DELAWARE WATER GAP Historic Resource Study Slateford Farm

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
INVENTORY — NOMINATION FORM ENTERED
FOR FEDERAL PROPERTIES

1 NAME

HISTORIC: Slateford Farm
AND/OR COMMON: Pipher Farm, Laurel Hill

2 LOCATION

STREET & NUMBER: Route 611 National Park Road: CITY/TOWN: Slateford
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: 15th
STATE: Pennsylvania
CODE: 042
COUNTY: Northampton
CODE: 095

3 CLASSIFICATION

CATEGORY: Buildings(s)
OWNERSHIP: Public
STATUS: Occupied
ACCESSIBLE: Yes, restricted
PRESENT USE: Agriculture, Museum, Park

4 AGENCY

REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS: Mid-Atlantic Regional Office, National Park Service
STREET & NUMBER: 143 South Third Street
CITY/TOWN: Philadelphia
STATE: Pennsylvania 19106

5 LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION

COURTHOUSE REGISTRY OF DEEDS. ETC: Recorder's Office, Northampton County Government Center
STREET & NUMBER: Seventh and Washington Streets
CITY/TOWN: Easton
STATE: Pennsylvania 18042

6 REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS

TITLE: Historic American Buildings Survey
DATE: 1969, FEDERAL
DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: Library of Congress
CITY/TOWN/STATE: Washington, DC

7 DESCRIPTION

CONDITION: Good, Ruins, Altered, Original Site

DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Slateford Farm consists of three main historic structures located in a central farmstead which date from the early 1800s — cabin ca. 1800-1810, springhouse 1827, and main house 1833. Several other outbuildings at the site date from the late 1800s and the 1900s.

1. CABIN

Samuel Pipher's house, now called the Slateford Cabin, is a small frame structure which appears to have been pre-cut and pre-fit. The walls, posts, studs, joists, beams, corner braces, plates, and roof rafters were numbered and then assembled. Hand-whittled pins hold the mortise and tenon joints together. The use of both hand-wrought rosehead nails and early cut nails dates the structure to the early 1800s. The cabin's original appearance included a hood over the entrance, wide beaded-board lap siding, a winding stair to the garret and a stone fireplace which included an outside masonry oven. The original chimney may have projected through the roof and the fireplace's inner brick hearth was level with the outer hearth. The roof was probably made of dressed wood shakes.

Major renovation to the cabin occurred after the farm left Pipher hands in 1868. Owner John A. Morison created two rooms on both floors through use of partitions, plastered walls and ceilings, put in a new entrance door, put on a slate roof and placed exterior siding on the structure. Further major renovations occurred post-1924 when owner Charles Munsch added concrete to the entrance, exposed chimney, cellar floor and door, cellar steps, roof ridge covers casement windows in the basement and slabbing on the exterior siding. The addition of the exterior siding is the basis for the house being called a "log cabin" even though it is not. Munsch and his family changed the cabin's interior by adding a fibre board paneling system with wallpaper, and a fake chair rail with painted graining to simulate a paneled wainscot in the bedroom. In 1979 the National Park Service rehabilitated the cabin and reversed many of the Munsch changes. The work included: roof repairs, repointing of stone chimney and foundation walls, rebuilding of brick chimney, removal of imitation log siding, repair of entrance hood, replacement of sills, studs, doors and windows, removal of concrete bathroom and entrance slabs, and drainage grading.

2. SPRINGHOUSE

After Samuel Pipher's death in 1812 his property was divided between three children, and son Peter inherited the central section of the farm with the cabin. In 1827 Peter built a stone springhouse near the cabin, complete with datestone in the north gable. The two room springhouse is located downhill from the spring source and the water was piped into water troughs inside the structure. The upper roof structure was probably replaced late in the nineteenth century.

