Old Cottage and the Sea, Part 3 - Floodproofing

Resident Griffon monitoring the renovations.

Chapters:

1. Moving Forward
2. Getting Rid of Mold
3. Dating the Layers 
4. Tackling the Foundation
5. Then, the Flooring
6. Floodproofing the Walls
7. What to do about the electrical outlets?
8. More, More Ventilation!
9. Finally, "Floodproofing" the Furnishings
10. Almost Done
11. Next Steps: the Exterior

It is the one-year anniversary of Super Storm Sandy. We marked the occasion with a gathering of friends and family at a “Stronger than the Storm” party. The best part of the party was that it took place in the same cottage that was in such a sorry state last year at this time.  (If you are new to this story, the first chapters of this saga can be found in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.)

It’s been a long year of hard work, patience, research, and conversation to settle on how best to retrofit this historic cottage to be “more resilient” – the most overused phrase of 2013. But after carting out a hundred heavy bags of soggy, smelly wallboard and carpeting, I, like Scarlett O’Hara, shook my fist at the stormy skies and vowed, “Never again!”

So, instead of just putting back the same materials – plywood, gypsum wallboard, fiberglass batt insulation – I prepared to “wet floodproof” my house, i. e., make it less susceptible to damage by using flood resistant materials.

FEMA has published an enormous body of guidance on flood mitigation strategies –some of the documents are listed below – but there is nothing as helpful as putting the theories into practice for yourself. Here are a few critical principals to keep in mind in retrofitting a building to be more “resilient”:

1. Use flood resistant materials, e.g. dense hardwoods, ceramic tile, pressure treated wood, concrete wallboard, and closed-cell foam  insulation boards (avoid non-marine plywood, wall-to-wall carpet, gypsum wallboard, and fiberglass insulation batts, among other things);
2. Furnishings should be resistant to water damage or easily elevated;
3. Elevate all utilities, HVAC, ductwork, electrical outlets and panels, and appliances above the Base Flood Elevation plus whatever additional height is required under your local floodplain ordinance; and
4. Ventilate, ventilate, ventilate! Incorporate cavities in the walls and floor with openings at both ends so that air can circulate, which helps the structure dry out quickly after a flood.

These principles aren’t appropriate for every flood zone, mind you. In the “V” zones, where storm surge and wave action cause the most damage to structures, you are well advised to follow the elevation guidance for your buildings. But the “A” zones, where the cottage is located, are only affected by rising water, not wave action. The water rises, the water retreats.

Floodproofing is a way that structures in “A” zones can reduce their losses and preserve their structures. Please note that we are not talking about the new flood insurance rates at the moment, just the physical retrofitting of existing structures to reduce flood losses. The new insurance rates are the subject of legislation now moving forward that will delay the effective date of the new rates until further study is done.

Moving Forward

Patience is not only a virtue during the first rebuilding phase after a disaster such as Super Storm Sandy - it is a requisite. With some 346,000 housing units damaged or destroyed in New Jersey, architects, engineers, contractors, and building supply companies were scrambling for many months after the storm – even now there is no shortage of work for anyone in the building industry, as many people have had to wait for funding before they can start construction.

As for me, thanks to a great public adjuster, I received my insurance proceeds by January and was ready to find a contractor. I didn't have to look far – just next door was a great builder Joel Brennan, and his business partner Bill Craig, both long-time Ocean City residents. Joel and Bill knew only too well what the humid, salty air of the coast requires in terms of building techniques. We started formulating our strategy for the cottage months before we could actually start work.

Getting Rid of Mold

Before we began anything else, however, it was best to test for mold. Although we had removed all the saturated materials – flooring, carpeting, and insulation – we discovered that sometime several layers of renovations had been laid, one on top of another, over the course of some 100 years. 

During the preliminary cleaning out, we had noticed traces of mold between the layers – we didn't know whether it was freshly sprouted or whether it was something left from a previous inundation. 

We called in the experts. The environmental testing company found the highest readings were in the dining room, which was a surprise, given the polyglot of materials we had discovered in the living room. 

A big issue, we discovered during demolition, was that the 1913 three-sided bay in the dining room has been insulated with newspaper, which is a good medium for mold growth. 

Newspaper used as insulation in wall.

The second troublemaker was the high-rag content paper installed between the studs and the clapboard on the north wall – likely an early form of wind barrier. It was also covered with spots of black mold.

High rag content paper covered with mold.

Before the ServPro mold remediation team came, we removed everything down to the original wood framing, disposed of the moldy paper, and cleared out the debris. During the demolition, we discovered an early board and batten wainscot, perhaps from 1913.  

Board and batten wainscot under drywall in dining room.

We dated the wallboard covering over this nice wainscot as being installed in 1959 based on the amusing sign and penny from that year left on top of the paneling.

Worker mementos from a prior renovation found within the layers.

Since these layers created spaces in which mold could hide, and were constructed of materials that were not flood-proof, I decided they all had to go.  After recording the layers in photographs, including measurements penciled on the wall, we took it all down to the wood studs. Once the rooms had been treated, the air quality improved dramatically.

Dating the Layers

So little was left of the historic fabric throughout that I decided that, rather than trying to preserve these fragments, a better approach was to photo-document all of the layer remnants as we uncovered them, and then take everything down to the original ca. 1885 wood framing. From there, we could begin to develop a rational approach to reconstructing the interior.

This strategy provided an excellent opportunity to date the previous interventions with some accuracy.The oldest layer was plaster and lath, but only spotty remnants of it remained. The dining room seemed to be the only room with interventions dating from 1913 (the date the earlier 1-story kitchen wing was constructed). The sections of fake wood paneling in the living room dated probably from ca. 1960 - about the same time that the front hollow-core door with the diamond-shaped window had been installed. (I regretted losing the funky front door, but it had warped after the flood and no longer closed properly. It was replaced by a fiberglass version - perhaps more appropriate in design and certainly more resilient, but less interesting.)

Front door (ca. 1960), which had warped after the flood
and would not close.

