Building date: Circa 1833
Original use:
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Structures with similar masonry details:
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Map views courtesy Google Maps. Address is Google Earth confirmed; 43°15'52.40"N 77°03'29.39"W. Current owner of record, Sodus Properties LLC as of the 2019 Tax Roll.
Town of Sodus and Wayne County Maps
Editor's Note; The Swales Manor House is located about 800 feet north of Lake Road accessible by either of two private access roads. A valid street number address is not known. The 6800 Lake Rd. address provided is an approximate street address (not a valid USPS address) which allows Google Maps to accurately locate one of the access roads and approximate the location of the structure on Lake Rd. The GPS coordinates above provide the exact structure location amongst a number of surrounding structures. A property address of 6877 Lake Rd. is defined by Tax ID 69119-00-296244, a 858 acre parcel owned by Sodus Properties LLC, on which the Swales Manor House and many other buildings are located.
William Swales Manor House at 8600 Lake Road, Sodus, formerly the Sodus Fruit Farm, has been abandoned for many years and is rapidly deteriorating. This house is cobblestone covered with stucco. Richard Palmer blog.
"The Cobblestone Houses of Upstate New York", compiled by Dorothy Wells Pease. Research done in collaboration with Hazed B. Jeffery, supplemented with material furnished by Carl F. Schmidt, 1941. Reference the sixth paragraph on page 38.
Sodus Fruit Farm ca. 1911, Town of Sodus Historical Society.
Monroe Seen Key to Mystery of Cobblestone-Built Houses
Hear ye, hear ye, the complaint of the forgotten house?
Built in the Greek revival period, and ignored by books on that subject. A native of Western New York, and unmentioned in its history. A landmark in the Rochester area, and so takes for granted its past has been forgotten.
Such is the history of almost any of those built of cobblestone from lake shore and sand bank in an area roughly bounded on the east by Cayuga Lake, on the west by Gaines, on the north by Lake Ontario and on the south by the main highway through Canandaigua.
All any knows about the origin of the idea of building in cobblestone is that three wandering masons seem to have constructed many of the houses around Rochester for 1820-1880. In later years this original architecture was ... with, but the houses are as substantial as ever - except possibly for a few which were abandoned as one was tumbling down on an isolated road near Rochester Junction.
In Rochester two men are trying to trace the past of the cobblestone. One man is Walter H. Cassebeer, architect, who plans a series of articles when he collects sufficient material. Another is J. Sheldon Fisher of the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences who has been checking house in this neighborhood and would like any information available sent to him at the museum. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Monday, May 13, 1935
Following, an excerpt from a letter written June 9, 1935 by Mrs. Etta A. Yeomans, Sodus N. Y., Lake Road, addressed to J. Sheldon Fisher, Museum of Arts and Science, Rochester, N. Y.
Dear Sir: I read with interest your article about "[Monroe Seen Key to Mystery of] Cobblestone[-]Built Houses" and your wishing information about them sent to you.
Early in the Town of Sodus History a Mr. Swales of England and his family came to Sodus N. Y. and purchased a large track of land on the Lake Road, covering many thousands of acres, and later built at least twelve cobblestone buildings: two were cobblestone school houses, and the others residences or barns. Many of these farm building are still in repair and used as residences.
The Swales property covers what is now known as the Sodus Fruit farm at that time extending west to the Dufloo Road and east to Preston Mills, then south and west taking in a large acreage of farms and land.
Mrs. Hannah Swales, a niece of the original owner lives on Mill Street, Sodus, N. Y., next house south of Minnie Grangers, and she used to live in her Uncle Swales family.
William Swales Cobblestone Houses and Cemetery Records. Richard Palmer blog.
The Cobblestone Society & Museum Tours:
Preston - Gaylord House 4th Annual 06/06/1964Wayne Historians Organization (WHO), Historic Sites Inventory Cobblestone house
Sod-37 Swales Manor House
 IMG_1769.jpg ¹ 1959 |  IMG_1773.jpg ¹ 1959, Main stairway and hall. |  image 2.jpg ² Cobblestone beneath the stucco, ca. 1906 |  6800 Lake Road, Sodus.jpg ³ |
 6800 Lake Road, Sodus 2.jpg ³ |  6800 Lake Road, Sodus - 3.jpg ³ |
Cobblestone Barn and Abandoned Swales Stone Tenant House
 IMG_1763.jpg ¹ Cobblestone barn still in use in 1959. |  IMG_1757.jpg ² Cobblestone barn is collapsing ca. 2019. A cobblestone house was located some distance to the north. |  Swales Manor tenant house 2.jpg ² |  Swales Manor tenant house.jpg ² |
 Sod-37 Swales Manor House 1.jpg 4 Pease Collection 1940-41. Unknown cobblestone structure. Unknowingly the photographer had a finger in front of the lens. |
¹ Image courtesy Richard Palmer blog. Attribution not provided.
² Image courtesy Steve Heald, Sodus Historical Society. This structure is about to be demolished for new development. Richard Palmer email 12/4/2020
³ Photography courtesy Richard Palmer.
4 Image courtesy Cobblestone Museum.
