The manifestation of a unique confluence of glacial processes and skilled masons remaining in the region after its canal building boom, each cobblestone structure — though perhaps easy to overlook in isolation on the modern landscape — is a treasure testifying to the power of craftsmanship.
Built by Jacob Hill between approximately 1825 and 1835, the Peirson cobblestone house at 240 West Pearl Street in the Village of Newark, Wayne County, is an early example of cobblestone masonry in the region, valued for both its historical and architectural significance.
The building on the northern fringes of Newark functioned as a farmhouse for a century and a half after its construction ca. 1830, during the earliest period of cobblestone building…