Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

Front Elevation

The front or Duke of Gloucester facade only was designed with a double-sloped gambrel roof. It is likely that the rear half of the house, at the time it was a one room deep building, was also covered by a gambrel, but this would have been altered when the addition was made. What would have been the upper slope of the gambrel in the original house was simply continued down without interruption to cover the addition.

The front facade has a central door with a four-light transom above, which is approached by the semi-circular flight of steps previously mentioned. At either side of the doorway, centered on the space between the door trim and the cornerboard, is an 18-light double-hung window with 3-paneled shutters. The trim of these windows rises to the underside of the top weatherboard, which has been placed vertically. This top weather board runs beneath the cornice on either side of the doorway. It is flush 14 with the face of the cornerboard and with a vertical strip running down the side of the door trim, thus forming a frame in the shape of an inverted U, which encloses the weatherboarded area on either side of the doorway. The main cornice is the common type with crown mold, fascia, soffit without modillions and bed mold found in many Williamsburg buildings in colonial times.

In the foundation wall, lined up with the first floor windows above, are two basement windows, with wood grilles whose frames are divided in the center by a vertical mullion. Each grille has three horizontal bars turned on the diagonal.

In the steep, 84 degree slope of the lower plans of the gambrel roof, centered on the windows and door below, are three 15-light dormer windows of unusual design. These are roofless dormers of slight projection, the heads of which rise to and are covered by the projecting soffit of the upper (gambrel) cornice. This dormer type was based upon the details of the dormer of an old gambrel-roofed frame house (see illustration) which once stood between Bowling Green and Fredericksburg. Measured drawings of this building were made in 1940 by S. P. Moorehead and Roy Thibedeau. The cornice, above the dormer, is an exact counterpart of the main house cornice below.

HOUSE NEAR BOWLING GREEN WHICH FURNISHED THE PRECEDENT FOR THE FRONT DORMERS OF THE WATERS-COLEMAN HOUSE.

Rear (North) Elevation

The most noteworthy feature of the rear elevation is the shed-roofed rear porch, approximately 12'x8' in size, with its single brick step and paved brick terrace before it. The porch is located on the transverse axis of the house, whereas the glazed rear entrance door which it shields has been placed about a foot to the right of the axis, since the width of the hallway at the rear of the house has been reduced to accommodate a lavatory and a closet. The porch roof is supported by four chamfered square posts, two of which are free-standing and two applied to the house wall. A crown mold runs beneath the roof edge at the front of the porch and below this is a fascia board whose lower edge is trimmed with a series of cutouts, the pattern for which was derived from a like feature of a porch of Little England (Sara's Creek) -- see illustration. The crown mold and the band with its cut-outs continue along the base of the triangular sides of the porch to the house front. The porch has a railing of the so-called "Chinese-Chippendale" variety between the posts at the sides.

PORCH OF LITTLE ENGLAND, SHOWING BAND OF CUT-OUTS WHICH SERVED AS PRECEDENT FOR A SIMILAR FEATURE OF THE REAR PORCH OF THE WATERS-COLEMAN HOUSE.

Except for the replacement of the basement window to the right of the porch by a sloped bulkhead and cellar steps, the windows are the 16 in number and similar in position to those of the front elevation. The first floor windows have been reduced in size from 18 to 15 lights and no longer rise to the height of the bottom edge of the vertical weather-board, which here, as at the front, runs beneath the cornice. The shutters of the first floor windows are two-paneled as against the three-paneled shutters of the corresponding windows at the front. The cornice is identical with the main cornice of the south elevation.

The three dormers are of a common type with pedimented fronts and beaded flush boarding, running diagonally, at the sides. The height of the dormer windows is less by one row of lights than those at the front, making them, since they are 3 lights wide, 12-light windows.

East and West Elevations

The chimneys and closet leantos of these elevations have already been described in some detail, so that a few facts only remain to be stated. At the point (11'-8" from the present rear corners of the house) which is believed to be the position of the face of the back wall of the original one room deep house, a continuous vertical joint has been left in each brick leanto wall to suggest that the portions of the leantos to the north of the joint are additions. The brickwork of these "corners" on the "older" sides of the joints have been rubbed to underscore further the idea that the walls are of two periods. Rubbed brickwork, in keeping with what was believed to be the rather sumptuous character of the original house, has also been used at the actual corners of the leanto, for the brick jambs of the leanto windows, and for the jambs and segmental archway of the basement entrance doorway which is located in the east leanto wall directly south of the main chimney.

