Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997
For Wednesday, October 4
Read, In The New England Village,
Chapter 3: The Architectural Landscape, pp. 71-87
In this chapter Wood questions whether our picture of 18th century domestic architecture is accurate. If not, what did the average 18th century house look like? As one might expect, wealth and length of community settlement determines the answer. I don't expect you to master all the technical statistics in this chapter, so don't let them overwhelm you. Do concentrate on the descriptive data on the range of house size and house value (pp. 74-78).
Illustration 3.8 (p. 84) is less confusing than it looks at first. The size of the circles indicates the number of houses in the towns surveyed. Black areas represent two story houses and white areas one-story houses.
As one might expect, the number of surviving 17th anc 18th century houses is fairly small, and biased towards the houses of the wealthiest and most substantial citizens. The Parson Capon House (right) is a famous example of a 17th century house.
The Hooper Houe (below) represents a more elegant 18th century version of domestic architecture.
Click on both pictures to visit a website with more examples
For Friday, October 6
Read, in The New England Village,
Chapter 4. Villages in the Federal Period, pp. 88 - 113
In many ways this chapter is the core of Wood's book. Here we learn that the village forms we traditionally have associated with colonial New England are actually products of the early 19th century. There are some terms you'll need to understand here:
elaboration
Central-Place Theory (note that not all towns or villages are central places)
Town Division as a Process (when and with what results)
Center Villages (and the economic changes which led to their creation)
Turnpikes (and the influence of transportation patterns on town growth or decline)
Give some time to studying the figures showing town development (figures 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.8, 4.10, and 4.11) See if you can form a hypothesis about the different patterns of town development you see in each place.
Two examples of the early 19th century architecture which came to typify New England Towns and Villages in the early 19th Century. Federal Style (left) and Greek Revival Style (below) Click on either for more examples.
For Tuesday (Monday transferred) October 10
Begin discussion of Chapter 4 in The New England Village.
Continue discussion of Chapter 4. We'll look closely at the evolution of town plans.
The 19th Century Common at Gardiner, Maine. Note ways in which this area has been "improved" or "beautified", and compare it with similar areas presented in Wood, Chapters 4
and 5.
For Friday, October 13
Read, in Wood, Chapter 5, "The Village as a Vernacular Form", 114-134
It is important to understand the concept "vernacular". This is worth looking up in a good source or two. The National Park Service definition is particularly useful. You can find it by clicking here.
Spend time looking at the woodcuts and period illustrations in this chapter, not only because they are valuable sources of information, but also because they are quite charming in their own right. The dates of the illustrations are important, as they show the evolution of typical New England townscapes.
For Monday, October 16
We'll complete our discussion of Chapter 5 in Wood.
For Wednesday, October 18
Read, in Wood, Chapter 6, "The Settlement Ideal", pp. 135-160
In this chapter Wood focusses on the process by which the 19th century vernacular village form is transformed into the "ideal" American Community. He sees this as both a conscious and unconscious process shaped largely by intellectual and political elites. A list of some of the most important of these is found on pp. 141-142. Many of these appear on the list of Famous New Englanders on this website. Clicking on the names will bring you further information about them and their roles in New England Culture.
Two particular towns, Litchfield, Connecticut and Concord, Massachusetts have become very important for their influence upon developments in the rest of the country. Litchfield's primary importance arises from its impact on the Colonial Revival Style, a nostalgic form of architecture which transformed Litchfield when it became popular as a summer resort in the late 19th century. The style then swept across the United States, giving popular America a largely false impression of what Colonial New England was like. See also this article from the Old House Journal
For Friday, October 20
Finish reading Wood, Chapter 7, "A World We Have Gained", pp. 161-80
"Tradition and history are not the same concepts. Traditions are conventions that evolve. Traditions are the pasts we make in the present. The New England tradition of large colonial houses encircling town commons to form puritan villages was invented in the nineteenth century and Michael Steinitz and I here employ a four stage model to explain how."
Make sure you understand the difference between "history" and "tradition". Make sure you can describe the four stages in the Steinitz-Wood model, applying them as much as you can to the towns which are used to describe thie process.
The Second Written Exercise will be distributed on Friday October 20.
Chapter 3: The Architectural Landscape, pp. 71-87