Over the top of all that was the top layer of gypsum wallboard – “drywall” – evened out with occasional pieces of green board, a moisture resistant wallboard. On some of the layers we discovered the high water mark from a previous flood, very near to the current flood line. 

Layers of the various materials built up on the walls, saturated.

If nothing else, this retrofitting has permitted a more complete understanding of the evolution of the cottage, pieced together from the fragments of past renovations. It also has provided the opportunity to ruminate on the seeming conflict between preserving the historic integrity of a series of interior layers and preserving the essential architectural form of the historic cottage -- an increasingly rare specimen of the architectural heritage of Ocean City. But then that's a subject for another essay.
 

Tackling the Foundation

Given the significance of this “wooden tent” to Ocean City, its relationship to the landscape was important to preserve. As a historic property, it was permitted to remain at the historic height when I built the new addition, a variance from the floodplain ordinance. This means, of course, that it is more susceptible to flood damage, since it is about four feet below the “Base Flood Elevation” for that neighborhood.

When it was moved to the site around 1905, the house was set down on ungrouted concrete blocks; the floor’s 2” x 6” pine floor joists were just about 6 inches above wet sand; on top of the joists were tacked small panels of ordinary plywood. When you entered the house, it always smelled a little like wet sand on the bay – a little mossy, a little fishy. I always thought it was just the way beach houses smelled.

Wet sand below floor framing (LR).

The porous foundation system actually worked pretty well in a flood – the water percolated up through the sand and through the concrete blocks. No threat of “hydrostatic pressure” crushing the foundation, since the pressure was always equalized between the interior and exterior. However, if the floodwaters got high enough, there might be a tendency of the house to float off the foundations, since the walls didn’t seem to be anchored to much of anything secure. To remedy the instability of the foundation, the moisture and mildew problem, and the buoyancy issues, we called on a structural engineer to take a look. 

Lamont “Butch” Czar, P.E., based in Egg Harbor Twp., has spent most of his professional career on projects at the Jersey Shore. Retrofitting a historic building can sometimes be tricky, so finding someone willing to take the time is a rarity – especially when there are so many more pressing projects along the coast after Sandy.

Butch developed a strategy that would reinforce the foundation, replace the wet sand and floor joists with a concrete slab. This would still allow the water to flow in and out of the structure during a flood, since there is really no way to keep the water out of these old places, and make the house drier. His design took out every other concrete unit and inserted a footing, which became part of the slab. 

Diagram of new foundation and slab. Courtesy Czar Engineering, Inc.

When the framing was fully revealed in the living room during the preparation of the pouring of the slab, the story of how this fragile building had been repaired over time became clearer. Deteriorated or cracked studs had been sistered with new 2 x 4s; a few inches of the presumably deteriorated ends of some of the studs on the north wall had been cut back to good wood, then supported by a platform of a longitudinal 1-by and blocks of 2x4s turned on the vertical.

Existing condition of structural framing at foundation.

We corrected this condition by installing a new P.T. sill on both the north and south foundation walls, adding hurricane clips that would tie into the concrete slab and foundation when it was installed. 

New sill reconstructed with P.T. boards.

The changeover from wood joist system to a concrete slab was not without some philosophical hand-wringing over the elimination of a historic structural system. Eventually, I rationalized the change as follows: 1) little of the original flooring framing was extant, having been apparently repaired and rebuilt many times in the past; 2) the damp microclimate under the floor encouraged wood rot and mold; 3) the foundation of loose masonry units was not optimum for structural stability; and 4) the superstructure was not secured to the foundation. All of these conditions needed to be addressed for the long-term preservation of the structure. Finally, the change to slab would not be visible, and therefore would not detract from the historic character of the building. 

Then, the Flooring

Once the slab had been poured and dried, it was time to install the new flooring system. You'll be hearing a lot about “venting” - allowing the air to circulate within the structure. Allowing the building to breathe will help it dry out more quickly in the next flood, and generally is healthier, both for the wood framing and the occupants of the building.

Venting strategies started in the flooring system. The mahogany dining room floor installed in 2005 had come through the flood relatively unscathed, not only because the wood was extremely dense, but we had left a margin at the edge of the room for the wet boards to expand without buckling the floorboards. The joists were pressure-treated (P.T.); the subfloor was marine-grade plywood; and finally, the floorboards were installed over P.T.  2" x 4" boards (sleepers). The typical paper layer over the subfloor was eliminated – paper being one of those absorbent materials that provide a good home for mold.

Installation of sleepers onto new concrete slab in living room.

We used this same approach in the living room, except with a new twist. A concrete slab is often cold and damp, so the airspace between the sleepers would not effectively dissipate the dankness. To alleviate the issue, the contractors laid a heated padding system between the sleepers, which would be covered with a skim coat of concrete. 

Heating pad installed between sleepers.

The assembly would still leave about 1” clearance between the slab and the floorboards where air could circulate. The temperature of the heating element is regulated by a wall-mounted thermostat, which will maintain a relatively low temperature (65 degrees plus or minus), just to take the edge off the cold coming from the concrete, rather than being a source of ambient room temperature.

Finally, over the sleepers and heat assembly, we installed the new mahogany flooring (see below for finished product).

Floodproofing the Walls

The walls of the cottage presented an interesting challenge. FEMA’s guidance talks about installing a break between the upper wall (above the BFE) and the lower wall (that is likely vulnerable to floodwater). Above the break, you can use typical building methods (fiberglass insulation, gyp board, etc.). Below the break, you use flood resistant materials (concrete wallboard, closed cell foam board insulation, held away from the exterior wall to create a venting cavity). The break between the two sections is covered by a chair rail. To create a flow of air behind the insulation, the wallboard ends about 3-4” above the floor, which is covered by the baseboard. After a flood, the chair rail and baseboard are removed, and the air circulates behind to dry out the interior of the wall.

FEMA illustration showing how to construct a floodproof wall.