The windows in the brick walls referred to above are two 8-light double-hung windows in the west wall, which light the Living Room closets at either side of the main chimney and two 4-light casement sash in the east leanto wall, which serve the kitchen and the north closet of the dining room respectively.

A lantern of colonial design, supported by a wrought-iron bracket, projects diagonally from the south corner of the east leanto.

Each of the weatherboarded gable ends of the building proper has two double-hung windows symmetrically placed on either side of the main chimney. These are 15-light windows with 2-paneled shutters.

First Floor

On the first floor the historical development of the house has been expressed by the division of the plan, by a longitudinal partition wall, into a front and rear portion, the forward part representing the original one room deep house and the rear part the later addition. Two transverse basement partition walls of the old foundations divided the original house into two rooms of approximately equal size with 18 FIRST FLOOR PLAN, WATERS-COLEMAN HOUSE a hallway between, and the plan of the reconstructed house follows this arrangement. The hallway is not precisely centered, its axis being a 19 few inches to the east of the transverse axis of the house.

The living room, to the west of the hallway, and the dining room to the east are nearly of equal size, the former being a 6' wider than the latter. Both rooms have a fireplace in their lateral outside walls, flanked by two closets built in the previously-described brick leantos. Of the two fireplaces that of the living room has the larger opening and its mantel is by far the more ornate. The two living room closets have trimmed openings, the heads of which are arched, the arches being segmental and springing at either side from short horizontal lengths of trim. They are ornamented at their crowns by unfluted key blocks. The dining room closet openings are likewise arched, the arches in this instance being semi-circular, and without key blocks. In the case of the south closet, only the space above the chair rail is devoted to storage use, the space below it forming part of the basement entrance which is located at that point in the east leanto. This closet opening is closed with paneling and has, above the dado level, a pair of doors giving access to the cabinet space.

The central hallway extends from the front to the rear of the house but the rear third of it is constricted into a passage 3'-4" wide to permit the inclusion between the passage and the kitchen of a lavatory and a closet. A doorway separates the passage from the front hall. This hall proper, 6'-6" wide, has, along its east wall, a staircase running to the second floor, beneath which, and approached from the passage, is an interior basement stair. An archway, spanning the hallway some 7' north of the entrance doorway, sets the front portion off as an entrance vestibule.

The rear part of the first floor is occupied by two rooms, a kitchen at the east of the passage and a library at the west. The library may be entered both from the passage, and by means of double-valve paneled doors, from the living room. On its west wall are a fireplace and mantel, with leanto closets at either side. The fireplace has been placed closer to the south wall of the room than to the north so that more space has been allotted to the north closet than to the south. Both closets are closed off by doors, the north closet having a normal 6'-8" x 2'-6" paneled door, while the south closet, which is divided at the chair rail level into a upper and lower section, is provided with paneled cupboard doors.

The Kitchen has been designed as a purely utilitarian room, provided with modern equipment. The fireplace, which in colonial times doubtless would have occupied part of the east wall, has been omitted to make space for the range, the vent of which is connected with the flue of the north-east chimney stack.

Second Floor

The second floor stairhall lies over the hallway of the first floor and is of the same width as the latter. A bathroom and closet occupy the south end of the hall so that it is lighted only by a dormer window at the north.

Two bedrooms of approximately equal size occupy the major portion of the area of this floor. Both have fireplaces at the center of their lateral outside walls and the mantels of these are identical. The north wall of the west bedroom is covered with flush ship-lapped sheathing of random width which runs horizontally above the heads of the 21 three doors in this wall and vertically between the beside them. The doors afford access to a pair of closets and a bathroom lying north of the bedroom. The east bedroom has at its north end two closets, the larger being entered directly from the room and the smaller from the north dormer.

DIMENSIONS

The dimensions of the house as reconstructed are length, 39-7" and depth, 31'9".

BRICKWORK

BRICK BOND

English bond is used for the foundations and closet leantos. In the case of the two larger chimneys this is carried up to the top of the first haunch, a variation of English bond being used above this point. A variation of English bond is also used for the smaller chimneys as far as the top of the first haunch, above which the chimneys are constructed in running bond.

