Picture of the roofers II

I had to pull the picture of Melvin the roofer because I found out he was, in fact, Amish. (The "Miller Lite" t-shirt confused me.) Dawn took this faceless photo, which should be safe enough.

Lantz Roofing

Sprinklers resolved

7:50pm Eastern - Augh...the suspense is killing me! The appeals board meeting started 45 minutes ago, and I still haven't heard from Dawn. What could be taking so long?? That's obviously not a good sign. If they make us install sprinklers, that's a $50,000 expense, so you can appreciate why I am on pins and needles here. :-(

I sent Dawn in with everything I could think of -- pictures of the mansion; pictures of the mansion if they made us install all the fire code-related stuff; quotes for the sprinklers ranging from $35,000 to $95,000, not including ripping out all the ceilings and replacing them afterwards; letters of support from the state historic preservation office, Senator Arlen Specter, Representative Joseph Pitts, and State Senator Noah Wenger; and a write-up by another code official who thought sprinklers were ridiculous. The architect was going to be there as well. This should have been an open-and-shut case, ten minutes tops!

Dawn hates speaking in public, and has been a nervous wreck all day, but I'm sure she was fine once she got to the meeting. I suspect there were a lot of people there, given that this was the first appeal in the area. Ever. There's only three people on the appeals board, but there are three "alternates" as well, and they were all going to be there. I had invited some county and state officials as well but they all declined, stating it was "a local matter." :-(

Crossing my fingers...

8:05pm Eastern - Dawn just called. The good news: no sprinklers. Hallelujah.

The bad news: we still have to put in illuminated exit signs, emergency fire pulls, and emergency lighting. While ugly, at least we don't have to destroy anything to install them. (And it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.)

So common sense won the day. We were cautiously optimistic that it would, but since there was no track record, we just couldn't be sure. Dawn said she didn't realize how stressed she had been, until after the meeting was over and the stress went away.

So here's a big raspberry to the code inspector, as well as to our contractor who thought we would never succeed in this challenge. :-) And here's another gesture to the folks at the PA Dept of Labor & Industry, who used to be responsible for code enforcement but then dumped it on the local townships with no training, no guidance, and no support whatsoever...

Robert Coleman, Millionaire Ironmaster

While removing an old desk from the Paymaster's Office, Brian and Bob found an 8-page essay entitled "Robert Coleman, Millionaire Ironmaster by Professor Frederic S. Klein." It was hand-typed on legal paper, no doubt using one of the dozen or so manual typewriters we found in the mansion. It looks like a first draft, with a lot of rambling passages and its share of typos, but it is quite interesting, nevertheless.

Robert Coleman, while born in Castle Finn in County Donegal, was more English than Irish; his father had moved to Ireland at the request of Charles I. Robert had one brother and six step-sisters. I don't know why Robert and his brother, William, emigrated; Professor Klein speculates that the family was just too big. William went to Canada and, in 1764, at the age of 16 and with only three guineas to his name, Robert went to Philadelphia.

Robert had only one skill, something that today we wouldn't even consider a skill: Beautiful penmenship. He was soon recommended to the prothonotary in Reading, where he copied wills, legal records, deeds and agreements for two years. This familiarity with contracts would serve him well later in life.

When Curtis and Peter Grubb, of Cornwall Furnace in Lancaster County, needed a bookkeeper, they hired Robert Coleman. And when James Old, ironmaster of Speedwell Forge, needed a clerk, he stole Robert Coleman from the Grubbs. Robert even lived with James Old, moving between Speedwell Forge and Reading Furnace in Chester County.

In 1773, after three years of working and living with James Old, he did what any penniless-immigrant-turned-future-millionaire would do: he married the boss' daughter, Ann Old. No doubt aided by his new father-in-law, Robert Coleman leased Salford Furnace, and was now his own ironmaster.

The paper then draws some striking similarities to Henry William "Baron" Stiegel, who also began as a penniless immigrant, was hired as a bookkeeper by Jacob Huber, married his boss' daughter Elizabeth, and then bought out his father-in-law, taking over Elizabeth Furnace. He then bought Charming Forge, founded Manheim, and started the Stiegel Glass Manufactory, amassing a staggering amount of debt along the way.

In 1773, the same year Robert Coleman was starting in the iron industry, Baron Stiegel was stripped of all his assets. [Note that the sheriff who issues the order was Abraham Lincoln, great-grandfather to the future president!] Elizabeth Furnace was closed for three years, but in 1776 Robert Coleman leased the property. Of course, in 1776 the American Revolution started, and great amounts of cannon, shot, and iron chain links were needed. Baron Steigel became a clerk at his former ironworks, and Robert Coleman became quite wealthy. He and his family moved into the mansion at Elizabeth Furnace, now known as the Stiegel-Coleman house. Like Speedwell Forge, nothing is left of the iron works, but the mansion has been fully restored.