3. MAIN HOUSE

Peter Pipher also built the Slateford Farm main house and placed his initials and date over the front entrance — "P18. . .33P." The house consists of two floors, cellar and garret. It is built of heavy mortise and tenon framing with heavy vertical studs. Two large and formally spaced rooms exist on each side of a central hallway and the interior decorative millwork was probably done by a professional carpenter. Renovations occurred after 1868, including the addition of an exterior door through the north wall of the northwest parlor, a slate roof, and a door into the northwest bedchamber, and the removal of the kitchen wing on the second floor. Interior changes included the addition of late nineteenth century high wainscot paneling and a new front door.

The exterior was changed drastically with the twentieth century addition of a cement buff-colored stucco and a wood and concrete front porch. The two floors of the main house are interpreted by the National Park Service as living quarters. The kitchen, dining room, parlor, living room, and a bedroom are on the first floor while bedrooms occupy the second floor. Period furnishings date to the late nineteenth century.

4. OTHER STRUCTURES

HISTORIC, CONTRIBUTING

A. Old Barn Site — Reference to the barn was made in 1868 when Samuel and Elizabeth Pipher sold the farm to the New York and Delaware River Slate Company. Reference was also made to a granary being somewhere on the property. A concrete roof was placed over the remnant stone walls by Charles M. Munsch, who then used the structure as a garage. He used salvaged iron rails, possibly from a nearby quarry, to support the concrete roof.

B. Quarry — The New York and Delaware River Slate Company opened and operated this quarry from 1868-1873. Subsequent farm owner John A. Morison paid taxes on the quarry until 1879. Another smaller quarry/pond is on the property. It is shallowly flooded over a sediment fill and was dammed for a local water supply. Its history is not known.

C. Woodshed — This structure was built in the late nineteenth century possibly by John A. Morison

D. Lime Kiln — Remnants of a stone lime kiln are located in the woods behind the main house. It is probable that the kiln dates to the Pipher family occupancy, and may have been used as late as the Munsch ownership.

E. Stone Rows — Extensive stone pile rows mark partial boundaries of the Peter Pipher farm, and probably date to that period. The rows also delineate boundaries of fields.

F. Fields — The exact location of all the fields utilized by the Piphers and subsequent Slateford Farm owners is not known, but the stone rows do mark several boundaries. Photographs taken during the Munsch occupancy of the farm reveal that many of these fields located between the main farm house and the Cyr farmstead were open and farmed.

G. Entrance Road to the Farm Core Area — This gravel road, approaching the main farm house from the southeast, is probably the historic entrance to the farm. The Piphers may have used it to reach a wagon road located next the the Delaware River.

NONCONTRIBUTING, NONHISTORIC

H. Double Mining Cart and Rails — This iron and wood cart was brought onto the property by National Park Service staff, as were the iron rails. The cart is rapidly deteriorating, being openly exposed to the weather. The rails are strewn along a path to the north of the slate shanty.

I. Slate shanty — This structure was brought onto the property by the National Park Service some time in the 1970s.

J. Ice House — Only the foundations exist for this wood frame structures, built by Charles M. Munsch sometime after 1924. The ice house had a gable roof and the walls were covered with horizontal slabbing with vertical slabs in each corner and in the gable ends.

K. Outhouse — This structure was brought onto the property by the National Park Service some time in the 1970s. The location of the historic outhouse is not known.

L. Cyr Farmstead — Charles M. Munsch built the farmhouse, which became the home of the Louis and Lottie Cyr family who tenant farmed Slateford Farm. The farmstead includes the main house, storage shed, chicken coops, small framed storage buildings, corn cribs, barn and garage. The Cyr house has no architectural significance.

M. Kiefaber House — This house was built ca. 1925 by Fred W. Kiefaber. There are no outbuildings and the house has no architectural or historical significance.

N. Corral — This structure, located in front of the main house and extending to the garage, was built by the Youth Conservation Corps in 1974-1975.

O. National Park Service Road — This road was built in 1970.

P. Tower Foundations — Four footings of concrete are all that remain of this structure, which perhaps was a radio tower.

Q. Slate Walks — Remnants of slate walk are located behind the main house.

R. Tennis Courts — Charles M. Munsch built tennis courts behind the main house. Their exact location is not known and no visible remnants exist.