FOUNDATIONS

The house foundations are 13" thick. They are constructed of concrete from the bottom of the footings, 3'-3" below the basement level, to a point (from two to four courses below grade, depending upon the grade level, which varies about the house) where a shelf has been made in the concrete to receive a facing of brickwork made in the colonial manner, which is carried to the sill level. The face brick is backed up with common brickwork.

CHIMNEYS

There is a brace of chimneys at both the east and west ends of the house, the bases of which, as has been noted previously, are flush with the faces of the brick leantos. The chimneys of each pair are unequal in size, the larger being centered on the ridge of the roof and serving fireplaces on the first and second floors. Of the two smaller chimneys, both of which are located in the north "addition", the west one serves a fireplace in the library and the east one receives a vent from the kitchen range.

Each of the larger chimneys has, above the roof of the leanto, two sloping haunches, and the chimney is attached to the house up to the top of the upper haunch. Above this rises a freestanding shaft with a sloping set-back on its front face near the base of the shaft. The shaft is terminated by a cap of three projecting brick courses, with a cement wash at the top.

CAP OF TWO LARGER CHIMNEYS

The smaller chimneys have a single 25 haunch and a sloping set-back similar to that of the larger chimneys. The shafts of the smaller chimneys likewise stand free of the building and have caps of the character of those of the larger chimneys, but with two projecting courses only. The detailing of the smaller chimneys is similar to that of the larger ones.

In the design of the chimneys the architects followed closely the form of a pair of old chimneys of the Pendleton House in Caroline County (see illustration). The caps of these chimneys with their two projecting courses were followed in the design of the smaller chimneys. Caps with three projecting courses, like those of the larger chimneys, were not uncommon in eighteenth century Virginia. An example is a chimney of Wynne, a house near Carter's Grove in James City County.

CHIMNEYS OF PENDLETON HOUSE WHICH SERVED AS PRECEDENT FOR THOSE OF WATERS-COLEMAN HOUSE

BRICK GUTTERS

Remnants of old brick gutters were found in the course of excavating, at the front of the house near the southwest corner and just east of the semi-circular foundations of the porch. These were followed in the design of the new gutters for the reconstructed house. These gutters wee placed along the front foundation wall between the corners of the house and the semi-circular entrance steps, and at the rear between the west corner and the bulkhead and between the east corner and the east foundation wall of the back porch. They are laid on reinforced concrete foundations, and are pitched to drains at the corners of the house. Brick drips, the length of a single brick in width, were laid along the east and west sides of the house, at the bases of the closet leantos.

BRICK STEPS AND TERRACE

A single brick step about 11" deep runs the full 12'-6" length of the rear porch. Immediately north of this is a paved terrace of the same length and approximately 6' deep. This consists of an 8" border of bricks placed on edge and an interior surface of 8" x 8" title. The paving is supported on a reinforced concrete slab resing on concrete foundation walls. The suggestion for this terrace came from the discovery at this point in the course of excavating, of brick foundations enclosing a brick-paved area of the approximate size of the present terrace.

The semi-circular steps with stone treads and brick risers will be discussed ahead, under Masonry.

HEARTHS

The five fireplaces of the house are new and are laid in a 27 conventional Williamsburg pattern in sand, on their flat sides, and are supported by brick trimmer arches. A 2½" wide wood strip runs along the front of the hearth to receive the ends of the flooring which is laid perpendicular to the length of the hearth. See adjoining illustration of typical hearth pattern.

TYPICAL HEARTH OF WATERS-COLEMAN HOUSE

STONE MASONRY

The flight of semi-circular entrance steps (4 risers and platform) is built over the site of a semi-circular foundation wall discovered during the excavations at the front of the house on the transverse axis. The treads of the steps are made of 2-¾" thick slabs of Indiana limestone laid in a bed of mortar and secured by wrought-iron cramps set in cut regulets filled with lead. The platform itself is a single piece of limestone. The nosings of the treads (see illustration) are edged with a half-round molding beneath which are a fillet and a cove. The risers are formed of face brick set on edge.