The paper ends noting that iron workers were often exempted from military duty, and that Robert Coleman was also given prisoners of war to work at Elizabeth Furnace. I'm sure there was more to the paper -- he didn't even get into the story about Robert Coleman's daughter and James Buchanan, future President, -- but it is lost. Robert Coleman was also a delegate to the second Constitutional Convention, and a state politician. His family continued to dominate business in Lancaster and Lebanon counties for many generations.

I googled Mr. Klein and found two things:

Frederic Shriver Klein was a professor of history from Franklin and Marshall College and the author of over a dozen books on various aspects of Lancaster County history.

Frederic Shriver Klein, historian, musician, and flying enthusiast was born in 1904, the son of Harry Martin John Klein and Mary Winifred Shriver Klein. He joined the Department of History at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1928, where he taught until he retired in 1970. In addition to the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra and the Lancaster chapter of the Civil Air Patrol, he founded the Union Mills Homestead Foundation. As he cleaned up after pigeons in 1954, he never dreamed that he would live to see Union Mills again grinding flour, but he did. He died in 1987, aged 82.

He wrote several books, including "Fighting the Battles: Lancaster's Soldiers March off to War" in 1975, which is out-of-print but still availabe on Amazon. He apparenlty had his own historic property to save: check out http://www.unionmills.org/

Addendum August 10: The Lancaster County Historical Society archives has a book entitled "Robert Coleman, Millionaire Ironmaster." I guess I have part of an early draft.

An original portrait of Ann Old, which belongs to Bill Coleman. Dawn's going to ask him for a copy as a wedding present. :-)

July keywords

Now for the favorite segment of the restoration journal -- what Google searches brought people to the Speedwell Forge web site:
- speedwell lake, pa. [We're listed right after crappie.com. I'm not kidding.]
- enlarge crawl space to full basement cost [Get yourself a sturdy shovel. Cost, about $30.]
- bed and breakfast permit in pennsylvania [Don't get me started. Just keep in mind that local officials are not your friends. Don't get me wrong, they're nice people, they just don't care about you. Hire a consultant.]
- baron stiegel [My idol, I hope to be just like him: Spend all of my money on questionable business prospects, have my assets stripped from me, and get thrown into debtor's prison.]
- "Robert Coleman" + Ireland + iron [Oh, that reminds me, we just found some more stuff on Robert Coleman; I'll try to post it tomorrow.]
- cost convert heat pump geothermal lancaster [Oh, that's cruel, reminding me of my decision to abandon geothermal...]

In looking up some of this, I came across this entry at http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.asp?trailid=XGP001-022:

Speedwell Forge - This ride is the course that's used for the Lancaster YMCA Triathlon. It's very scenic, surely one of the prettiest rides in all the triathlon world, and slightly hilly.

I don't know any other triathlon courses, so I'll have to take their word for it, but all you triathletes should start planning your next vacation at Speedwell Forge! ;-)

Oh, I almost forgot: The "This Old House" article on the top 10 historic restoration contractors in the country, which includes Gary Geiselman of Olde York Homes, will be in their October issue. The photos of Gary were taken at Speedwell Forge, and at Gary's insistence the magazine agreed to include a small sidebar about us! Too cool.

Lauren is a "research associate" (i.e. apprentice) at Olde York Homes, who got the unfortunate task of stripping all of the shutters. She came for the This Old House interview, and Dawn immediately put her to work.

Sprinklers Reloaded

First, good news: We got approval today on refinancing our house in Los Angeles, so we now have enough funds to cover us through...September. Maybe October.

Second, I opened Pandora's box on the sprinkler appeal. When I was there over the July 4th weekend, we met with a consultant (read, building code enforcer for another county) to plan our appeal of the sprinklers. One of his suggestions was to see if we could get support from county and state officials. Now, in LA we have 9 county commissioners representing 13 million people, so I'm not exactly on a first-name basis with any of them. I sent letters to various officials and didn't expect to hear a word back.

Well, so far I received a personal call from State Representative Roy Baldwin and been contacted by the staff of Senator Arlen Specter, Representative Joe Pitts, State Senator Noah Wenger, State Representative Tom Creighton, and County Commissioner Pete Schaub. Commissioner Schaub was particularly interested and put several county resources on task for "resolving" the issue as soon as possible. That's wonderful, except...our hearing is next Thursday. So in the unlikely event that we can get the state historic preservation office, the county planning commission, the building inspector, the township, and the Dept of Labor & Industry together in one room before next Thursday, we might avoid the appeal altogether.

