Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1895-04-30
AN ANCIENT HOUSE.
Built In New York City In the
Colony Days.
It II Close Upon the Ground where tns
First Blood of the kevoiqtion
,A Wac shed-Irving was Forn
Across the Street

the indignity that was being heaped
upon them by the British govern
ment, the city sold lots on what is
now William street to enterprising
citizens, who agreed to erect houses
of two or three stories on them. OF |
the houses built at this time, or, at
any time previous, during the early |
days OF New Amsterdam, the Oldest
now standing is quaint, three
story brick structure at 122 William
street.
The house, which has changed in
appearance but little since it was
first built, Is owned by Thomas B.
Guilford, of Toms River, N. j., by
whose ancestor, Samuel Guilford, it
was purchased from its builders in
n778. Prior TO that year nothing Of |
the owner Of the place is known, for
khe records Of transfer have long
since crumbled to dust, and nothing
now remains Of the original builders
but the queer-looking house, the
bricks of which have outlived the
sons and great-grandsons Of the men
whose hands laid them.
In revolutionary times the site of
122 William street was the summit
Of what was known as Golden Hill.
1t was on this piece of historic ground
that the first blood of the colonists
was shed, for the battle of Golden
Hill, in which an old Quaker was bad
~ wounded by the British soldiers,
occurred about two months previous
to the famous massacre of the citi-
gems on the Boston common. The
battle took place directly behind 122i
William street, and the house at that
time was an old one, and had been
used as tavern. Later on it be-
came the rendezvous of Washington,
Lafayette, Baron Steuben, Gen. Put
nam, and later still of the notorious
Capt. Kidd, Marshall Cunningham
and Benedict Arnold. For more
than one hundred years the unpre-
tentious little building was buried
In oblivion, between the walls of big
commercial houses that were built
around it, and had nothing to distin-
guish it from its modern neighbors
but its antique appearance. The
house is built of brick imported from
Holland, laid in cement that is as i'm
perishable as the bricks themselves.
The roof is slanting, with two attic
windows running out to its edge, and
the building, taken as a whole, is a
perfect type of what a New York
house of the revolutionary period
hooked like.
AS in most houses that were
erected during the early days of
New York, 122 William street has in
the basement two of the famous
Dutch ovens which were the house
anchors and pride of the Knicker-
bockers. The kitchen, in the base
ment, is built after the English mod
els, with an immense mantel elabor-
ately inlaid with tiles or porcelain,
about six inches square, each
tile containing some historic, re-
ligious or secular event. The illus
trations on these tiles are almost
obliterated now, but few of them
still remain. The most striking fea-
ture of the building is its tall Chin
ney tower, built also of Holland
brick. This small pile has withstood
the storms and shocks of almost two
centuries, and, with the exception of
two or three small patches, made
recently, Is as firm and tit for use to-
day as it was when the Sons of Lib
erty were battling for the independ-
ence OF our republic.
The ancient structure has stood
for years, monument to the stabil-
ity of the workmanship of the colon
lists, and it's life might have endured
IN obscurity for another half century
but for the formation of the Military
and Naval Order OF the United
States, an organization that has
lately been formed, composed of the
direct descendants of revolution
ary officers and commissioned
officers in the war of 1912, the war
with Tripoli and the Mexican war.
This society held it's first meeting
recently in the ancient building,
which is now used as table d'hote
restaurant, and 1t is the intent ton of
the order to buy the building and
erect clubhouse In the rear, on the
very spot where the first blood OF the
colonists was shed,
Another point that adds to the in
terest of the building is its proximity
10 the birthplace of Washington Irv-
Ing, who was born directly across
the street from tn. Y. Times.