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Mulford Farm, circa 1680
The Mulford Farm, listed
on the National Register of Historic Places is considered
one of America’s most significant, intact English Colonial
farmsteads. Originally the site of three successive
blacksmith’s shops, by 1680, the Mulford Farm was a
family farmstead of approximately fourteen acres and
was the home of more than ten generations of families,
most of them Mulfords, until 1949. The Mulford Farm
is interpreted as the year 1790, a time when the resident
Mulfords, David and Rachel, prospered. In 1790, the
census states that there were eight people living in
the house, David and Rachel (Gardiner) Mulford, three
sons, one daughter, and two apprentices.
The Mulford House represents
one of the most important and complex artifacts produced
by our culture - the family home. The house, built in
1680, is a remarkable survival that has been left largely
unchanged since 1750. The majority of the framing and
wood members of the house have been leA undisturbed,
enabling scholars to tell the story of the successive
changes over time. In addition to the house’s architectural
significance, the home has remained in Mulford hands
for the majority of it’s existence, giving scholars
the opportunity to trace the family, their use of the
land, and creation of the built environment around them.
The lives and spirit of this family echo throughout
the house, where all but one room on the ground floor
has been restored using period appropriate furnishings
and authentic decorative arts. Initially the visitor
enters the original ”Hall.” Here one will become a detective,
and shown a variety of clues and evidence which aided
our specialists in discovering the history of the MulfordFarm.
At the time the house was built,
East Hampton was a well-established village. Most of
the older colonists had brought with them their traditional
ways of life, including religious beliefs, laws, methods
for cultivating land, social customs, architecture and
building techniques. The people who lived on the Mulford
Farm, not unlike ourselves, made periodic alterations
to their structures to meet changing family needs. The
changes they wrought were determined by prevailing architectural
styles, the skill of local craftsmen, technology, family
wealth, social aspirations, and probably chance. Architectural
changes to the house, particularly the construction
of lean-to additions, were typical solutions to spatial
problems faced by colonists throughout New England.
Some of the changes demonstrate the relationship between
human needs and fashion. The lean-to addition was not
only a response to the need for a separate kitchen area;
the lean-to had become fashionable by the early Eighteenth
century. By that time, houses like the Home Sweet Home
Museum, just south of the Mulford Farm, were being built
from the ground up in the ”lean-to” style. Home Sweet
Home was built in the early to mid-eighteenth century.
Twice owned by a member of the Mulford family, the house
museum is now owned and operated by the Village of East
Hampton.
The Mulford
Barn, constructed
in 1721, is one of the most intact early eighteenth
century English- plan barn forms in New York State,
and is recognized as an outstanding example of early
eighteenth century construction methods and materials.
The Mulford Barn was evaluated by the State Department
of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation in 1990
and deemed the second most important eighteenth century
barn in New York State. The Mulford Farm is of interest
not merely because of its antiquity and its importance
to the beauty of East Hampton. Viewed as an artifact
which has been shaped to fit the needs and the pleasure
of those who have lived in it, the house itself has
much to tell us about the origins of Colonial New England
society and the changes which still affect our lives
in the present-day. The importance of the Mulford Farm
has been recognized by state and federal funding agencies
as well as foundations who have partially funded stabilization
and restoration efforts to date. Partial funding has
been provided by the New York State Council on the Arts,
New York State Institute for the Humanities, National
Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities,
Institute of Museum Services, Rock Foundation, J.M.
Kaplan Fund, Arthur Ross Foundation, American Express
Foundation, Vincent Mulford Foundation, Ben Krupinski
Builders, and Ella B. Aldrich.
In 1998 a matching grant
for $88,000 was awarded by the New York State Department
of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation for the
exterior restoration of the House.
MULFORD BARN, c.1721
The Mulford Barn, built
in 1721, according to the inscription on a supporting
beam inside the Barn, is part of the Mulford Farm museum
site, a three acre parcel that is the last remaining
intact original ”home lot” - so designated during the
mid seventeenth century settlement of the Village. As
an example of traditional English Barn design and construction,
the Mulford Barn is significant to the history of English
settlement patterns in New York State. The Barn stands
in the region of the state where the earliest English
settlements were established, an influence that has
continued to shape the present day character of the
landscape.
The Mulford Barn, was evaluated
by the State Department of Parks Recreation and Historic
preservation in 1990. It was deemed the second most
important eighteenth century Barn in New York State
given that it retains its original wood frame and other
structural elements. It is recognized as one of the
most intact early eighteenth-century English-plan Barn
forms in New York State, and is an outstanding example
of early eighteenth century construction methods and
materials.
The Barn represents a virtually
intact post and beam frame, with mortise and tenon joints,
constructed primarily of first growth oak. It is a large,
one and one-half story, rectilinear, wood shingle gable
roof, eight post center aisle English plan, with a four
post integral lean-to extension on the east side. The
18th century mortise and tenon framing system of the
main block is constructed of characteristic first period
timber and measures 33’-8” x 30’-5”.
The supporting posts measure
approximately eight inches square at their bases, but
are ”shouldered” at the top where they carry the horizontal
girths and plates which in turn support the roof frame.
The arrangement on plan of eight posts, four per wall,
with four additional posts along the back (east) lean-to
wall, is traditional and representative of this generic
form. Of particular interest is the lack of mortise
holes for studs on the back principal wall (the east
wall). The roof frame is composed of hewn rafters which
date from the original construction period. Each rafter
pair is joined and pegged at the ridge and is ”birdsmouthed”
to the front and back rafter plates in traditional form.
It should be noted that the lean-to rafters are spliced
to the top surfaces of each of the eight principal pairs
of rafters, and that this is typical of ear]y eighteenth
century construction practice.
The Mulford South Side Barn
Lean-to was a very early, historically significant mid-eighteenth
century addition to the main Barn structure. The survival
of oak clapboards against the outside south wall frame
now covered by the South Side Lean-to roof reveals that
this wall was enclosed at a very early date, before
the exterior cladding (of original application) of the
entire building was updated with shingle. Further investigation
of this portion of the Barn will continue.
The Barn warrants restoration
consistent with a structure of such historical significance.
Towards this end, matching grants totaling $85,000 have
been secured from the State for emergency stabilization
and partial restoration of the Main Barn.
The stabilization process
included replacing the deteriorated sills, restoring
foundation supports, adding hidden structural ties and
epoxy-infill to posts and beams, treating the infested
Barn with appropriate insect fumigation procedures,
and the restoration of interior and exterior wall, roof,
and floor sheathing. When the restoration of the Barn
is completed, the Barn will permanently extend the exhibit
and programming opportunities at the Mulford Farm.
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