Dennisville Historic Home Owners Association Annual Christmas House Tour

Dennisville Historic Home Owners Association Annual Christmas House Tour Featured House for 2012 - The Thomas (Jr.) and Zilpah Ludlam House - ca. 1790. 2012 Historic Dennisville Christmas House Tour Saturday, December 15, 2012 - 5:00pm to 9:00pm\ From the Historical Perspective: The Thomas (Jr.) and Zilpah Ludlam House was built ca. 1790. Thomas Ludlam Jr. (1764-1823) and his wife, Zilpah (nee Smith) probably built this house around 1790, the year they married. The house originally stood on Jake's Landing Road, not far from the Ludlam family cemetery, and was part of his father's (Thomas Ludlam Sr.) several hundred acre farmstead. Little is known about Thomas Ludlam Jr. He owned a quarter-interest in a sawmill and in addition to farming, probably harvested timber from the cedar swamps and forests on his land. Ludlam died in 1823 and his son Jacob-for whom Jake's Landing Road is named-received the house and its 825-acre tract. The house was moved to the corner of Jake's Landing Road and Rt. 47 in the late 1800s, then to its present location in South Dennis in 1972. The shorter addition (seen to the right) was added ca. 1975 and the rear addition was completed in 2012. This 1½-story house with its diminutive garret windows on the upper floor represents a smaller-scale building form whose popularity spanned more than a century in Cape May County. Of particular note are two original rear doors on the south and middle portions of the house, which are board and batten mounted on hand-wrought strap hinges. Much original trim and pumpkin pine flooring remains, in addition to original flush board wainscot, winder stair, and an original Federal style mantel. The original section is considered a third period (ca. 1780-90 to ca. 1830) heavy timber frame building and features exposed corner posts with some exposed joists overhead. The ca. 1975 addition was built of re-cycled historic building materials (joists, rafters, floors, winder stair, and paneling) from local houses being demolished. The 2012 addition is built with a modern heavy timber frame, custom made of oak by an Amish company from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.