However, in the likely event that we can't get everyone together, then we'll probably just end up annoying everyone, and Dawn will have to deal with a hostile appeals board on Thursday.

Needless to say, Dawn has forbidden me from any further participation in this project.

The front door as required by the building code.

Amish roofers

If you recall, we had already signed with another roofer when After Eight B&B recommended an Amish roofer, Lantz Roofing. His bid was less than everyone else and his references were impeccable, but the real reason we decided to go with him is that he had Peach Bottom slate.

Peach Bottom is in the southern end of York County, right next to Maryland, and the blue slate quarried there is very high quality. In fact, the last "real" roof on the mansion was Peach Bottom slate. Unfortunately, the people that maintained the roof didn't know what they were doing and so they ended up destroying a lot of it, and then they patched it with cheap slate, so it was quite the mess. (Did I mention all the water damage in the house?)

The Peach Bottom quarries closed years ago and most slate today comes from Vermont. While we have nothing against Vermont, the idea of having Pennsylvania slate is really cool, although I can't explain why. But if the quarries were closed, then how is it that the Lantz Roofing had Peach Bottom slate? Because they'd just stripped it off a barn! It is about 80 years old, which is barely broken in; a good slate roof can last 300 years if properly maintained. So assuming all goes well, we'll never have to replace the roof again in our lifetime.

Quick aside: In 1760, the roof would have been hand-split cedar shakes. In 1795, it might have been slate, but probably not Peach Bottom -- that was still too far to transport by horse. Surprisingly, the historical folks were okay with slate. They were even okay with fake slate -- which is really formed rubber -- but that's so new we weren't sure what it would look like in 20 years. And in any case the materials cost was small compared to labor, so fake slate wouldn't have saved us much.

Even though they gave us permission, generally speaking Amish do not like having their photograph taken. There are various theories -- some say a photo is vain (deadly sin), some say it is a graven image (ten commandments), still others say they're just tired of tourists shoving cameras in their face (golden rule). Whatever the reason, I want to respect that, so I'll post a picture of an Amish doll instead. Note that the faces are not depicted.

Click to check out some Amish quilts

Lancaster Farming

First, a disclaimer: This web site is set up for the general public who may be interested in learning about our restoration progress. It is NOT maintained for friends, families, or contractors to critique. Thank you.

Now, another article, this one from 1960 when Speedwell Forge turned 200. It has a good picture of Dawn's father and grandfather. (The other two photos -- cows in the circle, the mansion with some 1950's cars -- I published earlier from the original photos.) Sadly, the article references Steven Darlington III, who was killed some years later when an automobile struck his bicycle. Reese Darlington is now a successful record producer in Los Angeles. And as scary as this thought is, I'm going to be the "country gentleman of historic old Speedwell Forge."

Click to enlarge [Careful readers will note two missing lines -- what can I say, I screwed up.]

Appeal scheduled

We submitted our appeal almost a month ago, and they were supposed to set a hearing date within 30 days. Well, we hadn't heard anything so Dawn called this morning, and found out the appeal was scheduled for July 14th (two days from now) AND THEY FORGOT TO NOTIFY US.

In their defense, this is the first appeal they've handled. Ever. They were quite apologetic and offered to continue it. Dawn called the architect and the local township and the only date that would work was July 28, which means we have to wait another two weeks.

I reminded Dawn that it's not just the sprinklers but all the other variance requests that have to get approved -- if they spare us the sprinklers but want us to replace the grand staircase instead, we haven't accomplished anything. Dawn reminded me that she's not an idiot, and if I wanted to make myself useful I should get my butt on a plane. We left it at that.

On the bright side, the phone company came by today and they were quite accomodating -- they will let us run the phone lines where we want, and they will even get rid of the old telephone pole, all at no charge to us. Contrast that with the electric company, who is extorting $1,100 from us not to erect a new pole in our yard. Amazing.

Oh, and This Old House will be here on Friday. As we were told pointedly, they are interviewing our contractor, not us. Nevertheless, I told Dawn to walk around with a sandwich-board that had our name and web site, and some catchy phrase like "The end is near" or "Two night minimum on weekends."

If anybody knows why there would be a brick-filled pit in front of a chimney base in the basement, please call me. (Heck, if anyone knows the proper term for a chimney base, please call me.)

Bath fixtures

While I harbor no illusions that anyone is interested in our fixtures list, we've spent so much time on it that it would be a shame not to include it. Dawn asked me not to include prices, but I can say it will be about $30,000 total, not including the kitchen. Ouch. (Apologies to homeclick.net for linking to their images. If you click on a product, it will take you to their web site.)

