Retyped for Tri-Counties by Anne PRATT Slatin |
CHAPTER V.
HOUSES AND GARDENS DESCRIBED.
The following description of one of the houses at Asylum
no doubt describes most of the others. It was No. 416-417 and belonged to Miss
Seybert. It was a "log house 30x18 feet, covered with nailed-on shingles. The
house is divided into two lower rooms and two in the upper story. The lower ones
are papered. On both sides of the house stand two small buildings of the same
kind; one is used for a kitchen, the other being papered, is commonly called the
dining room. Both these buildings have good fire places, and are one and a half
stories high. Three rooms in the biggest house have fire places. The two side
buildings and the other are joined together by a piazza. There is a good cellar
under the dining room. The yard is enclosed by paling fence, the palings nailed
on. The garden has a like fence with a good double gate. A constant stream of
water runs through the garden. Over the spring, a spring house has been erected
which is divided into two rooms, one of them being floored. The garden is
decorated by a considerable number of fruit trees, young Lombardy poplars and
Weeping Willows. The garden also contains a latticed summer house. Next to the
garden is a nursery of about 900 apple trees. The lower part of the lot forms a
piece of meadow of about eight acres enclosed by a post, and rail fence. On the
same lot stands a horse grist mill, which is 40 feet long and 34 feet wide. Part
of the lower story is contrived into a stable for the mill horses and a cow
stable. Part of the upper story is used to keep fodder. The mill is double
geared, and in complete order, being furnished with a good pair of stones, good
bolting cloth, and in one corner stands a good fire place. Above the mill runs a
never failing spring which waters a great part of the meadow."