Historic Quaker Houses of Bucks County, PA
Rolling Green Farm: The Paxson Family
Built 1748 and ca. 1780s
Above: A sandstone farmhouse with the region’s signature door hoods. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus
This farmhouse represents the classic additive style of regional construction, with additions added to an original core.
The 1748 Section was built by Enoch Pearson after he purchased the 60-acre property in 1746. This original three-bay house has three datestones. Its south elevation includes segmental arches over the first-floor windows.
The 1780s - 1790s Addition was apparently constructed by Thomas and Hannahmeil Paxson, who bought the farm in 1762. This section uses keystone arches above its first-floor windows rather than the earlier segmental arches. The homestead remained in the Paxson family for generations.
Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus
Segmental Arches vs. Flat Arches
(Colonial-Era Arches vs. Later Arches)
Early vernacular architecture in Bucks County frequently used segmental arches over windows and doors from circa the 1740s through the 1770s. Houses constructed between 1780 and 1840 increasingly favored flat arches, also known as jack arches, rather than the earlier curved arches." See: Bucks County Farmhouses, Jeffrey L. Marshall, 2009. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus.
Above: This 1850 maps identifies E. E. Paxson (Elias Ely Paxson) at Rolling Green Farm, across the street from a school house (S H). This neighborhood was known as Paxson’s Corner.
Elias Ely Paxson and Family
Identified in the 1850 Map:
Above: Text image source: Rootsweb
Above: The original section of this English-style barn apparently dates to the 1740s, when Enoch Pearson built the first section of the farmhouse house. A corncrib is near the barn. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus
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