S. Apple Orchard — An apple orchard was mentioned in Samuel Pipher's 1812 will, but its location is not known.

T. Slate and Stone Benches — Two benches are located underneath the tree next to the main house. Their origin is not known.

PROPERTY HISTORY

The property now known as Slateford Farm was obtained from the Delaware Indians who roamed and hunted in the area, by Richard and Thomas Penn (the sons of William Penn) in the infamous Walking Purchase of 1737. Nicholas Scull, Pennsylvania's surveyor-general, bought the 391-1/4 acre tract from the Penns in 1753, paid for the land survey, and sold the property the next year to Amos Strettell, a wealthy Philadelphia Quaker merchant. Both Scull and Strettell were prominent members of provincial society. Scull, as surveyor-general, laid out the town of Easton, the county seat of Northampton County, established in 1750. Strettell helped create the first fire insurance company in America and served in the Pennsylvania House of Assembly. Both men probably held the property south of Blue Mountain and next to the Delaware River for speculative purposes.

Amos Strettell left the property at his death in 1780 to his two daughters Ann and Frances, who were married to two brothers, Cadwalader and Benjamin Morris. The Morris brothers were Philadelphia merchants engaged in the West Indies trade. Cadwalader helped establish the Bank of Pennsylvania in 1780 and the Bank of North America in 1781. He was a delegate to Congress in 1783 and for a few years operated the Hopewell Furnace on French Creek, Union Township, in Berks County (now the Hopewell Village National Historic Site). Benjamin Morris was an owner of the Hopewell Furnace along with his brother, and he also served as an associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County.

In 1790 the four Morrises sold the 391-1/4 acre tract in Northampton County to Samuel Pipher, who had lived in the area with his wife Christina and children at least since the 1760s. It is probable that some buildings and cleared fields existed on the property when Samuel Pipher bought it. He built the extant cabin ca. 1800-1810 and at his death in 1812 three of Samuel and Christina's children—Mary Kocher, Peter and Frederick inherited the three sections of the farm. In his will, dated 1812, Samuel called the cabin "the new house" on "the old place," and made arrangements for his wife Christina to live there after his death. "The old place" may refer to a homestead which might have been built by the property's owners prior to 1790. No evidence of this homestead has been found.

Peter and his wife Elizabeth raised their family and farmed the central section of the property, the Slateford Farm. Peter built the springhouse in 1827 and the main house in 1833. The tract, totaling 199 acres 109 perches, was sold to Peter and Elizabeth's son Samuel in 1841. Samuel and his wife Elizabeth raised their family and farmed the property until 1868. Why they sold the farm is not known, but the Piphers sold 181 acres 112 perches, including the farmstead, to the New York and Delaware River Slate Company, composed of New York and New Jersey businessmen.

Emphasis then changed from agriculture to slate quarrying. Local slating had occurred since the early 1800s and Northampton County was known for the quality and quantity of its slate. The New York and Delaware River Slate Company opened and operated a quarry on the property from 1868 until 1873, when internal dissension dissolved the organization. The acreage was sold at a sheriff's sale to New Yorker John A. Morison.

Quarrying continued until 1880 and possibly later on the property. Tenant farmers tilled the soil for some of the years of successive absentee ownership. New Jerseyan Edwin G. Reynolds purchased the property in 1913 and possibly rented out the land. New Yorker Charles M. Munsch was an active owner who bought the 181 acres 112 perches in 1924 and made major renovations to the cabin, main house, springhouse, and barn foundation ruins. Munsch hired a caretaker, Louis Cyr, in 1929 who tenant farmed the property for Munsch, and for his daughter Alice who bought the farm in 1936. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acquired 169.38 acres of the original Scull survey property in September 1966. Another 4.52 acres was purchased in 1966 from Fred W. Keifaber and this acreage was also part of the original Scull parcel. The farm's acreage now totals 173.90. The National Park Service acquired title to the Corps land on November 10, 1978. The historic boundaries of Slateford Farm are thus different from its present boundaries. See historical base maps 1-5.