We modified this FEMA guidance for the cottage. Given rising seas, who knows what the height of future flood levels will be? We decided to use concrete wall board and closed cell insulation board for the entire height of all walls in areas that were below the BFE, leaving a space at the top and bottom of the wall, open to the exterior wall.  This included the historic rooms (dining room, living room), as well as the hyphen between the addition and the historic rooms.  We installed green board (moisture resistant) on the ceiling for added measure.

Venting slots behind baseboard and cornice.

For air circulation, Joel devised an innovative method to introduce air circulation between the cornice (molding at the top of the wall) and a removable baseboard. The cornice was cut wide enough to cover the 4” gap and set out from the wall plane, leaving a passive opening that could remain in place after a flood. 
 

Venting slot under cornice.

Joel designed the baseboard so that it, too, covered the gap that was open to the exterior wall, but only a small piece of board, held in place by screws, would have to be removed to open the circulation after a flood. Until it had to be removed, a cord of closed cell foam insulation was set into the baseboard opening to seal the opening, which prevented the cold air from blowing back into the house. 
 

Venting slot in baseboard with removable insulating cord.

In the event of a flood, the single board would be removed and the cord plucked out, opening the air circulation through the wall cavity. The goal is to reduce the amount of material that must be thrown in the dumpster after a flood and minimize the amount of human intervention needed to help a building dry out. Having put my hand into the opening before it was closed off, I can report that the air was moving well through the cavity - in fact, it was downright breezy in there.

What to do about the electrical outlets?

In the frenzied preparations before evacuation, I had neglected to turn off the main switch in the electrical panel in the house - an omission that might have had terrible consequences. The circuit in the flooded rooms was still live when I returned a few days later, but soon died as a result of salt water corrosion. Fortunately, there was no fire and no one was electrocuted, but it was important to prevent this situation in the future. 

We studied FEMA’s guidance to elevate all electrical receptacles and switches, but here, too, we made our own modifications. FEMA suggests that all electrical connections be elevated above the BFE. This might be OK for the switches – that would sort of look normal, but for the electrical receptacles? Well, I was not happy about having all those plugs hanging down from an outlet in the middle of the wall, so we had to come up with another solution.

Our electrician’s idea was to integrate ground fault circuit interrupters, called a GFCI or GFI, into all the receptacles in the historic section below the BFE. The GFI is an inexpensive electrical device that will cut off the circuit immediately in the presence of water, such as a flood, thus preventing danger of severe electrical shocks or fire. These are routinely installed in kitchen outlets near a sink. All outlets in the historic section were fitted with GFIs, enabling all the circuits to shut down in the event of flooding.This solution will prevent electric shock and fires from live electrical connections after flooding.

The one caveat for coastal areas: salty water corrodes metal connections. If the connections were inundated, the ends will have to be cut once they dry out and new wire spliced onto the end before turning on the electricity again.

More, More Ventilation!

The last spot where we needed to find a venting solution was the living room closet and small space under the stairs – a tempting place to store lots of stuff, but very difficult place to clear out quickly, and hellish to clean up. It already had a louvered door which we could reinstall on the new framing, but we needed an outlet for internal air circulation at the other end of the space. We had allowed for a 10" venting slot between the closet and the space under the stairs. 
 

Closet venting slot (at right rear) to allow
circulation to the understair.

Joel’s solution was lattice work made from mahogany flooring scraps, which he installed under the stringer. Air now flows easily between the louvered closet door and the lattice through the slot at the back of the closet. 

Lattice at understair for ventilation.

This should work, but now I have to be disciplined about how much “stuff” I put in the closet!

Finally, “Floodproofing” the Furnishings

The only furniture lost to the storm were the brand new upholstered, and incredibly heavy, twin couches in the living room, the old wall-to-wall carpeting in the living room, and the large sea grass rug in the dining room. I couldn’t manage to move any of them before I evacuated. I couldn’t move the dining room table, either, but it was not very expensive, and I thought it was expendable. All the rest of the furnishings – tables, rugs, chairs, books, TV set and cable box, lamps - I either took upstairs or put in the elevated addition, like many experienced coastal denizens.

Except for tough furniture like the dining table, which survived the flooding unscathed, elevation seems the best solution for furnishings. This is fine for small things, like area rugs, lamps, small tables, etc. Chairs and sofas are something else again.

The living room in the doll-sized cottage can only fit two couches or a couch and a chair. These pieces of furniture are impossible for one person to move and cumbersome for two. The only solution I could see, therefore, was to “elevate in place.” I designed a system that uses 4 block-and-tackle assemblies – two for each couch – hooked to the ceiling that could lift the couch above the flood level. 

I needed to find a lightweight couch. That ruled out upholstered pieces, of course, but one with cushions would work. The solution: rattan, a lightweight, durable, natural material very familiar to Southeast Asia, where some 70% of the world’s supply is grown. And it's sustainable, if harvested appropriately.  Rattan is also experiencing an uptick in interior design popularity, so there are a fair number of suppliers and variety of styles. 

The rattan couches I found weigh less than 40 pounds each and can easily be lifted to the ceiling by one person using a block and tackle. The rest of the furnishings I will still have to move upstairs, but I figure it’s just a fact of life at the shore.

Couches elevated in preparation for flood event. 

Almost Done

By the weekend of the 1-year anniversary of Sandy, the new 2/2 insulated wood windows (an upgrade from ca. 1960 metal, non-functional, replacement windows) and fiberglass front door (no warping if wet), and wood trim were in place, the rooms were painted; the living floor and new mahogany stair and railing were done. Only the sanding and finishing of the floors and stairs remained to be done.

Completed living room after retrofitting.

It is wonderful being in my little house again, especially knowing that we have done everything possible to ensure that the trauma of the last 12 months would not be repeated and that the house would continue to contribute to the architectural history of Ocean City.