Product		Color	Qty.
	Bain Ultra Balneo Cella (72 x 40 x 27) clawfoot whirlpool air bath	White	1
Kathryn's room. Alternative: Aquatic Whirlpools Serenity X (as in "10") -- looks the same, but much less.
	Sanijet model 360 42" x 72" 6-jet pipeless whirlpool bath	White	2
Summer Kitchen, Paymaster's Office.
	Maax Stamina 48-I One-Piece Shower, Left Hand Seat	White	3
One-piece for our bath, Paymaster's office; three-piece for Summer Kitchen. (No way to get a one-piece upstairs.). Need to decide if we want a roof cap, and clear or obscure glass doors..
	Maax Studio One Piece Tub Shower	White	1
Boys' room. I tried to talk Dawn into putting in a whirlpool tub here as well, but she said no.
	Maax Bistro II One-Piece Round Shower	White	2
Kathryn's room and Bill's room. Getting it into Bill's room may be a challenge..
	Maax Bistro II/Optima Round Clear Sliding Door w/ Lateral Opening	Chrome	2
Kathryn's room and Bill'sroom. (Tempered glass--do not want plastic!)
	Kohler Memoirs 27'' Pedestal Lavatory w/ Classic Design	White	2
Boys' room, Summer Kitchen. (Too deep for other bathrooms) Ignore black photo; sink will be white.
	Kohler Memoirs 24'' Pedestal Lavatory w/ Classic Design	White	4
Kathryn's room, our bath, Paymaster's Office, powder room. Ignore biscuit photo; all bath fixtures will be white. Note: Kohler Kathryn sink is 27" x 20" but it is more expensive, 24" wide is more than adequate, and the Memoir looks nicer. For our bath, probably want a 30" vanity with drawers and storage instead!
	St.Thomas Barrymore Corner Pedestal Lavatory (24 1/4'' x 22'' x 34 3/4'' H)	White	1
Bill's room. Not sure how to hang a vanity mirror in the corner.
	Toto Drake ADA Two Piece Toilet	Colonial White	6
All baths except powder room. ADA is taller than regular toilet, and has an elongated seat.
	Toto Ultimate Toilet 1.6 GPF with Round Front Bowl	Colonial White	1
Powder room. (Still going to be a tight fit.)
	Toto Softclose Seat (Elongated)	Colonial White	6
All baths except powder room. (Ultimate comes with one.) This is too cool -- when you drop the slid, it slowly closes. I'm sure it will freak a lot of people out.
	Nutone SmartSense 110 CFM Exhaust Fan (Humidity Sensor)		6
All baths except powder room. Not quiet, but humidity-controlled.
	Nutone Duct-Free Fan/Light		1
Powder room. Since no existing duct, this just uses activated charcoal to recirculate the air. Built-in light.
	Bosch AquaStar 125B Gas Water Heater	Propane	3
Summer kitchen, Paymaster's Office, and radiant heat in mansion. This will produce 3 gal/minute, on demand, without any tank. Just don't try and run the bath and shower at the same time.

Addendum: After posting this, our plumber contacted Sanijet to get pricing, and they said they not only knew about Speedwell Forge, but had even gotten referrals from this journal! I'm not sure how that is possible, but in any case it didn't translate to any discount for us, so I'm not going to worry about it.

I will mention (for free) that we're using Sanijet because they don't have any pipes, so when you empty and clean the bath, it's really empty and really clean. If you want to see something disgusting, order their promotional video, which shows what's in the pipes of a conventional whirlpool tub. Let's just say I'll never be using one of those again...

Unfortunately, they don't make a clawfoot model, which we really wanted for Kathryn's bath, so we're getting an "air tub" instead. That also doesn't have pipes, but it does have a loud air blower, which we're going to put upstairs in the attic area. During my last visit we taped off Kathryn's bath, and with a 6' x 3.5' clawfoot whirlpool tub, it's going to be nice.

