LANCASTER
Addition to Hull House removed as part of restoration project
Jeanette Dickinson’s floor-length, 19th-century costume snapped in the hot summer breeze as she watched a demolition crew bring down an ugly wing attached to the oldest stone home in Erie County.
The recent demolition marked the latest in a long series of efforts designed to restore Lancaster’s famed Hull House to its original look and function. This particular summer project was paid for by the fundraising efforts of volunteers.
“We have waited so long to remove that addition,” said Dickinson, a docent and publicity chairwoman who has been involved with the restoration effort for the past five years.
“It’s not true to the house, and people have often asked me, ‘You’re not keeping that — are you?’ ”
During Hull House tours, Dickinson dons a ruffled, white “mop hat” and portrays Rebecca, adult daughter of the home’s original owners, Warren and Polly Hull. The Revolutionary War veteran and his wife moved their growing family from Connecticut to New York to build the federal-style home circa 1810.
The Hulls eventually had 12 children and farmed 340 acres of orchards and field crops.
Dickinson said it has been a whirlwind year of activity as volunteers seek to establish the Hull House as an educational and interpretive center depicting early 19th century life on the Western New York frontier.
Scholars from Rhode Island identified the original paint colors used inside the house, and the home’s original layout and interior walls will soon be restored. University at Buffalo archaeology researchers continue studying the land surrounding Hull House to determine where its outbuildings were located.
New rail fencing now graces the grounds, and Eagle Scouts recently cleared dumped tires and other debris from the property, allowing for the establishment of a new driveway and parking area.
Tours for schoolchildren, led by costumed guides portraying Hull family members, became a smash hit this spring, Dickinson said, with kids enthusiastically buying into an educational game of make-believe. The guides tell them about the Hull family animals and then ask about the kinds of farm animals the pupils’ families keep.
“They play right along,” Dickinson said. “One boy even told me, ‘Oh, yes, we had a sheep, but we had to put her down.’ ”
The tours were so well-received that Hull House will launch its first history camp at the Genesee Street site July 21-24, according to docent chairwoman Donna Schmidle.
Kids entering grades five to seven can experience churning butter, building fences, emptying chamber pots and washing clothes the 1800s way.
The kids will even have an opportunity to engage in an archaeological dig of their own on a patch of Hull House land that UB researchers have already identified as rich in artifacts.
For more information on the history camp, call 681-5494.