Not everyone will agree with the decisions I have made in this project, no doubt. They were the best solutions we could design, given the budget and the knowledge and experience we could draw on. Perhaps other people are even now thinking up better ways to address the issues we discuss here. I look forward to continuing this in historic preservation and hazard mitigation circles so we can arrive at innovative solutions that make our existing and historic buildings more resilient while they retain their historic character. 

Postscript: Next Steps – the Exterior

To complete the floodproofing of the house, one more step has to be done: the vinyl siding on the historic part of the house has to be removed. Not that I have anything against vinyl siding on new construction – in fact, the addition was clad in it. But the materials that make up the historic structure need to breathe. Currently, the pine clapboard is totally encased in vinyl – from the eves to some point below grade. This has caused severe deterioration of the sill, where the structure is closest to the damp soil and lacks a route by which moisture can evaporate.

Therefore, the next steps are already mapped out for us. The condition of the underlying wood siding is unknown at this point. With luck, it will only need minor repairs.

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Resources:

Below is a partial list of publications of particular interest to owners looking to retrofit older and historic buildings to mitigate flood damage:

Federal Emergency Management Agency:

FEMA has excellent resources available for download in the “FEMA Library.” To obtain a copy of these publications, see the section on Ordering Information.  They are also available to view and download from http://www.fema.gov/resource-document-library. The order form is available at http://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/20130726-1651-20490-4586/fema_publication_order_form_rev.pdf

Flood Damage-Resistant Materials Requirements for Buildings Located in Special Flood Hazard Areas in accordance with the National Flood Insurance Program. Technical Bulletin 2 / August 2008 (replaces TB 2-93). Provides guidance on the NFIP regulations concerning the required use of flood-damage resistant construction materials for building components located below the Base Flood Elevation in Special Flood Hazard Areas (both A and V zones). http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=1580

Floodproofing Non-Residential Structures. FEMA 102, May 1986. This document provides technical information for building owners, designers and contractors on wet and dry floodproofing techniques. http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=3581

Homeowner’s Guide to Retrofitting: Six Ways to Protect Your Home from Flooding. FEMA P-312, Third Edition (2014). The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has prepared this guide specifically for homeowners who want to know how to protect their homes from flooding. This guide gives both clear information about the options available and straightforward guidance that will help make decisions, all in a form designed for readers who have little or no experience with flood protection methods or building construction techniques. http://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/480  

Non-Residential Floodproofing -- Requirements and Certification for Buildings Located in Special Flood Hazard Areas in accordance with the National Flood Insurance Program, FEMA Technical Bulletin 3-93, FIA-TB-3. 4/93. Provides guidance on the NFIP regulations concerning watertight construction and the required certification for floodproofed non-residential buildings in Zones A, AE, A1- A30, AR, AO, and AH whose lowest floors are below the Base Flood Elevation. https://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=1716

National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Floodplain Management Bulletin: Historic Structures. FEMA P-467-2 / May 2008. The purpose of this floodplain management bulletin is to explain how the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) defines historic structure and how it gives relief to historic structures from NFIP floodplain management requirements (44 CFR §60.3). This bulletin also provides guidance on mitigation measures that can be taken to minimize the devastating effects of flooding to historic structures. http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?fromSearch=fr omsearch&id=3282

Openings in Foundation Walls and Walls of Enclosures. FEMA Technical Bulletin-1. New Edition (August 2008). Provides guidance on the NFIP regulations concerning the requirement for openings in below-Base Flood Elevation foundation walls and walls of enclosures for buildings located in Zones A, AE, A1-A30, AR, AO, and AH. http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?fromSearch=fr omsearch&id=1579
 
Protecting Building Utilities from Flood Damage, Principles and Practices for the Design and Construction of Flood Resistant Building Utility Systems. FEMA 348, November 1999. This document is to assist in the construction of buildings with building utility systems that are designed and built so that the buildings can be reoccupied and fully operational as soon as electricity and sewer and water are restored to the neighborhood. http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?fromSearch=fr omsearch&id=1750

Protecting Building Utilities and Ductwork from Flood Damage. NFIP Technical Bulletin. Written for business owners, building industry professionals, floodplain managers State, Local and Tribal Representatives, Contractors and Vendors in connection with the Community Rating System (CRS) of the National Flood Insurance Program. http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?fromSearch=fr omsearch&id=4609 

Recommended Residential Construction for Coastal Areas, Building on Strong and Safe Foundations. FEMA P-550, Second Edition / December 2009. This manual provides recommended designs and guidance for rebuilding homes destroyed by hurricanes in coastal areas and also provides guidance in designing and building less vulnerable new homes that reduce the risk to life and property. http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?fromSearch=fr omsearch&id=1853

Selecting Appropriate Mitigation for Floodprone Structures. FEMA 551/ March 2008. This manual is intended to provide guidance to community officials for
developing mitigation projects that reduce or eliminate identified risks for floodprone structures. http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?fromSearch=fr omsearch&id=2737

Wet Floodproofing Requirements for Structures Located in Special Flood Hazard Areas in accordance with the National Flood Insurance Program. Technical Bulletin 7-93, FIA-TB-7 12/93. This bulletin describes planning, design, and construction requirements for wet floodproofing certain types of structures and their uses under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The basic characteristic that distinguishes wet floodproofing from dry floodproofing is the internal flooding of a structure as opposed to providing essentially watertight protection. http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?fromSearch=fr omsearch&id=1720

Finding God among the Trees – Pitman Grove Camp Meeting, NJ

The First Avenue Gateway into Pitman Grove Camp Meeting Grounds,
ca. 1910. (HABS, 1963)

The cable guy introduced me to Pitman Grove.  OK, that's not as weird as it sounds. This was no ordinary technician. This man is a former systems engineer who, with his wife, is raising 11 children, all of whom are into mathematics and the sciences, including one aeronautical engineer and one bound for veterinary school.  Oh, and he also built his own six-bedroom house.

After he finished up installing my modem, he seemed interested in the house, an 1885 camp meeting cottage, so I gave him a tour. As soon as I mentioned “camp meeting,” his ears picked up.