STONE NOSING OF FRONT STEPS

Semi-circular flights of steps of this type were not uncommon in eighteenth century Virginia. Brafferton Hall, College of William and Mary, has on its south side, a flight of semi-circular steps with stone 28 risers as well as treads, which have been reconstructed on the basis of archaeological evidence found on the site. Carter's Grove before its restoration had a semi-circular flight of stone steps on its north front, and the Lindsley (James Cogar) House on York Street, Williamsburg also had an old flight of solid stone steps. The Jones House, Warwick County, has a flight of three semi-circular entrance steps built entirely of brick, which appear to have been restored. Steps in which stone for treads was combined with brick for risers were not infrequent in the period. A local example of old steps constructed in this manner are the approach steps to the old porch on the south side, near the west corner, of the Coke-Garrett House.

Stone steps with nosing profiles similar to that of the Waters-Coleman steps were of frequent occurrence. Examples which may be cited are stone steps of the President's House, College of William and Mary and steps of Westover and Carter's Grove.

ROOF DESIGN

The roof of the Waters-Coleman House is a combination of a gambrel (double-sloped) roof at the front with a single continuous slope at the back covering what in the original house was the rear half of the first period single room deep house and the later addition. This continuous rear roof incline has a slope (34 degrees) similar to the slope of the gambrel. The lower slope of the gambrel has a steep, 84 degree slope. About 3' above its base it splays outward at an angle of 71½ degrees to form a "kick" above the cornice. The roof of the rear porch is a leanto the slope of which it is a continuation. The chimney pents at either side of the house are 29 covered by leanto roofs with slopes of 29 degrees.

The south half of the roof was designed in conformity with the statement in the William Coleman insurance policy of 1806 to the effect that the house had a "Dutch" or gambrel roof. It was assumed that when the house was enlarged in the eighteenth century, the lower half of the rear gambrel roof was removed and the upper slope carried down to cover the added portion of the house.

The roof is covered with round-butt asbestos cement shingles which are used by Colonial Williamsburg as a substitute for the wood shingles which at one time covered most roofs in Williamsburg. The substitute was adopted for fire safety and was required by town regulation. The use of substitute shingles is discussed at length in the Architectural Records files.

EXTERIOR WALLS

The shed-roofed brick projections at either side of the house have already been described under the heading, The End Chimneys With Their Brick Closet Leantos, and will not be further treated here.

The wood faces of the house, that is, the front and rear first floor elevations exclusive of the leantos and the gable ends above the leanto roofs are covered with beaded weatherboarding, varying in exposure from 5¼" to 5½". The molded sills of the windows in the weatherboarded areas are beaded at the bottom, the beads lining up with the beads of the adjacent weatherboarding. The beads of the weatherboarding and sills are ½" in diameter.

CORNICES

CORNICE END BOARDS AND RAKEBOARDS

The end boards of the north and south main cornices and of the gambrel cornice are of the type which follows the cornice profile. An original example of an end board cut to the shape of the cornice is found at Greenway, Charles City County.

The end boards of the main south cornice rise higher than those of the north cornice to cover the ends of the "kick" at the base of the first gambrel slope. These merge at the top of the kick into beaded rake-boards which run, diminishing in width, up both slopes of the gambrel to the peak of the roof. The rakeboards have at their upper edge a cyma reversa molding which continues without interruption past the end board of the upper or gambrel cornice.

CORNER BOARDS

Corner boards, running from the beaded horizontal band or "vertical weatherboard" directly beneath the cornice to the brick foundation on the front and rear faces of the house, receive the weatherboarding and brickwork of the closet leantos. Examples of cornerboards serving a purpose comparable to that of the Waters-Coleman cornerboards have been found on the following old buildings:

• 1The Ayletts House, near Ayletts, Virginia where the corner board covers the joint between the weatherboarding of the north elevation and the brickwork of a basement entrance leanto, the end of which is flush 32 with the wood face of the building;
• 2The Bracken House, Williamsburg, where a cornerboard covers the joint between a weatherboarded cellar entrance leanto on the east front and the adjoining chimney base;
• 3The Ritchie House at Tappahannock where the junction of a weatherboarded rear leanto and the brick corner of the house is marked by a cornerboard.

