, like the Washington Street house in Bath, is of stones precisely set in perfect rows, or courses. The front of LCHS is of multicolored stones, making an enjoyable dull dazzle.

For background I read up in Rich and Sue Freeman’s book Cobblestone Quest, but while they describe numerous buildings and 17 driving routes, Bellona and Rushville are the closest they come to the Bath-Corning area. They note two places in Steuben and 11 in Yates, but 101 in Ontario, 106 in Monroe and 170 (!) in Wayne County! Plus another 250 scattered over ten more WNY counties!

Yates County’s 11 houses are at 11 different sites, each on the National Register of Historic Places. The private homes are scattered across Benton, Middlesex, Torrey, and Starkey. The Jephtha Earl farmhouse on Old State Road is an unusual cobblestone house in the Italianate style.

Rich and Sue point to several cobblestone museums, such as Babcock House Museum in Appleton. The Cobblestone Society in Albion rejoices in THREE cobblestone buildings: the Ward House (c. 1840), the District 5 Schoolhouse (1849, used for 103 years), and the 1834 Universalist Church – a neat collection of three divergent uses. Cobblestone Society also has half a dozen other period buildings, making a nice walk-around outdoor museum, the Cobblestone District. Not only is this location on the National Register, it’s further designated a National Historic Landmark. Nearby, and also on the National Register, are the 1830s Cobblestone Inn (a stagecoach stop), the 1832 District 2 Cobblestone School, and the 1830s John Shlep House.

A little closer to home, we should point out the Cobblestone Restaurant, on Pre-Emption Road in Geneva. Interestingly it’s on the site of an 18th-century tavern and stagecoach stop, but the current building was erected in 1838. The Tuttle-Fordon House, as it’s also known, has been added to over the years, but in such a way as to make it even more impressive, while still preserving the cobblestone charm and dignity. This list doesn’t scratch the surface! The cobblestone Victor School 7 has a cobblestone four-hole outhouse! And there’s plenty more out there!