Introduction


The Dutch Farm Houses in Kings County

	The Dutch Farm Houses with which we are familiar are different from 
the houses of any other time or country. They are even unlike the houses 
of Holland. This was due to necessity. The Dutch farmers developed a 
type of house most suited to their new home.
	
	The earliest houses erected on Long Island were of the Arts and 
Craft variety, hand-made throughout, but after numerous fires had 
occurred the lJeople built largely of sun-dried brick. They were made 
in the local kiln, for each town had its own kiln. Almost all houses 
after 1700 were built of wood, and then the design of the eomfortable 
Dutch farm house was developed. It was a broadeninsr out of the original 
Holland house so as to extend over a larger area. In Netherlands they 
built miniature sky-scrapers, but in America land was plentiful and 
there was room to spread out.

	The house we are describing is the typical one. Facing the south, 
as all Dutch houses faced the south, they often stood endwise to the road. 
In those early days the house had little or no cellar, but after 1750 
large spacious sellars were the custom. In the older houses, as those 
which were built before 1800, all the rooms were, generally, on the 
ground floor. The large attic was used for storage. A large amount of 
the labor of the house-wife was performed here in summer, such as 
quilting, spinning and weaving.

	The exterior design consisted of a main house, through the center of 
which, in later years, extended the broad hall, with a great door at both 
ends. Bull's-eye windows were cut in these doors, to admit more light 
than was transmitted into the hall by the transoms. Frequently, these 
doors were beautifully carved. On eaeh side of this hall were two rooms; 
to the right a parlor and a bedroom. Often this bedroom was divided 
into two rooms. To the left was a sitting room and one or two back bedrooms.

	From the sitting room a door opened into the wing. As the wing was 
generally lower than the main house, you would be obliged to descend a 
couple of steps to enter the dining room. This room had usually a small 
long bedroom back of it. These two rooms composed the main wing, and 
over this wing the slaves slept. Extending from it, was a leaning roofed 
wing, Which housed the kitchen. It was likewise lower than the main 
wing, and was reached by steps, The main feature of the kitchen was its 
great size and its Dutch oven. In recent years a second story has been built 
in the attic, thus increasing the size, comfort and comvenience of the 
old Dutch houses.

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