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. "Classified Structure Field Inventory Report," Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, "Cabin at Slateford Farm," by John B. Dodd. 1976.

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. "Classified Structure Field Inventory Report," Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, "Slateford Farmhouse," by John B. Dodd. 1976.

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. "Classified Structure Field Inventory Report," Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, "Spring House at Slateford Farm," by John B. Dodd. 1976.

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. "Historic Resource Study, Slateford Farm, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Pennsylvania," by Sharon A. Brown. Draft, Denver, Colorado, 1985.

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Denver Service Center. "Historic Structures Report, Architectural Data, Slateford Farm, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Pennsylvania" by Penelope Hartshorne Batcheler. Denver, Colorado, November 1982.

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. "Historic Structures Report, Part I, Architectural Data Section on Historic Buildings," Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, by Norman M. Souder. July 1967.

Copies available at park headquarters.

The Slateford Farm complex, is located within the boundaries of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The farm contains 173.90 acres more or less and is located 1.2 miles west west of Route 611 in Upper Mount Bethel Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.

The legal description of the boundary:

A certain tract of land situated in the State of Pennsylvania, County of Northampton, Township of Upper Mount Bethel, and more particularly bounded and described as follows:

Beginning at a corner common to the lands of Alice M. Munsch and the lands of Elizabeth M. Cassell and at a point in line of lands of Dorothy M. Roberts and being a point in the centerline of Township Route Number 707 said point being the following courses and distances: South 35° 40' East 2720 feet, South 38° 28' East 187 feet, from the beginning of the second or North 59° East 55 Perches line of lands as described in a deed from Charles M. Munsch and Marie, his wife to Alice M. Munsch dated May 5, 1936 and filed for record in Deed Book F67, Page 241 in the records of Northampton County, Pennsylvania said point of beginning being further located North 61° 13' East, 2470 feet more or less from the intersection of the centerline of Township Route Number 734 with the center of Slateford Creek; thence, from the said point of beginning and with the lands of the said Cassell,

(1) North 38° 28' West 187 feet to a corner common to the lands of the said Cassell and the lands of Marie Munsch, et al; thence leaving the lands of the said Cassell and with the lands of the said Marie Munsch, et al,

(2) North 35° 40' West passing a corner common to the lands of the said Marie Munsch, et al and the lands of William J. O'Heir, et al at approximately 317 feet, in all 2720 feet to a corner common to the lands of the said Alice M. Munsch and the lands of the said O'Heir, et al and to a point in the line of the lands of Philip P. Morrissey, et ux; thence, leaving the lands of the said O'Heir, et al and with the lands of the said Morrissey, et ux, the following courses and distances:

(3) North 54° 15' East 907 feet

(4) North 47° 02' East 800 feet

(5) North 69° 49' East 1026 feet

(6) South 18° 47' East passing an unnamed drain at approximately 1670 feet in all 3535 feet to a point in the line of the lands of Madeline M. Siegel; thence, leaving the lands of the said Morrissey, et ux, and with the lands of the said Siegel,

(7) South 52° 09' West 846 feet to a corner common to the lands of the said Alice M. Munsch and the lands of the said Roberts and at a point in the centerline of the said Township Route Number 707; thence, leaving the lands of the said Siegel and the lands of the said Roberts and with the centerline of the said Township Route Number 707 the following courses and distances:

(8) North 80° 53' West 215 feet

(9) North 86° 25' West 720 feet

(10) Due West 124 feet to the place of beginning, containing 173.90 acres more or less; less and excepting from the above described tract the following tract of land.

TRACT: 120
OWNER: Fred W. Keifaber, et ux
ACRES: 4.52

The above described land after the aforesaid exception contains 169.38 acres more or less.

The bearings used herein are referenced to the Pennsylvania State Rectangular Grid System (North Zone) 1927 N A Datum.

