Yallum explained that he is seeing that these oldest farm houses built around the flats are built in a typical Dutch style — long narrow houses one room deep covered under a single pitch roof — which would be extended one room at a time at either end, as families grew.
Another distinct type of stone house he is busily documenting is the Huguenot house, said Yallum. Most obviously seen on New Paltz’s historic Huguenot Street, the house is typically a cluster of rooms with a square footprint and a much higher-pitched roof.
Yallum also regards a house’s “banking” as an important to document. “A banked house is one built on a slope, where one end of the ground floor is dugout as a basement, and, sometimes, entrances on upper and lower floors,” said Yallum. “The houses’ features represent adaptations to the site and the requirements of the builder … Foundations count because, in hilly areas, many of the oldest houses began their lives as dugouts.”
Yallum said he has already documented, just in time for the hamlet’s 350th anniversary this year, the 10 high-profile historic houses on Old Hurley’s Main Street. Included in the National Register of Historic Places, the houses were built by the Dutch and Huguenot families Crispell, Ten Eycke, Van Deusen, Elmendorf and DuBois. Yallum said the tranquil town also harbors some tucked-away structures as well. “Some show more Huguenot influence like New Paltz, and some show more a Dutch influence, like Kingston,” Yallum noted.
Yallum is also mapping the roads going to the Ashokan Reservoir, and, like many, laments the loss of the several hamlets flooded in 1906 whenNew York City’s Water Department purchased the lands of Ashton, Brodhead, Brown Station, Olive Branch and Olive City.
Yallum said he is not decided on whether this work will evolve into any print-type publication, adding that he is contending with several years of documenting work first.
