more support to the floor of this room, having in mind the fact that it would have to support a greater number of people than the private rooms. The plan of the two floors is unlike anything found in a private house at any similar period and seems to bear out its dual use as a residence and a public building. The partitions dividing the private
Every room, other than the second floor private room, was heated by plain brick fireplaces, around which there later had been placed mantelpieces and paneling. When these were removed the painted surfaces of the original brick work were disclosed. This type of fireplace, with no ornamentation other than a mantel shelf above the opening, was a common Dutch type prior to about 1700 and little used thereafter. The cellar kitchen fireplace is still another interesting type, found only in exceptional instances later than 1700. A large oak beam is set on the stone side of the fireplace spanning an opening of about six feet. This beam supports the brick chimney above. At the back of the fireplace, which is constructed of stone and brick, is the oven. This opens directly into the fireplace at the right rear, and in this form precede the later type which could be reached directly, as it was built into the brick side of the fireplace. The vertical board paneling and the fireplaces are the only items of construction which place the buildThe Voorlezer’s House was partially identified through examination of old titles and maps, marked here as ing before 1700. Other A. Rosenberg’s Arlington Hotel on Robinson’s 1898 Map. details were examined, and, while they are found to exist in buildings as late as 1790, they are, however, details which were all in common use before 1700. Such details as hand wrought nails and hardware, hewn frame, exposed ceiling beams, 12 to 18 inch hand sawed floor boards, mud filled walls, and split lath are not found later than about 1790 in this section. Examination of the foundation and the timber used in the construction of the building discloses no sign of a former building ever having occupied the site. This is almost always a reliable proof in itself, as our Various businesses, including the Acorn Inn, found their way through the Voorlezer’s House, and its 1890s addition. frugal forefathers in rebuild5
from the public rooms are of two kinds: one, mud-filled between hewn studs, a method not used after about 1790. The other, wide vertical, planed and edgemolded boards, a method not used after approximately 1700 for partitioning rooms in other than the attic or cellar. This latter detail is an important one in dating the house before 1700.