PAGE 12
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Taken on 11/17/06
Cheese Cellar
and foundations, Perch Lake Road between Parish (Jenkins) Road and corner of
Kiser Road, near entrance to Perch Lake (the lake, not the roads)


From comac1103 (via
Flickr.com):
"This is an amazing shot, I love it!" |

Taken on 11/17/06
Interior of
previous picture
Updated 09/23/08
It looks like the owner is cleaning out the area around this so I
got a few clearer and updated pics from the driveway:


 |
 Taken
on 11/17/06
Cheese Factory on Parish Road (Country Route 16)
near Perch River Dam entrance
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Taken on 12/28/06
Route 26, outside of
Fort Drum


Thanks to Hope M. of
Perceptionphotography.biz for the great
research she has done on this house. She writes: 'James Ward House, info
obtained from Evans Mills Library pertaining to stone house on Rt 26 which at
the time of its construction was called the Evans Mills-Leraysville Road.
The Georgian house was built by James Ward in 1829. His father, Thomas
Ward came from England in 1802 as part of a surveying party. Thomas became
one of the 1st settlers of the Town of Leray. At the first town meeting he
was elected clerk, he served as school commissioner in 1813. He served as a
corporal in the War of 1812 and later as a justice of the peace and operated a
general store. James Ward was a real estate broker and money lender with a large
accumulated wealth. He and his wife Lovina (nee Barber) had several children ,
one of whom Buel F. Ward occupied the property upon his fathers relocation to
Carthage in 1863. In 1870 the house and farm of about 220 acres was sold by
James and Lovina Ward to Joseph V and Almira Bichel, who seven years later in
1877 sold it to Roxee A. Ward, wife of Buel Ward. The property remained in the
possession of The Wards until 1910, when it was sold to Peter D. and Della J.
Helmer. The Helmers retained it for 25 years and sold to Edward and Dorothy
Buskirk in 1935. My information lists Ernest Welser as obtaining the property
from the Buskirks, listed as the (Current) owner, I am unsure of the date of the
story so there may be a large gap in years to the present day.'
From CWorrel
(via
Flickr.com): "Nice shot. Cool location!"
Arthur W.
writes about this home adjacent to Fort Drum on what use to be the Evans
Mills LeRaysville Rd: "My Grandfather purchased this property in 1945. A
close investigation of this home would reveal these are actually 2 homes,
the frame portion having been moved from across the road when the US
acquired the land." |

Taken on 12/28/06
Route 26, outside of
Fort Drum


Anonymous writes that someone lives in this house now.
Amanda writes "My family owns and resides in this house. We have owned it
since 2006 but did not officially move in until September of 2008. We are
currently renovating, slowly but surely. Watch the house change..."
On
4/3/13 Laura writes "That is great! Love to read that such a beautiful home is
being restored. You should consider a home improvement blog to show all of your
renovations!" |
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Taken in 2004, by Anonymous

William Martin Mansion, large old stone house
outside of Lafargeville on Route 180,
submitted anonymously. Owned later by Manford and Lousie
Jerome and now owned by another landowner.
 Update 03/06/08: Unfortunately this
entire building has been torn down. The only thing that remains is the
wind mill tower (still turning). See pic below.


Anonymous
writes "I believe this is the backside of the house. It is located on the left
side as you drive from Stone Mills to Lafargeville." According to an
e-mail from 'Eric' the house belonged the Bretsch family when he was young, and
the family had a huge dairy barn to the right of the house (see photos of ruins
below).
From JuneNY (via
Flickr.com):
"Very nice picture!"
David S. writes "The windmill was
dismantled in 2008 and will be restored." |

Taken on 8/31/96, by Anonymous
Another shot of previous
from same person, but earlier photos


