2010 Featured House - The Isaiah B. Christian House - c. 1800

Dennisville is a superbly preserved village with a rich 18th and 19th century maritime history and has excellent examples of houses from the 5 major building periods that span from the early 18th century to the early 20th century. Many of the early settlers were gentleman land owners and merchants involved in the lumber trade with the cities of Philadelphia and Wilmington. By the early 19th century the village had become the residence for many bay/sea captains and ship builders in addition to shop keepers. Ships were built and launched at Dennis Creek Landing until the late 19th century. Cedar shingle mining, a unique and short lived industry, occurred in the nearby swamps. In the late 19th century Independence Hall was re-roofed with shingles mined and cut by two local tradesmen, then shipped from Dennisville to Philadelphia. The first post office in Cape May County was located at Dennis Creek Landing in 1802. In 1848, however, Dennisville lost out to Cape May Court House in its bid to become the County Seat.

The Isaiah B. Christian house is a gentleman farmer's home that is a well-preserved example of Greek Revival architecture. Isaiah Christian was a successful farmer in the early to mid 19th century and the progenitor of the Christian family that lived in the northern sections of Cape May County. The front portion of the home was built by him late in his life around 1842, just a few years before his death. The exterior sports a hipped roof entry porch that shades an ornately-carved decorative crown with simple pilasters. The house is a great example of the transitional building techniques between the earlier heavy timber framed structures found throughout Cape May County and the balloon framing used in Victorian-style houses built after the 1850's. The fireplaces in the front portion of the home have expertly-carved mantles and were primarily used for heating rather than cooking. Please take notice of the simple, but elegant decorative trim found around the doorways, windows and floors throughout this portion of the home.

The middle section is the earliest portion of the home and was built around 1800. It was originally a simple, 1½-story dwelling that consisted of one common room downstairs and a bedroom upstairs. It was most likely moved from nearby and attached while the 1842 section was being constructed. It has exposed corner posts with little ornamentation. The joists overhead in this section are exposed and feature hand-planed beaded edges. A large cooking fireplace dominates the east wall of this room.

We purchased our house in March of 1980 after a several months search for an old house that had not been "remuddled." Although the exterior was in fairly good shape, the interior was uninhabitable. The previous owner had raised the center of the house about six inches and replaced the floor joists due to a severe termite problem. The dining room is partially supported by original oak hewn floor joists. Yellow pine planks were lying about which eventually became the floors on the first storey. The house had no electricity, no plumbing, no heat source. However, the plaster walls were in relatively good shape and were a good grade of plaster so we bought the house, much to the amazement of our families.

The original portion of the house was constructed at the turn of the 19th century and has a large cooking fireplace. This room was damaged by a fire at some point and the interior walls had been removed. We utilized this room as our kitchen for many years until we put an addition on the rear of the house. A winding staircase leads to a bedroom.

The 1845 portion of the house is the section closest to Route 47. This section of the house consists of two rooms downstairs, center staircase which is enclosed, leading to the second storey which has four bedrooms and a bath. All of the trim work is original, the dining room trim being a bit "fancier." The first floor windows are larger then the second storey windows and are original to the house. All the doors are also original.

In 1998 the addition which now houses our kitchen, dining area and a master bedroom was built. The pine floorboards were once trees that grew across the street and were left over from a neighbor's project. They are of random width but we have several that are over 10" wide.