July visit

I just got back from a brief five-day visit. In addition to seeing the 1784 transfer agreement:
- We gave two tours that were a lot of fun. On my next trip in September, I'm going to contact some of the local historic societies and see if they are interested. After September, they'll be closing up the walls, so it will be the last opportunity to see the "guts" of the building.
- We met with PP&L and they agreed (for $1,100) to give us a transformer on the ground rather than put a pole outside the mansion.
- We spent three hours with the general contractor, who is concerned that Dawn is doing so much work, she is taking away his profit margin. :-) He showed us pictures of his house before he restored it and we realized (again) how lucky we are that the mansion is in such good condition.
- We met with a former building inspector, who agreed that sprinklers in the mansion were ridiculous, and he's going to give us some suggestions for our appeal. We should have a date for the appeal within two weeks.
- Brian and Bob put stone in the basement of the Paymaster's Office, getting ready to pour cement. There's a strange pit down there in front of the chimney, about five feet square, filled with bricks, and topped with a thin layer of mortar. We have no idea what it was for or why it is there. (And no, it's not a grave.) But, as always, we're trying to be sensitive and not destroy anything, so Brian is trying to figure out how to pour the cement around around this.
- With the rough framing of the bathrooms complete, we laid out our fixtures and realized that nothing was going to work! We're regrouping and I'll post new plans when they're ready.

We also reviewed the schedule with the general contractor, and things are about to get very interesting:
- Mike continues framing the mansion for the next 4-6 weeks
- The arborist comes in mid-July
- The roofers start by the end of July.
- Adam Moyer (who is doing plumbing, heating, and cooling) runs pipes and ductwork starting mid-July
- Joel Miller (electrician) runs his cables after Adam, starting mid-August
- While the subcontractors are in the mansion, Mike starts working on the cottages
- PP&L installs their new equipment in August
- The mason re-points the walls in September
- The septic field is built in September
- Mike comes back to the mansion in mid-September to do finish carpentry
- Jerry starts plastering by end of September. The plan is to go room-by-room, Mike first with carpenty, then Jerry with plaster, then Dawn with paint. This will go through next March.
- The driveway is resurfaced next March
- We get our occupancy permit, I move to PA, and we open the B&B. Woo-hoo!

Plans for the Paymaster's Office (click to enlarge)

1784 agreement

After Dawn picked me up at the airport, we picked out an engagement ring, then went to the Lebanon County Historic Society and got a copy of the original agreement transferring Speedwell Forge from James Old to his son-in-law, Robert Coleman. (You can see which of those interests me more.) I'd never held a 200-year old document before; that was pretty cool. Christine, the librarian, not only made us a copy, but she scanned it in and burned a CD as well!

What's really interesting about this document is how easy it is to read. Bear in mind, 200 hundred years ago handwriting was much different than today, and Webster didn't publish the first dictionary until 22 years after this was written. Except for the stylized "s" (looks like an "f"), this could have been written yesterday. Note the reference to Pennsylvania money -- the dollar wasn't adopted until 1786, and Pennsylvania didn't enter the Union until 1787!

Click to enlarge It says:
Articles of Agreement made and concluded upon
by and Between James Old of Lancaster County Iron Master
of the One Part And Robert Coleman of the said Count Iron
Master of the other Part Witnessing that the said James
Old has agreed and hereby doth agree in Consideration of the
Sum of Seven Thousand Pounds lawful Money of
Pennsylvania in Gold or Silver to be paid as herein after
mentioned to him his Heirs Executor Administratory or Assigns
by the said Robert Coleman his Heirs Executors or Administrator
to grant bargain and sell assure and convey unto the
said Robert Coleman his Heris and Assigns All that
Capital Messuage [a dwelling house and its adjacent buildings and land] or Lands commonly called or known
by the Name of Speedwell Forge Lands and of and
in all other the Lands Tenements Hereditaments [any property that can be inherited] & Premises
to the said James Old belonging Situate in the Townships of
Warwick, Elizabeth & localties Together with all Singular
the Appurtenances Tools & Utensils (Except one half of the
grain in the Ground) Which Grant & Assurance shall be
made on or before the first day of May next by
the said James Old & Margaret his Wife to the said Robert
Coleman his Heirs and Assigns for ever free from all Incumbrances And the said
Robert Coleman for himself his Heirs Exector or Admn.
doth hereby Covenant and agree to pay the said James
Old his Heirs Executors Administrators or Assigns the
Sum of Seven thousand Pount in Manner following
that is to say Two thousdand five hundred Pounds part thereof
on the first day of May next of four Hundred & fifty Pounds
Pounds on the first day of May for ten Years next following
without Interest. In Witness whereof the said Parties have
hereunto set their Hand & Seals the second Day of April
in the Year of our Lord one thousand Seven hundred & Eighty
Four It is agreed before Sealing & Delivery that the
Bond from William Old to the said Robert Coleman is to
be Discounted in the first Payment--

Sealed and Delivered
in the Presence of us James Old
William Coleman
Henry Good


Received May 7th, 1784 of Robert Coleman two Thousand
five Hundred Pounds in full for the first Payment of
Speedwell Forge. I say received by me James Old
[I have no idea what this word is]
Charles Faupel
William Coleman