DORMERS

The "roofless" dormers of the front elevation and the pedimented dormers of the rear roof slope have already been described in the course of the discussion of the front and rear elevations. The precedent for the unusual design of the front dormers was given as an old dormer of a house near Bowling Green. The rear dormers with a roof slope of 34 degrees, the same as the slope of the adjacent main roof, are similar in character to the old dormers of the Lightfoot House in Williamsburg, except that the latter have 15-light rather than 12-light windows.

REAR PORCH

The shed-roofed rear porch has already been described in some detail in the discussion of the rear elevation. The precedent for the decorative band with cut-outs, which runs beneath the crown mold at the eaves line has been given as a similar feature of a porch of Little England.

The columns with their square bases and corners champfered above the railing level are similar to those of the porch of the James Galt Cottage in Williamsburg and to the rear porch posts of an eighteenth century house (Bel-Mede) moved from Isle of Wight County to Williamsburg 33 by Mr. Thomas Thorne. An old post of the original Bel-Mede porch is now in the collection of antique details being assembled by the Architectural Department.

The "Chinese-Chippendale" railing which runs between the posts at the sides of the porch follows a decorative style of design which became popular in England in the 1750's. The center portion of the railing of a wooden foot bridge designed by Abraham Swan, an illustration of which is reproduced in his A Collection of Designs in Architecture, London, 1757, and included here, is similar in character to the Waters-Coleman railing, although the pattern within the octagonal members is different in the Swan railing. A pattern of "interlocking" diagonal slats like that within the octagons of the Waters-Coleman railing is found, however, in another bridge design on the same page of Swan's book.

BRIDGE DESIGN BY ABRAHAM SWAN WITH HANDRAILING SIMILAR TO THAT OF WATERS-COLEMAN PORCH

OUTSIDE BASEMENT ENTRANCES

WINDOWS

There are in the house 21 windows, of which 8 are double hung windows located in the frame portion of the house; 2 are double hung windows in the west leanto; 6 are double hung dormer windows; 2 are casements in the east leanto, and 3 are basement windows.

WINDOW TRIM

SHUTTERS

Shutters are found on the first floor windows of the north and south elevations and on the second floor windows of the gable ends. These shutters have molded raised panels on one side and unmolded sunk panels on the other. The shutters of the two windows of the south elevation are three-paneled, with two elongated panels below and an approximately square panel at the top. The shutters of the first floor windows of the north front and of the four gable windows have two equal elongated panels.

Old 3-paneled shutters consisting of two elongated panels below and a small panel at the top are found on the Pendleton House, Caroline Co. and on the Joiner House, Nansemond Co. while two-paneled shutters were observed on a house at Crooker near Norge, James City County.

EXTERIOR DOORS

FLOORS

These are of native pine, approximately one inch in thickness. Flooring boards as reconstructed are of random width, with a range of from 4¼" to 7¼", measured at the site. Flooring boards are face nailed with old type wrought iron nails. Nail heads are rectangular and are driven into the surface of the floor boards. The majority of old floors, examined by the authors of this report, are faced nailed in this manner.^* In extremely 42 old work, nail heads at worn places project above the flooring level, unless reset.

STAIRWAY

Type. The straight run of stairs to a landing follows the pattern of the Lightfoot House stairway, although with a narrower stair landing. The example of the stairway at Keeling, Princess Anne County, is also cited.

Dimensions:

• Width of stairs from the rough wall framing to the center of handrailing is 3'-1-1/8"
• There are 17 risers from the first to the second floor. The floor to floor height is 10'-9"
• Tread widths average 10"
• Riser height is slightly over 7"
• The railing height measured above nosing location is 3'-0"
• The railing height at landing is 3'-4"
• The balusters are turned with 33 full and 4 half balusters from floor to floor. This averages 5 balusters to each two treads.
• The stair stringer is of closed type.

WALLS

Most of the interior walls of the house are plastered over lath, and given a surface finish that simulates in its appearance, the surface of old house walls. No attempt is made to follow the exact formulae of old plaster mixtures, although there is on occasion in restored houses an intrusion of oyster shell lime along with more modern ingredients. The practice of Colonial Williamsburg is to apply all plaster at the last moment, after the finish trim is in place. This seems to have been the method of pre-Revolutionary days. It also makes it possible that the trim become a more integral part of the wall than when it is laid on top of the plaster.