“Have you ever been to Pitman Grove?” he asked. “That place was a camp meeting, too, with tiny little houses just like this one. Really neat. You can’t believe it …. They are like doll houses!”

Not to sell scientists short, but you don't often find one so enthusiastic and unabashedly enamored of historic architecture. Clearly this place had made a lasting impression on him. It was definitely worth a field trip.

The town of Pitman was familiar only because an acquaintance lived there. I had heard the name, but had never actually seen it. That it was a camp meeting came as a surprise. New Jersey has some prominent ones – Mount Tabor, Ocean Grove, South Seaville -- but Pitman Grove is not among them. And yet, it proved to be one of the most unique.

The GPS gets you to South Broadway, the center of the Pitman business district. It is not hard to find the Grove – it is at First Avenue, just one block west of the commercial strip. Even if you know nothing about the area, the map will draw you to the spot where a radial system of pedestrian streets encircles the Auditorium, the Grove’s centerpiece. No non-resident vehicles are permitted inside the grounds, so you must park your car and walk in.

Plan of Pitman Grove Camp Meeting Grounds (HABS, 1963).

The early parcel map reproduced in the Historic American Building Survey (HABS) data shows twelve radial streets -- for the twelve apostles, they say - that terminate at “Circle Avenue,” which circumscribes the open lawn around the Auditorium.

Termination of Tenth Avenue at Circle Avenue, looking NW, to Auditorium.

When it was established in 1871 by several ministers from the New Jersey Conference of the Methodist Church, the land belonged to the Pitman Grove camp meeting association.  Parcels were leased out for the season for tenting, and later for the summer cottages that now line the walkways. As late as 1963, the New Jersey Conference Camp Meeting Association still rented out 70 of the 160 houses within the meeting grounds. The rest were privately owned by individuals who paid rent to the organization. In 1971 - the 100th year anniversary of its founding - the Borough of Pitman acquired title to all the lands formerly owned by the Association. Now, most houses have been winterized and are lived in year-round.

Tenth Avenue, looking SE.

The Grove’s Beaux Arts radial plan may have had some design guidance from a prominent Philadelphia architect Samuel Sloan, a writer and editor of the Architectural Review. This has not been confirmed, however. The National Register nomination notes that if the design were, in fact, Sloan’s, the execution was “inept,” as the arrangement of the pathways was somewhat irregular and the Auditorium was not at the exact center of the plan.

It is possible that the design is not Sloan's at all, but rather modeled on a camp meeting ground in nearby Barnsboro, which was organized in 1866 - the year of celebrations marking the “Centenary of Methodism in America.” Barnsboro’s grounds were also circular in plan, with tents lining pathways radiating from the central assembly point. It was wildly successful -- by 1869, it drew thousands of visitors -- but suffered from lack of space to expand because of adjacent marlpits.

Birdseye view of Pitman Grove Camp Meeting grounds.
Courtesy of Microsoft, Bing, and Pictometry International Corp.

In June 1871, a group that included officials of the centenary camp, organized the New Jersey Conference Camp Meeting Association, sold shares, and purchased some 70 acres in Pitman near the railroad line, which offered convenient rail transportation from nearby Philadelphia and Camden, as well as room to expand beyond the boundaries of lands owned by the Association. The railroad station was just a block away from the entrance to the grounds on First Avenue – one of the radial spokes – where a portal mounted with a name plaque “Pitman Grove” provided arrivals with a highly visible entry to the center of the action.

View of the main entrance to the Auditorium from First Avenue, ca. 1910.
Courtesy of WestJerseyHistory.org

The small cottages that line the walkways were built by the Association in the late 19th C. as temporary quarters for those who attended the summer camp meetings. Unlike the more typical camp meeting cottages elsewhere that are fronted by 2-story porch, many of the Pitman Grove cottages have an enclosed story over the front porch; some have only the porch at the first floor, with no enclosure above. (It is possible, of course, that the room over the porch in the 2-1/2 story version was a later alteration and that the smaller 2-story cottage was infill of a later period. However, there is little evidence in Pitman Grove of the 2-story porch version that is the dominant form of camp meeting cottage. More research would be needed to clarify this variance from the norm.)

The width of these small houses is typically 12’ – a dimension that is very consistent with the design of cottages in other camp meeting communities. Houses are tightly packed into some areas of the grounds; in others they are interspersed with breathing spaces. Although the Association is no longer officially the owner of the land, a robust schedule of camp meeting events still take place in the Auditorium.

Two typical cottage designs
(National Register nomination, 1977)

The tiny lots shown on the map typically measure some 20 feet or less in width and are uniformly 40 feet deep, forming wedge-shaped central common areas at the rear. Early photos show that these common areas were filled with trees. These days, however, they are rather bare, sandy expanses of driveways, restricted to resident parking.

The Auditorium was originally an open structure having wood benches laid out in in a basilica plan with open wood framing. The clerestory windows are typical of the Queen Anne style, with colored glass panes around the perimeter of the sash. The meeting space was covered by a roof with cupola at the western end.

Interior of Auditorium, looking W.

The Auditorium has gone through transformations over the years, although the basic structure is still visible. The 1977 National Register nomination includes a grim photo of the structure then, which shows much of it covered with stucco and the apse openings infilled with 1960s-era decorative concrete lattice blocks. The front entrance was infilled with concrete block and garage doors had been installed in the side bays.

The Auditorium in 1977 (National Register Nomination)

It 1995, the Auditorium was rehabilitated by the Borough of Pitman. Its current appearance is more in keeping with the historic structure than the previous modernizing effort, even though not a pristine "restoration."

The main entrance to the Auditorium (2013).

Now wood lattice fills in the bays, include the front entrance bay. Vinyl siding in a vertical bead board pattern has been installed on the exterior, save for the small course of original siding exposed under the wide eaves and rafter ends that still show off their original ornamental profile.

Original diagonal wood siding still visible under eaves (2013).

