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Robert Gray Jr. House
The weaving shop is made up of two separate buildings: the house and the well house, which was attached at a later time. Based on construction details, the house is a first period (before 1725) building built on the existing site. It was most likely used as the typical one room house that was common in Massachusetts as it was in England. According to Abbott Lowell Cummings, in Massachusetts Bay, 82 of the 144 houses standing before 1725 were one-room houses. The Robert Gray Jr house measures 13" x 17"-1" and is typical of other local buildings. The typical one-room house plan remained more or less uniformed into the eighteenth century.
Other characteristics of the house which are typical first period included the hewn over hang (projection of the second story by a few inches), the small leather hung door in the attic, the chimney's foundation, nails and nail patterns, and the plank frame on the north end.
The north end of the Robert Gray Jr. house is particularly interesting. Much of the existing building was re-built and modified around the mid-1800, including the chimney, sheathing, flooring, windows, interior paneling and some beams. The north wall is the most intact section of the structure apart from the foundation. This wall includes a double layer of one-inch vertical plank sheathing, hewn beams, early nails, ship lapped interior boards, and hewn post and beams. The exterior sheathing, done vertically, is attached to the upper beam through a groove. This type of construction is evidenced on other sides of the house where all that remains is the groove in the beam, since much reconstruction has taken place over the years. Plank frames were a known structural variant in New England by the late 17th century. The availability of saw mills allowed for the use of planks. Usually the planks were pinned into the first story grit. The markings found in groove is also of interest since the tool marks indicate the use of a nose (vs. spiral) drill bit. A nose bit was used in the 18th century to start the opening for the construction of the groove. In the 19th century, a spiral drill bit would have been used and left a point in the bottom of the groove, which is lacking in the Robert Gray Jr. House.
The foundation of this building adds further evidence that the building is original to its site. Stones have been "hand faced", lacking tools used at a later date. Building and foundation are so close in size and shape, they support the belief that they were built together. The chimney has a full 5"-7" square foundation of stone, with the fire box matching the foundation size, but has been significantly rebuilt and currently shows a combination of clay, lime mortar and new mortar. This layout of the space and the size of foundation is a very traditional one-room house layout.
The last two items of particular note are the little door where there was once a window opening and the birch bark used to shield the roof frame from wet weather, both found in the attic. The door has leather hinges and the residue of red paint. The door style and location as well as the red paint are all early features. The birch bark was found over the roof members and was a very early construction technique.
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