I inquired of the historian Bonnie Schafer about this
building, she writes: "The house was called the William Martin Mansion at one
time. John Lafarge transferred a little over 217 acres to William and Sophronia
Martin on June 7 1830. The stone house was quarried from nearby native
limestone, had 11 rooms, 2 large hallways and fireplaces. Mr Martin was
supervisor of town of Orleans.
The property passed a few time, Delano Calvin and heirs owned it at one time. In
1882 the stone house and farm was conveyed to Wendel Hyel and transferred to
Georgiania Jerome on Nov 20 1922. Its been in the Jerome family every since.
From my understanding no one has lived in the house since early 1970. I checked
with the town clerk too, its listed under Manford and Lousie Jerome.
In 1990 while out biking we heard a very loud noise from the building as we
passed by... a closer look we found that the stair case had collapsed."
On
5/25/13 Gunther S. writes "I have salvaged the building material and used it in
the reconstruction of a farm house in Clayton." |

Taken on 8/31/96, by Anonymous
Another angle A reference to the house on Nan
Dixon's page "WELCOME
TO PART III A SCRAPBOOK BELONGING TO
MRS. PAULINE JOHNDROW FLICK" says: 'Mr. Heyl has owned for 50 years the
large double house of stone, built shortly after the LaFarge mansion, and
patterned somewhat like it. The house was originally built by a man who
endeavored to build as fine a place as LaFarge, and who ruined himself in the
endeavor.'
 |

Taken on 8/31/96, by Anonymous
Another shot
 |

Taken on 8/31/96, by Anonymous
Interior
 |

Taken on 8/31/96, by Anonymous
Interior
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Taken on 8/31/96, by Anonymous
Interior
 |

Taken on 9/16/04
Remains of an old square stone silo right beside previous building, outside of Lafargeville on
Route 180
Possibly the barn that went with the previous house?
 |

Taken on 9/16/04
Ventilation dormer for barn, laying on
the ground, from previous
 |

Taken on
12/29/06
The remains of the
Lafarge Mansion, Route 180 outside of Lafargeville, all that's left is the north wing and some ruins
For an old photo of the intact
building and some history of
the Lafarge Mansion check out this
page.
For another great photo
from the heyday of this mansion click here. This was built in
1833 by John Frederick Lafarge, a Frenchman from New Orleans who made his
fortune in the West India trade. According to the now-defunct
Stonehouse.org by C. Bonney - the Master Mason was Hial
Cook and the stucco relief work was by Thomas Drake. At one time this building was the St. Vincent de
Paul's Seminary. One account mentions that when the stone part of the
mansion was demolished the stone (likely crushed of course) was used for a base for Route 180.


A person
previously wrote: "The one across from the farm has an underground tunnel
to the big high house across the road, next
to the barn. It was part of the underground railroad.
The cellar has collapsed onto the tunnel."

Date unknown The above excellent old postcard is courtesy of
Eric and shows the intact LaFarge Mansion

Eric,
who lived there as a kid, writes: "The original mansion had 40 (one article
says 42 - M.) rooms. The wing
we lived in had only a few rooms. I visited the house in the 1970's when it was
still standing but empty. The ceilings were 13 feet high and the windows were
long, almost to the floor, and the walls were 4 feet thick. One could sit in the
window seats. The windows were framed in wood and there were shutters inside."
Paul P. says that the decision was made to tear down the
mansion for safety reasons as there was evidence of trespassers, here are some
photos that he sent:


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Taken on
12/29/06
The remains of one
end of what was once considered the largest barn in Jefferson County, Perch
River Dam Road, off from Parish Road
The
barn was built by the late Tom Anthony between
two hills and was 250 feet long and 60 feet from the roof to the ground. Horses
and wagons loaded with hay could enter either end near the roofline and the hay
was dumped down into deep mows on either side, which saved a lot of time at a
time when most farm work was done by hand. The cows and horses were stabled
in the bottom part of the barn, in the
stone part. In front of the barn was the farm-house, also long-gone. These photos are of the limestone ramp at the north-west end,
there was also one at the other end with a trail leading up the hill to it.

To see the spring house for this farm go to
page 3 and to see some more pics from this farm go
to page 18. More info about this barn and old pictures
of the intact structure at these
Nan Dixon pages: barn,
barn1,
barn2,
barn3, &
barn4.
<Click
here> for the page with all the Anthony Farm/Cooke Road Pictures and info on one
page. |

Taken on
12/29/06 Looking down from the
end ramp of the barn


Date unknown
Old photo of original long barn
<Click
here> for the page with all the Anthony Farm/Cooke Road Pictures and info on one
page.
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