Historic Pitman Grove remains remarkably intact today. Its most wide-spread alteration is the ubiquitous vinyl siding. But the original scale and architectural details of many of the cottages are still evident. Its unique radial camp meeting plan is rare in New Jersey and, although all was quiet on the September day of my visit, it is possible to imagine the languorous bustle of a resort town. Another interesting corner of New Jersey to put on your "must see" list.

Resources

“2013 Pitman Camp Meeting Schedule.” South Jersey Christian Events. Blog.URL accessed 30 September 2013.

Batten, Michael D., Ralph J. Richards. Pitman [N.J.]. Images of America Series. Arcadia Publishing. 2002.

“Highlights of Early Pitman Grove.” Supplement to The Pitman Grove Review. July 1961.

“The History of the South Seaville Camp Meeting.” South Seaville Camp Meeting. Official Website. URL accessed 30 September 2013.

Milner, John D. Pitman Grove Camp Meeting. Historic American Building Survey. HABS No. NJ-730. Library of Congress, American Memory collections. URL accessed 30 September 2013. HABS Report (1963).

Mollenhauer, Lorraine, Preparer. Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. Submitted 28 August 1975. URL: https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/0c96277e-bdd2-4b6b-8fdf-7782657bde89  Listed on the National Register 19 August 1977. URL accessed 29 September 2013.

Pitman HPC Design Guidelines. March 2008; Revised June 2015. Ed.  Borough of Pitman, NJ.

Postcards of Pitman, NJ. West Jersey History Project. Website. URL accessed 29 September 2013.

Wilson, Harold F. A History of Pitman, New Jersey. Pitman NJ: Borough of Pitman, 1955.

.

Of Fish, Farms, and the Forillon

The cliffs of the Forillon National Park from Cap Bon Ami.

La Gaspésie

.

The coast of the Gaspé Peninsula near Rimouski, QC.

Ten hours of driving. And that only gets me as far as Lévis, which sits on the banks of the St. Lawrence River just opposite Quebec City. It’s my first night’s stop on my long-awaited journey to Gaspé. It has been raining since I left New Jersey, from a drizzle to a heavy downpour. June 2013 is well on its way to officially becoming the wettest June in recorded history in the Northeast USA – a persistent pattern that is following me to the Canadian Maritimes.

The rain makes little difference to my spirits. I am en route – how great is that? It’s not just traveling for itself, but often how much preparation precedes it. My research for this trip to the Gaspésie, the region's formal name, began in earnest some nine months ago. It was then that I started to piece together the story of a part of my father’s family that I never knew and the famous legend of ancestors who survived a shipwreck somewhere along the coast. Over the course of the winter, the family tree I am compiling grew to some 1,000 members. Many of these come from the Canadian branch - all Irish Catholic families who had some ten children each. My new contacts include several new-found relatives having common family roots who I will soon meet for the first time. The research into the Gaspé family tree is just one facet of this journey, however.

Aside from my family connections to the town of Gaspé, Quebec pulls at me like no other place. After crossing the border, one steps into country no less foreign or charmante than France, but with a more relaxed, North American congeniality. The historic architecture feels very old world European. Fast food is a rarity– a few such restaurants dot the Gaspésie but, for the most part, they are found in the more populous cities. Tim Horton's (the Canadian cross between Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks) has a fairly strong presence, but even that has spotty coverage. At the other end of the scale, white-tablecloth restaurants are also few and far between. Mom-and-Pop coffee shops or take-away stands seem to outnumber all other types. Life is not easy in the Gaspésie – the people I see are always working. Leisure time and spending money are not major preoccupations, from what I see.

The village of Grande-Vallée, Gaspésie, QC.

Religion has played, and continues to play, a central role the in the history of the Gaspé. Evidence of this heritage survives in most villages along the St. Lawrence, which consist of a cluster of modest houses - mostly 20th Century – surrounding a monumental 19th Century masonry church. This is particularly true in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, but it extends into the Gaspésie as well.

A few stores and a gas station form the core of the business district. In spite of my worst fears, there is no shortage of le diesel - the fuel that feeds my VW - but it costs about twice as much to fill up here as in New Jersey.

Route 132 along the St. Lawrence River from Bas-Saint-Laurent to the Gulf of St. Lawrence has some of the most spectacular scenery of all la Gaspésie. It is filled with interesting wilderness areas, lovely gardens, and breathtaking vistas. Its proximity to the St. Lawrence River – the site of so much history and enterprise over almost four hundred years – has left its mark in numerous heritage sites and historic architecture. More recently, the Gaspésie’s elevation and exposure to the Gulf of St. Lawrence has fostered a rapidly expanding wind energy industry that has signaled a rebirth, of sorts. It has kicked off the construction of wind farms across the peninsula, with more in the works. It has also created several thousand jobs, replacing ones in the traditional industries of fishing, mining, and lumbering that are in decline.

Bas-Saint-Laurent

The real kickoff of the journey is on the second day, when I enter Bas-Saint-Laurent (Lower St. Lawrence), the region bounded on the south by Chaudière-Appalaches and on the north by the Gaspésie. It is raining as I leave Lévis, heading toward Rimouski, my next overnight stop. The clerk at my hotel urges me to avoid the Trans-Canada Highway – high-speed, well-maintained, but boring – and instead follow coastal Route 132, which makes a spectacular loop around the entire Gaspé Peninsula. In B-S-L, it is called the “Navigators' Route” (Route des Navigateurs), linking Baie-du-Febvre in Centre-du-Québec with Sainte-Luce at the north end of Bas-Saint-Laurent.

My target for the day is the Parc National du Bic - one of the wilderness areas I want to explore; but the clerk recommends that on my way there, I should not miss the charming village of Kamouraska. “It would be a good place to stop for lunch,” she added. “It is an arts community with several great restaurants and a very good historical museum in the Presbytère (Rectory).”

It is very early spring, well before the main tourist season. I suspect that Kamouraska in a few weeks will be chock-a-block with visitors from Quebec City, enjoying a day trip in the country. It's only about 1-1/2 hours from the city by car, a little more by bus.

