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Stone houses are common in Wayne County and are typically made of cobbles gathered from the lake shore or the farm field. Cut limestone homes are less commonly found with a high concentration located in Marion and Walworth. The source of the limestone for many of these area homes was a quarry on the Hall Homestead on Hall Center Road, on the border of Walworth and Marion.
Limestone was a valuable commodity to early settlers, and the Hall farm was well supplied, having a feature on the southeastern corner of the farm referred to as “Limestone Island.” Architectural features may include stone lintels, quoins, sills and thresholds.
Joel Hall and his wife, Anna, came to Marion from Cheshire, Conn., when they were 21 and 20, respectively. Anna packed all her household goods and came west with her new husband in 1806. They made a down payment for their land with a $20 bounty Joel earned by killing a wolf. They lived in a log cabin a few roads away until 1830, when their beautiful Federal-style stone home was completed with limestone quarried on their land.
Joel Hall also had lime kilns on his property that burned lime for use in mortar and fertilizer. The processed lime would be combined with sand and other ingredients according to the mason’s own recipe, which made a mortar that dried quickly. This made these cut stone homes quicker to build than the cobblestone homes also found in the area. A typical team consisted of four men to do the work.
Two other Hall family homes were built on nearby Goossen Road.
Elias Durfee also built a home from the stone in this quarry. His diary tells us: “April 8, 1830 commenced plastering the stone house with Smith Munsey and Deacon Vine, masons. The topic of conversation was anti-Masonry and Temperance Societies. Gardner Elsworth is foreman in mixing mortar.”
The Durfee home is a local landmark at the corner of easternmost end of Route 441 and Route 21. Elias came from a prominent local Quaker family and was supervisor of Marion for several terms as well as serving in the New York State Assembly multiple times. Oral tradition tells us this home was possibly used on the Underground Railroad, as Friend Durfee was an ardent abolitionist.
Another example of existing buildings with stone from this quarry include the Gould Home on Atlantic Avenue in Walworth. The Gould home was constructed about 1816 and is a beautiful example as well. Note the beautiful fan light over the original entryway.
There are about 10 other cut stone houses within a six-mile radius of this quarry in the towns of Marion and Walworth. These homes were built to last and as testaments to the stone mason’s art. As they approach their 200th year, they are still loved and cared for and living history in our area.
Caryn Devlin is the Marion town historian.
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