by Beth S. Buxbaum
Dawn and Anthony Martini could not have been be clearer about the kind of house they wanted. After living in Montclair, NJ in an historic home for many years during their early years together, Dawn, an adult fitness specialist, and Anthony, retired from a Wall Street Insurance Company, moved to Naples, Florida. “But I missed the north,” exclaims Dawn. Dawn and her husband never lost their passion for historical homes. And for Dawn the choice was even more narrow. “I knew that I wanted an historic stone house one day,” she admits.
Ten years ago the Martinis discovered and fell in love with Bucks County. And every since finding the county they searched with the help of a string of realtors to find their dream house. “Realtors were showing us run down properties in desolate areas,” adds Dawn, “none that met our vision.” They even rented 18th-century stone homes in Bucks County for several summers just to get a taste. And then, out of the blue, they received an unexpected call from their realtor. “We were visiting friends in New York,” he called and announced. “This is it, I found your house, and the property has everything you want.”
“When we went to see the property Anthony went all over the outside,” says Dawn, “and I was inside.” Most of what they saw was that the property had not been kept up and needed a bit of a makeover. “It had good bones,” Dawn states. Most importantly, the structure was sound, but the property and house needed a lot cosmetically. The Martinis bought the house in August 2006 and moved in mid September. “All we had were some toothbrushes, a bag of clothes and some cash,” Dawn recalls.
As true historians, both appreciated the historic authenticity of this centuries-old homestead. Not only was the house filled with original features, the homestead had an intriguing history that piqued their passion to know the facts and the stories about the past owners. Built in 1753, the Martini’s home was originally the tenant house to a manor house. According to records Dawn uncovered, this house was part of the original Smith Farmstead and one of three double-pile stone farmhouses built, along with several outbuildings and barns.
A major factor that drew them to this property was that the house had all its original hardware, end-gabled roofline, white-washed plaster walls, three original fireplaces. All the original woodwork has been meticulously preserved including the floor-to-ceiling built-in cupboards, the fireplace mantel with the original burnished wood, chair rails and 18-inch deep window sills with pay drawers, pie stairs and box wider stairs, tiny candle closets, exposed rough-sawn oak beams, transom panels, and wide-plank pine floor boards. Dawn surmises that the original 1753 structure consisted of a one-cell living room space with a two-sided fireplace and a loft bedroom space above. She believes from her research that the space was expanded in 1777 to accommodate a growing family.
“What is so special about this home,” Dawn adds, “is that it is a two-story pre-Revolutionary War fieldstone farmhouse. There is something about the 1700s that draw us in, during the times of the Revolutionary and French and Indian War,” she continues. Dawn explains that they admire how 18th-century houses were built largely by hand and how these homes tell stories of the life and times of families who lived there.
Once called Windy Bush Farm, the homestead’s history is dominated by the Smith family’s ownership of the property for almost 200 years. According to Dawn’s research, the Smith family was one of the first founding families of the area who arrived in Bucks County in the late 1690s. An excerpt from Bucks County Life: Past and Present in the June 1963 issue, is an article entitled “The Smiths of Windy Bush Hill,” states that Windy Bush Hill was originally the home of the Lenni Lenape Indians, who named it such for its characteristic winds.
Accounts state that in 1684, William Smith came to the area from England with some of William Penn’s Society of Friends. Searching for a new home, Smith first bought acreage in what is today Wrightstown Township and Penns Park. Then in 1709 he purchased an additional 201 acres of Windy Bush Hill land for 50 pounds in Pennsylvania currency. William Smith’s purchase begins the Smith family history with Windy Bush Hill. Through the years the land has been handed down from Smith to Smith, with sons and grandsons inheriting parcels and building on the land. Records indicate that William Smith’s grandson, Thomas, lived in a cave on this land for several years and worked in the woods. Then in 1727 he built a one-story log hut and married. Thomas Smith’s son, Samuel, who was born in the log hut, before his death (estimated to be in the early 1800s) replaced the log hut with a stone mansion.