A walk down Avenue Morel, the main street, gives me my first taste of the local architecture. The houses are typically well-maintained; the lawns and gardens incredibly tidy.  Not surprisingly, the French influence on architecture is quite strong here. An interesting example is this "ancestral house," a style characterized by rectangular footprint, pitched roof with swooping eaves and small dormers, that appears to date from the early 1800s, perhaps not long after Kamouraska was established. I optimistically think that it looks like its awaiting restoration. What a great project that would be!

Early 19th C. "ancestral house" overlooking the St. Lawrence River., Kamouraska.

Opposite this house is the "Villa Saint-Louis," a hotel with a generous porch and a late 19th C. mansard roof. The Villa was first built in 1819 as a residence and converted to a hotel in the second half of the 19th Century. I successfully resist calling the number on the "for sale" sign, but if you have $725,000 C, it's yours.

Villa Saint-Louis, 125 Avenue Morel, Kamouraska. 

French is the first language in the small towns, although most people you encounter are also able speak English, if pressed. In Kamouraska, English speakers are far outnumbered by francophones. I am feeling a bit tongue-tied as I struggle along with my rusty French. But people are kind and, using a mixture of English and French known as "Frenglish," we eventually make ourselves understood.

The town was a former commercial powerhouse, home to the Desjardins family, wealthy industrialists of the 19th Century Today, the town is an interesting mix of attractions, including a local history museum, a restaurant, a shop that sells crafts produced by local artisans, and another that sells local jams, cheese, and fresh bread, which has a line out the door at lunchtime. A number of artists' studios and galleries are sprinkled along Avenue Morel, but the center of the arts activities seems to be the impressive Kamouraska Art Center, housed in the 1888 Palais de Justice (Courthouse) of Kamouraska.

Le Centre d’art de Kamouraska

le Centre d’art de Kamouraska

It rains off and on all afternoon as I make my way north to Rimouski. Walking in a downpour through the nature preserve of the Parc du Bic becomes less and less appealing. I am soon distracted from my disappointment by the massive churches that tower over every town and village along the St. Lawrence. How could the people of these small villages support such relative opulence? There must have been money around somewhere, but lacking today are obvious remnants of any large industrial buildings or in mansions of the wealthy -- only relatively modest homes and, of course, the monumental churches.

From left: Saint Georges de Cacouna (1845-1848; Louis-Thomas Berlinguet,
Arch.); Eglise L'Isle-Verte (1855; Louis-Thomas Berlinguet, Arch.);
and Eglise Saint-Fabien-de-Rimouski (1854; restored 1898).

La Gaspésie

The Route des Navigateurs ends just north of Rimouski, where it enters the Gaspésie and continues on simply as Route 132.

My first destination in the Gaspésie was Reford Gardens/Les Jardins de Métis in Grand-Métis, QC, about 35 minutes north of Rimouski. Elsie Reford began transforming her fishing camp on the Métis River into a garden in 1926, when she was 54 years old. She was not a professional gardener, by any means, but the years of her experimentation and study helped create an exceptional garden of interesting cultivars in a challenging environment. It is the northernmost garden in the eastern half of North America. The site was opened to the public in 1962.

Pink Hellebore (Helleborus, sp.), Reford Gardens, Grand-Métis, QC.

Today is raining for the third day in a row. By the time I arrive at the Gardens, however, it is more of a heavy mist. I decide that the gardens are too important to miss because of a little wet. There are few visitors. The network of pathways is quiet, except for the sound of the rushing creek that meanders through the site. Heavy droplets glisten on the foliage. The fragrance of rich wet soil mixes with the sweet early blossoms. It is exquisite.

Reford is famous for one of Elsie's rare specimens: the Himalayan Blue Poppy (Meconopsis betonicifolia). Sadly, I am too early for its flowering period. But many other unusual specimens catch my eye in these well-tended gardens. Along the walk to the Belvedere near the Lodge, I am struck by a border of robust Mugo Pines (Pinus mugo) with candles in flower – some pink and some white. It is something I have never seen before.

Mugo Pine (Pinus mugo), The Belvedere, Reford Gardens.

The historic building on the site is the Estevan Lodge, first built in 1887 for Sir George Stephen – wealthy railway magnate and founder of the Canadian Pacific Railway, among other enterprises. Given the weather and the early season, the lodge looks closed, especially since the restaurant there is undergoing renovations. A young intern greets my tentative knock on the front door holding a mug of coffee; I clearly am interrupting his morning break. Nevertheless, he kindly gives me a full tour around the house. Sir George is said to have imported the natural interior cedar and pine woodwork from the far western provinces of Canada – something that would have been outrageously expensive for anyone but the owner of the railroad! The warm and well-crafted woodwork makes the interior particularly inviting, much more interesting than the exterior, which was extensively modified by the Refords.

The former parlor of Estevan Lodge, Reford Gardens, Grand-Métis, QC.

My next destination in Gaspésie is Éole Cap-Chat, the tallest vertical-axis wind turbine in the world, and the Nordais wind farm, one of the largest in the Americas. Nordais alone has 133 wind turbines, which produce some 100 MW of electricity for the Province of Quebec. Currently there are a total of 13 wind farms operation in Quebec, with many more in development. The guide tells me that the local residents were first very skittish about having this new technology installed on their farmlands, but that over the years, they - and their cows - have become more comfortable with it. Now, wind turbines are spinning on the crest of many of the coastal ridges, not only along the St. Lawrence, but above the Baie de Chaleurs, the boundary Gaspé shares with the Province of New Brunswick.

Wind turbines, Nordais Wind Farm, Cap-Chat, QC.

In addition to being an operating wind-farm, Cap-Chat is a wind-energy interpretive center, for which you can arrange a guided visit. Many visitors come to the center each year to learn about wind energy, including school groups and foreign tourists, who arrive in buses. But today there is just me.

The Éole (vertical-axis wind turbine), Cap-Chat, QC.

