Everyday Architecture of the Mid-Atlantic

From the 18th-century, single room "mansions" of Delaware's Cypress Swamp district to the early 20th-century suburban housing around Philadelphia and Wilmington, from the gable-fronted barns of Virginia's Eastern Shore to the stone bank barns of south-eastern Pennsylvania, the architectural landscape of the mid-Atlantic region is rich and varied. In this field guide to the region's vernacular architecture, the authors view the mid-Atlantic region as a crossroads, where diverse building traditions have overlapped and influenced one and other for generations. The book explores the character of pre-1940 domestic and agricultural buildings in the towns and rural landscapes of southern New Jersey, Delaware, and coastal Maryland and Virginia. Appraoching their subject "archaeologically", the authors examine the "layers" of a structure's past to show how it changed over time and to reveal telling details about its occupants and the community in which they lived. The text provides architectual information as well as a working methodology for anyone who wants to explore and learn from traditional architecture and landscapes.The author's conclude that, as a vital cultural artifact, the distinctive architecture of the mid-Atlantic needs to be identified, recorded, and preserved.