CORNICE

This cornice occurs in the living room, dining room, library and the hallway of first floor only. There is no cornice on the second floor, excepting as noted as a top crown molding for sheathed partitions. See under partitions, sheathed of wood.

The precedent for this cornice as reconstructed, is Captain Orr's Dwelling, Williamsburg. See Architectural Records Files for comparative showing and discussion of Virginia cornices.

Cornice, Chair Rail, Base

CHAIR RAIL

The chair railing shown at left occurs on the first floor only, in the living room, library, dining room and stairhall. The drawing shown is not to scale but was traced from the actual working drawing used at the time the house was reconstructed. It is similar in profile to the first floor chair rail of Wilton on the James, and also follows the contour of the chair railing of the Peyton Randolph House in Williamsburg.

BASE

The baseboard has, at its top, a cyma recta molding, following the precedent for the wall base of the St. George Tucker House, Nicholson Street, Williamsburg.

MANTELS AND FIREPLACE ALCOVES

ARCHWAY IN HALL

An archway divides the first floor hallway into a vestibule area about 7'-0" in depth from the portion of the hall in which the stair is located. The arch is segmental and springs not from the jambs but from short (4" long) horizontal members above the jambs. There is an ornamented key block at the crown and the stright and curved elements of the opening are bordered with a cyma reversa molding similar to the 51 back band used on the interior door and window trim. The space between the arch and the hall cornice, which is carried across the top of the arch "partition", is faced with random width flush shiplapped boards. Both the vestibule and stairhall sides of the archway have been treated in the same manner.

Hall archways of varying design are features commonly found in eighteenth century houses. An example which, except for its greater width, closely resembles the Waters-Coleman archway is that found in the stairhall of Mulberry Fields, St. Mary's Manor, Maryland.

DOORS

See attached schedule, Interior Doors.

INTERIOR DOOR AND WINDOW TRIM

Since there are a number of minor variations in the treatment of the interior door trim resulting from special job conditions affecting particular doors, only the main types of door trim used in the house will be discussed here. The reader should consult Working Drawing #217 for complete information on the trim.

INTERIOR WINDOW TRIM

This is discussed under Window Trim in the section of the report dealing with the house exterior.

WATERS-COLEMAN HOUSE
PAINTING

HARDWARE

The hardware throughout the building consists of reproductions of colonial hardware, following detailed drawings and instructions by the Architectural Department of Colonial Williamsburg.

Hardware includes cut nails for both outside work and for application of flooring. Galvanized nails with hand-wrought heads are used for fastening weatherboards and flush boards. All locks are reproductions and follow the design of lock and latch hardware of the 18th century, found in or near Williamsburg.

All hinges of colonial type for doors, are applied with use of nails with hand-wrought heads no larger than the heads of nails used for attaching weatherboards.

These instructions relating to lighter hardware are intended to result in the appearance of eighteenth century work.

LIGHTING FIXTURES

1707

HENRY GILL was the first owner of lots #49 and #50, receiving them, May 3, 1707, as a grant from the city, with the usual proviso that he should build on them within two years. He apparently erected his house within a few months, for on February 4, 1708 he obtained a "license to keep an ordinary at his dwelling house in Williamsburg." The Research Report gives evidence to indicate that the house was located on lots #49 and #50.

1729

AFTER GILL'S death, one or more of his heirs owned the house and lots at least until 1729. The inventory of Gill's personal property is a long list of articles useful for tavern-keeping.

1738-1739

JOHN GLADISH, either next owner of the lots or administrator of the estate of some deceased member of the Gill family, transferred lots #49 and #50 to Robert Davidson in a deed which has been lost. Davidson, who acquired the lots some time before his death in 1738, was a "Practitioner in Physick", one-time Mayor of the city, and in partnership for the sale of drugs with Thomas Goodwin.

The inventory of Davidson's personal property, made in 1739, throws some light on the number of rooms in his house. There 64 were two rooms on the first floor, "the Hall," containing furniture which would indicate that it was used for dining and living, and "the chamber," containing articles appropriate to a bedroom. The number of rooms "Upstairs" is not given, but the listing in the inventory of 4 beds with their equipment suggests that the rooms (probably two) were used as sleeping rooms.

