13 FLOORS HAUNTED ATTRACTION https://blog.dnevnik.hr/13-floors-haunted-attraction

Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States

DESCRIPTION, ANALYSIS AND HISTORY

The four houses on Hunterfly Road form a unique and historically important enclave in what is now the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. They are unique in this area because they constitute the only surviving group of houses which were built parallel to the line of a colonial road and are now standing in the middle of a city block. They are historically significant because they lie on the edge of Weeksville, an early 19th century free Black community.

The earliest documentary evidence of the existence of Hunt erf ly Road occurs in March 1662 at which time it was called "Old Path to the Bay." The name is an Anglicization of the Dutch "Aander Vly" which means "to the low, or swampy, place."

It may have followed the line of an earlier Indian trail leading to the wampum beds on the shores of Jamaica Bay and was developed by the Dutch principally as a hay path.

Under British rule, and well into the 19th century, Hunterfly Road was an avenue of communication from Jamaica Turnpike, near Bedford, to Canarsie. The grid street system for the area was laid out in 1838, but Hunterfly Road continued in use until the second half of the century.

At the time the grid system for this area was laid out, an order was promulgated that Hunterfly Road be discontinued and closed from Jamaica Turnpike to the city line "whenever the Eastern part of Fulton Avenue and Howard Avenue, from Fulton Avenue South to city line shall be opened and fit for travel."

The date at which such closing was effected cannot be precisely determined although a map on file with the Topographic Division of the Brooklyn Borough Presidents Office indicates that the section of the road on which these houses stand was closed "pursuant to Chapter 132 of the laws of 1835."

The houses definitely pre-date the closing of the road and have been found, by examination of 19th century maps and atlases of Brooklyn, to have been built in conformity to the line of Hunterfly Road. Loring McMillen, authority on the 19th century wooden architecture of New York City, has examined the houses and concluded that they were erected about 1830. He also stated that to the best of his knowledge, "they are the last buildings in Brooklyn and in the rest of the city with the exception of Staten Island which as a group face on an old original undeveloped highway and retain all the charm of their rustic setting."

1700 Bergen Street, a stoiy frame building covered with shingles at the front and north side and by clapboard at the rear and south side, is the most northerly of the three structures that conform to the line of Hunterfly Road. It is three bays wide.

The windows on the second floor, front, are of the casement or 'eye-brow' variety. Similar windows were apparently used at the rear but have been replaced by single pane types. The north side is pierced by only a small window just below the crest of the roof.

On the south side, windows at the second and third floor level light the stairway. The pitched roof is currently covered with asbestos tile and has a chimney behind, the crest on the northern end of the west pitch.

No older buildings than the Hunterfly Road enclave are known to exist in Bedford-Stuyvesant. The connection of these buildings with the early 19th century community of Weeksville has not been fully documented. That Weeksville extended as far east as Hunterfly Road is evident from the fact that the address "Weeksville, near Hunterfly Road" was used in the 1850s.

Weeksville was the first major free Black settlement in the area now known as Bedford-Stuyvesant. Begun sometime about the time of the ending of slavery in New York (1827), it seems to have lasted as an all-Black or predominately-Black community until after the Civil War. During the Draft Riots of the Civil War (July 1863), it served as one of the principal refuges for Black families fleeing from the terror of the Manhattan streets.

Little is known of Weeksville's history, though it is known that, at its height, it had seven black institutions: Colored School No. 2; Zion Home for Colored Aged People; Howard Colored Orphan Asylum; Berean Baptist Church; Bethel A.M.E. Church; Citizens Union Cemetery and the African Civilization Society.

The archeologically oriented Project Weeksville of the City University of New York and the recently formed Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History are gradually piecing together sane facts of its existence. The intent of the latter organization is to acquire the Hunterfly Road buildings and to use the properties as a local historical museum to display the artifacts and historic data that are being collected.

- From the 1970 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

Benthall Hall is a comfortable country house located on the edge of Broseley surrounded by parkland and Benthall Woods.

The house was given to the National Trust by the family in 1958. There is a grey slate plaque in the church, on the grounds, which commends the extended family of James F. Benthall (1883-1942). The plaque in the church reads: “They saved the home of their ancestors from destruction in 1958, they gave it to the nation 1958” “Tende bene Et Alta Pete”.

Visiting Benthall is like going back to your family home. As soon as you step onto the grounds you feel peaceful and when you walk through the front porch and into the entrance hall and are greeted by the stewards, you feel as if somehow you’d been there before, everyone is so welcoming.

The Benthall family are still residents at the hall and regularly attend church. The present resident, Edward, remembers playing in all the secret places of the house as a child.

The house, dated approximately 1535-1583, is made of stone from a local quarry, has 2 large bay windows, 5 gables and is clad with the flowers and scent of wisteria. On the outside of the front of the house you will notice 5 stone circles with symbols which are supposed to represent the wounds of Christ’s suffering. The Benthalls were Catholics and people passing by would see these symbols and know they could find safety and sympathy. There is a “possible” priest hole in the floor in the alcove above the porch and in one of the bedrooms is a staircase that leads down to two tunnels which would let one escape to the fields or the River Severn at Ironbridge.

Every room in the house has a unique feel to it and there are information sheets for each describing its use and the special furnishings. There are willing stewards ready to enlighten you on a interesting feature or “hidden treasure”.

The Entrance Hall is big and grand and if you are lucky, perhaps the steward or custodian will share with you the special butterfly collection that is in the Antwerp inlaid cabinet made of ebony and tortoise shell and metal. At one time the famous Maw brothers of the Jackfield Tile Industry lived in the house and to impress visitors they laid their tiles in the entrance hall and various other rooms. In later years around 1918, the tiles were covered with wooden flooring and hidden for many years, now the stewards can lift a section of the floor to expose a section of the lovely tiles for viewing.

George Maw was an avid botanist who travelled about collecting special plant specimens and it is at Benthall you can see his famous collection of crocus.

A special secret in the garden is what our custodian call the “ mouse families”. She will take you out into the garden and part some shiny green leaves and you will find families of little "mice" with curly tails (flowers of the mouse plant-arisarum proboscidium). We aren’t sure if George Maw found these or not, but they are fun.

The Trust has a list of all the plants and their names in all the gardens for anyone interested in plant life.

The dining room and drawing room have interesting crinoid (fossilized) polished marble fireplaces designed by Thomas Pritchard in 1756. Thomas Pritchard was the Shrewsbury architect who designed the Ironbridge. Children will have a good time looking at the fine examples of fossils. In the dining room there is also a picture of a man named Bell, the 33rd child of one man!! Perhaps something to point out to the children when they complain that their brother or sister is being a pain!

The Benthalls are still collectors of the local pottery and porcelain and you will fine examples of Coalport, Caughley(1775-1799), Jackfield’s black pottery (1750), Staffordshire etc. throughout the rooms.

In the drawing room, see if the children notice the second crinoid fireplace and see if they can find the statue of a lady in a glass dome carved in beeswax (1620).

The carved staircase (1618) is one of the house’s finest features - it is of cantilever construction and many animals can be found in the carving.

The library or great chamber is bright and cheerful and full of old books, pottery of all types and periods, collections of giant sea shells from far away places and miniatures along the fireplace of all the Benthall family members.

The priest’s room is just off the library (above the front porch) and a comfy alcove in which to read or write. The priest’s hole, if it actually was one, has since undergone many renovations with the house and now is so altered; only wiring can be accommodated in its space. On the wall is a nice wood carving of the battle of Worcester showing Charles escaping from Boscobel and is said to possibly have been carved from a piece of oak from the original tree.

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