The most surprising fact is that the Éole (the vertical-axis turbine) was in operation for a only few years. It was originally conceived as the solution to the problem of the changing direction of the wind. A vertical-axis turbine is omni-directional; it responds to wind from any direction. This is unlike the more standard turbines we usually see on the mountain ridges, which must rotate with the wind direction to optimize the amount of energy they generate. However, the turbine had to withstand the stress of constantly shifting wind loads, which vibrated the bolted connections at the bottom of the mast and ultimately made the mast unstable. Rather than worry about the collapse of the apparatus in a strong wind, the company decided to decommission this early model and use it as an interpretative and educational center for the public, given the importance of the industry to Quebec.

The Ville de Saint-Anne-des-Monts, just north of Cap-Chat, is the third and last overnight stay before Gaspé. The town is the jumping off point for visitors going into the Parc National de la Gaspésie. The Chic-Choc Mountains, which make up the greater part of the Parc, are part of the Notre Dame Mountains and form the northern terminus of the Appalachian mountain range. According to the Quebec Biodiversity Website:

The rocks of this range are sedimentary, dating back to the Paleozoic era, 250-500 million years ago. In western Quebec, the mean elevation is about 500m, while in the Gaspé peninsula, the Appalachian peaks (particularly the Chic Choc mountains) are some of the highest in Quebec, surpassing 1000 m [3281 ft].

OK, this may not match the highest mountain in the Appalachian chain (Mount Mitchell, in North Carolina, USA, measuring 2,037 metres (6,684 ft.)), but it is still impressive. And that is only half of the story.

The Chic-Choc Mountains, Parc National de la Gaspésie.

The “Monts McGerrigle” (the McGerrigle Mountains) are the other half of the story. They are volcanic rather than sedimentary, and younger (380 million years) and harder than the Chic-Chocs. This metamorphic rock, from which the softer overburden has eroded, forms the large granite boulders you can see on Mont Jacques-Cartier. The Chic-Chocs are oriented in a E-W direction, while the McGerrigles traverse them in a N-S direction. Both ranges have been shaped by the glaciers of some 8,000 years ago, which have left scours and scars on the mountain profiles.

Map of the Chic-Choc and McGerrigle Mountains, Gaspésie, QC. Courtesy of the
Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq).

As fascinating as this geological history is, I am unsuccessful in locating any books on the subject during my trip. The best – and only – exploration of the subject I find is the National Parc’s Discovery and Visitors Centre’s excellent permanent exhibit, "A Sea of Mountains in the Heart of the Gaspésie."

The eastern end of the Gaspé peninsula is called “Land’s End.” The name Gaspé reportedly comes from gespeg, a Mi'kmaq word. It is here that the Appalachian chain rises up from the deeper earth at rakish angles and ultimately tumbles into the sea. The rock formations are raw and rugged along this part of the coast, with some unique and unusual specimens to research.

"Land's End," the easternmost end of the Gaspé peninsula. 

So that is the end of this chapter. I hope I haven't overwhelmed you. And yet this still only skims the surface of the discoveries I found along the south shore of St. Lawrence. Each one of them has its own story. There’s still so much to learn.

Resources

“Achats d'électricité – Marché québécois: Parcs éoliens et centrales visés par les contrats d'approvisionnement” [Interactive Map of Wind-Farms in Quebec]. Hydro-Québec. Company website. Accessed July 21, 2013. URL: http://www.hydroquebec.com/distribution/fr/marchequebecois/parc_eoliens.html

Banque d’images du Centre d’archives. Gaspé, QC, Canada: Musée de la Gaspésie. http://www.museedelagaspesie.ca/album/

Davies, Blodwen. Gaspé: Land of History and Romance. New York: Greenberg, Publisher, 1949.

“Discover Rimouski.” Ville de Rimouski. Official website. Accessed July 21, 2013. URL: http://www.ville.rimouski.qc.ca/en/decouvrezRimouski/

“Eglises.” Tourisme partrimonial du Bas-Saint-Laurent. Website. Accessed July 20, 2013. URL: http://www.patrimoine.bassaintlaurent.ca/eglises/region/tous [Compilation of 19th C. churches in the Bas-Saint-Lawrence region, along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.]

Éole Cap-Chat. Official website. Accessed July 21, 2013. URL: http://www.eolecapchat.com/e_index.html

Grande-Vallée. Official Website. http://www.grande-vallee.ca/en/index.php

Kamouraska, Une Marée de Richesses. Official Municipal Website.  Accessed July 23, 2013. URL: http://www.kamouraska.ca/

Le Centre d'art de Kamouraska. Website. Accessed 22 July 2013. http://www.kamouraska.org/index.php/a-propos/

“Les Jardins de Métis – Portrait of a Landscape.” National Library of Canada Electronic Collection. Website. URL: http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/metis/ahome.html

“Natural History of Quebec.” Quebec Biodiversity Website. Montreal, QC. Canada: Redpath Museum, University of McGill. Accessed July 21, 2013. URL: http://redpath-museum.mcgill.ca/Qbp/Natural%20History/nat_hist.html.

Parc National du Bic. Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq). Website. Accessed July 23, 2013. URL:  http://www.sepaq.com/pq/bic/

Parc National de la Gaspésie. Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq). Website. Accessed July 21, 2013. URL: http://www.sepaq.com/pq/gas/

 Reford Gardens – Les Jardins de Métis. Official Website of Les Amis des Jardins de Métis (Friends of the Gardens). URL: http://www.refordgardens.com/english/index.php

Thistle, Scott. “Tied to the wind: How a region in Quebec is making wind energy pay.” Maine Sun-Journal (May 30, 2010). Online Edition. Accessed July 21, 2013. URL: http://www.sunjournal.com/state/story/842528

“Wind energy projects in Québec.” Ministry Ressources naturelles Quebec. Government of Quebec, Canada. Website. Accessed July 21, 2013. URL: http://www.mrn.gouv.qc.ca/english/energy/wind/wind-projects.jsp