1746

DAVIDSON'S property was so heavily involved in debt that his administrator, John Blair, was forced to sell it to satisfy his creditors. The purchaser was John Holt, a merchant and one time mayor of Williamsburg, who, in 1746, two years after he got the lots, built a store on lot #49 or #50 and began to advertise merchandise.

1754

In 1753 Holt mortgaged his two lots to Peyton Randolph as security for 800 pounds owed to John Hunt. He evidently was unable to "lift" the mortgage, for on December 13, 1754 the lots went to William Waters.

1767

WATERS seems to have had no other occupation than that of gentleman farmer. His father left him two plantations and slaves, and his inventory indicates that he was a man of wealth and good taste. He died in 1767 leaving his house and lots, his slaves and his furniture to his wife, Sarah, for use during her lifetime. She apparently received the northern and eastern portions of lot #49 and all of lot #50, including a portion of the latter on which a corner store had been built, which in 1796 she rented to one, Desvergers.

1767-1801

SARAH WATERS evidently owned the property into the nineteenth century, since a deed (1782) to lots #47 and #48 gave as its eastern boundary "the lots of Sarah Waters, widow" and she was taxed for two lots as late as 1797. On April 19, 1796 she insured her "buildings on the main street of Williamsburg now occupied by myself situated between the lott of Matt Anderson and that of the said Matt Anderson." The plat accompanying the policy shows a "wooden dwelling House 40 feet by 32 feet" and a "wooden Kitchen 28 feet by 26 feet." Although she died sometime between 1797 and 1801, the Bucktrout map of 1803 and the unknown draftsman's map show the name Waters for both of the lots under discussion. The Tyler Map (ca. 1790) also shows Waters on lots #49 and #50, and on the Frenchman's Map (1782) two approximately square buildings, with several outhouses, are indicated in the area which is undoubtedly lots #49 and #50.

1806

THE NEXT OWNER of the Waters House was William Coleman, who married Elizabeth Holt, daughter of William Holt. This William Coleman, who was the great-grandfather of George P. Coleman, was the third mayor of Williamsburg to locate on these lots.

In revaluing his dwelling-house and kitchen, in a policy dated May 30, 1806, Coleman located his two buildings

"on the north side of the Main street now occupied by... [himself] and situated between the Lott of Henry Cowan East and the Lott of Frances Teteral west in the county of York..."

1809

THREE YEARS later (November 16, 1809) Coleman's neighbor on the east, William Cowan, in insuring his storehouse and kitchen (the "corner store" had been insured earlier by Sarah Waters) located these two buildings as "east of William Coleman's lot, south of William Coleman's lot and west of Rachel Anderson's lot."

1815

WILLIAM COLEMAN again revalued his buildings on July 8, 1815. At this time the buildings are noted on the plat as follows: "Dwelling of wood and covered with wood one story high 40 x 34" "Kitchen of wood and covered with wood 27 x 17" and a "Smoke House."

1812-1861

COLEMAN had in the meantime acquired other lots in Williamsburg. He was taxed for 5 lots in 1812 and by 1817 the number was increased to 8. He died sometime between 1820 and 1825 as the taxes on his Williamsburg property were charged in the latter years to "William Coleman's estate." Two lots continued to be charged to the estate until 1854, and in 1859 and 1861 a Frances C. Coleman had 1 lot with a building on it. It is not known whether or not the last-mentioned lots were lots #49 and #50.

John S. Charles' "Recollections"

In describing the square bounded by Duke of Gloucester, Nicolson, Colonial and Botetourt Streets, John S. Charles, who remembered the appearance of the city in the 1860's--after discussing what is believed to be the old printing shop--says:

"When the `dogs of war began to howl' there was only one other house on this square fronting on the Duke of Gloucester Street and that was a very long two-story frame building just east of the depression referred to. This house had a store in the front part and the rooms in the rear and upstairs were used as a dwelling. On the S. E. corner of the Duke of Gloucester and Botetourt Streets there were the towering brick gables of a big building with two sets of semi-circular stone steps. Those walls are distinctly remembered by the writer. They were pulled down about 1870 and a big frame house was erected on the site. The only dwelling that stood on this square, facing on Nicolson Street, was a two-story wooden dwelling that stood down in the valley. This along with every other house on this square, was burned in the big fire which occurred about thirty years ago, known as the 'Harris' fire."