Building date: 1849 - Demolished late 1970s.
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Map views courtesy Google Maps. Google Earth approximate location; 43°10'50.96"N 77°00'38.10"W.
Town of Sodus and Wayne County Maps
"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 fourteenth paragraph on page 39.
"Cobblestone Structures of Wayne County" Roach House excerpt, 1955, Verlyn Edward Klahn, pages 319 and 320. Essay submitted for Hoffman Foundation, Wayne County History Scholarship, awarded 1955. Reprint permission granted by Wayne County Historian.
In October, 1970 (slide is dated), I took a series of photos for a field trip I was developing for my 7th graders and as a project for my Masters Degree. Among them is a cobblestone structure which at the time was abandoned due to having suffered a fire (don't know when the fire was, but maybe there is reference to it somewhere). It sat there in deteriorated condition until at least 1974. It was probably 1974 or 1975 that it was demolished. I don't have an exact location but it was on the east side of South Geneva Road in Sodus just north of the intersection with Quarry Road. My notes say that it was 1.4 miles north of the Sodus-Lyons town line. I did this trip for about 14 or 15 years beginning in 1971, and "the burned out cobblestone house" is still listed in my 1974 manual, but later manuals say there was once a cobblestone house here that has been torn down.
It is my understanding the Roudabush survey took place in the late 1970's, so this house would have been gone by then. I don't know if he had information about missing structures or not. Gene Bavis email 11/27/2019.
Gene, I checked the Klahn Hoffman Essay and #32. Roach Place, South Geneva Road seems to be a match. The provided map shows the structure further south on the east side of S. Geneva Road just north of McMullen Road. Currently at that area the road is Maple Street Road, not South Geneva Road. In either case, north of either Quarry or McMullen roads, there are new structures which may be on the same site. Neither Schmidt or Roudabush mention this structure.
If the structure was 1.4 mile north of the town line as you state, then the Quarry Road area would be correct and the Klahn Hoffman Essay map is incorrectly marked. Further evidence in the 1853 Wayne County map (Photographs section below) shows a S. Bockoven structure at the Quarry Road area, but there is no structure at the McMullen area. If you agree, I will place the location at the S. Geneva and Quarry Rds. area in the Cobblestone Info Base structure page for the building. Greg Lawrence, Cobblestone Info Base Editor, email reply 11/27/2019. Greg Lawrence email reply 11/27/2019.
The Sodus Town Historian lists this house as having been destroyed. Richard Palmer email 11/28/2019.
Merritt Thornton House History Sheet. [Structure] does appear to have been used as a tenant house from at least 1882 on. From the personal research of cobblestone historian Karen Crandall.
- Cobblestone Structures of Wayne County, Verlyn Edward Klahn, 1955: Name reference, #32 Roach Place, Pages 319-320
- "Cobblestone Masonry", 1966, Carl Schmidt: Name reference, Cottrell House
- Page 183
Editor's Note: The location of this structure almost exactly matches Schmidt's description of about three miles south of Wallington.
 1853 Wayne County Sod-41 Excerpt Map.jpg ¹ |  Sod-41 Roach 1.jpg ² Pease Collection 1940-41 |  So Geneva Rd near Quarry 10-1970.jpg ³ October 1970 |
¹ 1953 Wayne County NY Map excerpt courtesy Library of Congress.
² Image courtesy Cobblestone Museum.
³ Photography courtesy Gene Bavis.
