The House and Garden in Central Delaware, 1780-1930+/-
Date
2010-02-26T19:44:50Z
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Abstract
In response to demographic pressures, changing agricultural practices, and the influence of agricultural reform writers, central Delaware farmers began to develop new strategies for dealing with married agricultural laborers and their families during the nineteenth century. They constructed dwellings specifically designed to house these laborers and established lease-labor arrangements that governed both labor obligations and housing rental. Known as a "house and garden," these buildings typically took the form of one finished room and a rough kitchen shed on the ground floor, with a winder stair leading to a
second room under the roof. Characterized by extremely plain finish on walls and architectural elements, and built tobe easily portable, the dwellings sat on a small plot of ground suitable for a garden and a few animals. Variations in the physical form of the house and garden dwelling include orientation to the road (either gable or elevation), height (1 1/2 or 2 full stories), the number of bays on the front elevation (usually two or three), and the position of a shed (gable end, rear elevation, or none).
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Kent County, Delaware, New Castle County, Delaware, South Murderkill Hundred, Delaware, St. George's Hundred, Delaware, Little Creek Hundred, Delaware, Duck Creek Hundred, Delaware, Kenton Hundred, Delaware, East Dover Hundred, Delaware, Appoquinimink Hundred, Delaware, West Dover Hundred, Delaware, Red Lion Hundred, Delaware, Tenant house