The above described land is part of the same land as that described in a deed from Charles M. Munsch and Marie, his wife to Alice M. Munsch dated May 5, 1936 and filed for record January 27, 1937 in Deed Book F67, Page 241 in the records of Northampton County, Pennsylvania.

8 SIGNIFICANCE

PERIOD: 1800-1899
AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE: Agriculture, Architecture, Industry
SPECIFIC DATES: 1800-1810, 1827, 1833
BUILDER/ARCHITECT: Samuel Pipher, Peter Pipher

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Slateford Farm's significance lies in its over 200 years of ownership by both prominent and common Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Jerseyans, 78 years of which was by the Pipher family. The property's origins date to the land dealings of the original Penns, and the land, as well as the farm structures, is of cultural and historic importance. The farm is located downstream from the renowned Delaware Water Gap, and its scenic beauty contributes to the farm's cultural value. The duality of the land's use, for both agriculture and slate quarrying, is representative of the surrounding county history. Slateford Farm's significance lies in its contribution to Pennsylvania's agriculture; its slate quarrying activity, representative of the county; in its vernacular farm buildings, representative of the Delaware River valley; and in its ownership, representative of a cross-section of Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Jerseyans—farmers and businessmen.

Slateford Farm was valuable not only for its agricultural products but its slate products as well. In 1868 the property was purchased by a slate company which opened and operated a slate quarry on the farm for several years. Upper Mount Bethel Township and Northampton County produced large amounts of quarried slate, and the quarry on Slateford Farm contributed to this industry. The New York and Upper Delaware River Slate Company operation was not a successful one, and the property was used once more for agriculture. The company's effort was one of the early industrial quarrying operations in the county, and is representative of the slate industry in the county. The quarry appears to be undisturbed since its abandonment, and is accessible and interpretable.

The land destined to become Slateford Farm was owned by a series of prominent Philadelphians, starting in 1753, until purchased by a local resident farmer in 1790. The property then remained in the same family hands for the next 78 years, passing from father to son to grandson. All farmers, the Pipher family raised both crops and children for three generations at the same homestead. The farm represents a central focus in the lives of the people who were born and raised there.

The structures on the Slateford Farm property represent a fairly complete farmstead which has remained intact since the 1830s. The main house, cabin, and springhouse have been renovated in substantial ways, but still retain the flavor of an early nineteenth century Pennsylvania farm. Renovations by subsequent owners after the Pipher builders are the result of the continual use of these structures into the twentieth century. The social and cultural histories of generations of farming families are represented in the Slateford Farm homestead.

9 MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. "Classified Structure Field Inventory Report," Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, "Cabin at Slateford Farm," by John B. Dodd. 1976.

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. "Classified Structure Field Inventory Report," Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, "Slateford Farmhouse," by John B. Dodd. 1976.

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. "Classified Structure Field Inventory Report," Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, "Spring House at Slateford Farm," by John B. Dodd. 1976.

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. "Historic Resource Study, Slateford Farm, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Pennsylvania," by Sharon A. Brown. Draft, Denver, Colorado, 1985.

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Denver Service Center. "Historic Structures Report, Architectural Data, Slateford Farm, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Pennsylvania" by Penelope Hartshorne Batcheler. Denver, Colorado, November 1982.

U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. "Historic Structures Report, Part I, Architectural Data Section on Historic Buildings," Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, by Norman M. Souder. July 1967.

10 GEOGRAPHICAL DATA

ACREAGE NOMINATED PROPERTY: 173.90
UTM REFERENCES:
A 18 489320 4532680
B 18 489520 4533740
C 18 489830 4532830
D 18 488160 4533400

11 FORM PREPARED BY

NAME/TITLE: Dr. Sharon A. Brown, Historian
ORGANIZATION DATE: National Park Service Denver Service Center
STREET & NUMBER: 755 Parfet Street
CITY OR TOWN: Lakewood
STATE: Colorado
TELEPHONE: 303-236-8968 DATE: June 19, 1985