Another one of Thomas Smith’s sons, William, prospered on the land he owned. William’s son, Henry, inherited the original mansion house and the land and he then left them to his son Edward and Edward left it to his son, William Edward. This William Edward was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and worked for R.G. Dunn & Co., later Dunn & Bradstreet. As the accounts reveal, “William Edward loved and farmed Windy Bush most of his life, in earlier years with a resident-manager, then personally, after his retirement in 1925. He sold the farm in 1957, and then after he passed his widow sold some of the land with the original mansion, retaining for her own use a bungalow and a few acres.”
The land that was known as Windy Bush Hill was handed down since 1709 and still has a member of the Smith family residing on it. When Dawn and Anthony moved in, they found that their neighbor, Kathryn Smith Permar, was a part of that history and actually lived in this house at one time. A granddaughter of a sixth generation Smith, Kathryn has very clear memories of her early years on the homestead. She was actually born in one of the larger farmhouses 83 years ago. “During World War II, she raised her children in our home,” exclaims Dawn.
According to Kathryn’s accounting, her family lived in this tenant house while the mansion house was being built by a Samuel Smith in 1795. She recalls that several Smith family members worked the land as a crop and dairy farm, orchard and tannery. “My dad owned the property in the 1930s and we lived in the mansion house. My dad rented the tenant house to a farmer who worked the land,” Kathryn adds. Her father sold the property in 1934, to a Mrs. Wallace, but her family continued to live in the manor house. Kathryn explains that the new owner was living in the tenant house during the summers. In 1944 she got married and moved to the tenant house, which they were renting from the new owners. Kathryn and her husband stayed for two years and then the owner wanted to sell the house, so she and her husband moved to a trailer on the property while they built a house, on two acres of land her father gave them, next to the homes of her parents and grandparents. This is where she still lives today, right down the road from the tenant house where she once lived.
With several owners and transformations over many decades, this centuries-old tenant house is now being lovingly maintained and cared for by Dawn and Anthony. When they first moved in they stripped down most of the interior space and re-painted. Additionally, they put in new windows and a new heating system. Their cozy bungalow is perfect for the Martinis to spend their spring and summer, surrounded by the beauty and history of Bucks County. Also avid antique collectors, Dawn explains that they have tried to keep the house true to the 1700s. Modest in architectural design and layout, this tiny cottage remains in its period simplicity. About 30 years ago, the past owner upgraded the interior with new bathrooms and a new kitchen, as well as adding a few amenities to the property, including a pool, deck and sunroom. The Martinis have also spruced up the landscape, adding bushes, trees, perennials and a few cherubic statue accents.
Inside, the living space maintains the feel of a modest 18th-century home. “For the past five years we have lovingly returned the home back to the 1750s. Dawn shares that the furnishings depict the life of a Quaker family during a period of political turbulence (the French and Indian War) complete with period costumed mannequins. “Our goal was to create a time warp as one enters our homestead,” she explains.
Filled with antique furnishings, unique artwork and obscure collectibles that Dawn and Anthony have purchased during their many antique shopping excursions, the interior rooms each have their own personality. Dawn has added elements in a few rooms that add a specific theme or focus to the space. For instance, Dawn explains that the dining room honors the Continental Army with a painting on wood over the mantle of soldiers from that period. In the living room, paintings over that fireplace are of British soldiers or Lobster Backs as they were called.
In the second floor guest bedroom, the décor is late Victorian, dressed in a red patterned wall covering and a white wrought iron daybed. Over the early 1900s oak dresser is a print of the original Melba of Melba Toast. The master bedroom is simply decorated with a French influence. Bed and window accents include pillows and curtains in a toile fabric. One interesting collector’s item, sitting on the nightstand, is a Santon, which were handmade clay dolls with hand made clothing. Illuminating this room is a 100-year-old chandelier they bought from the Hotel Biltmore in New York City.
Dividing their time between Naples, Florida and Bucks County, in the spring and summer Dawn and Anthony continue to uncover tidbits about their tiny homestead. Often times they are listening to Kathryn Smith Permar’s sweet memories of farm life and the Smith ancestry. The Martinis volunteer during the summer at the Thompson-Neely house at Washington Crossing State Park as costumed interpreters. Not only do they live the history on Windy Bush Hill, but they enable others to re-enact and enjoy our colonial past.
As a seasonal get-away, this historic cottage has had a rebirth during the years that Dawn and Anthony have lived here. The venerable old house has once again been infused with life and personality.
Beth S. Buxbaum is a freelance writer from the Philadelphia area.