Building date: 1836
Original use:
Corner structures:
Mortar application and content: Vertical slight embellishment, herringbone anywhere.
Types and uses of stones: Small lake washed stone of various colors. The front wall has 3-4 rows of stones per quoin. Herringbone banding on three sides
Types and choice of windows: Wood lintels
Structures with similar masonry details:
Masons who worked on building:
Unique features:
Map views courtesy Google Maps. Address GIS Database and Google Earth confirmed; 43°11'57.38"N 76°39'17.97"W. Current owner of record Martin 190302.
Town of Victory and Cayuga County Maps
Additions to Schmidt's list - The front wall has 3-4 rows of stones per quoin.
12027 Route 38, Victory. Built in 1836 by J. Woodward. This structure was used as a school for girls in the 1830s. It stands at the south west corner of Route 38 and 370 in the hamlet of Victory. House is remarkably well preserved considering its age. There was a ballroom on the second floor. Wooden addition on rear used as a creamery. 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 eighth paragraph on page 40.
Post-Standard, Syracuse, April 26, 1959
We received the following letter from Mr. Gerald J. Parsons, head of the Genealogy and Local History Department of the Syracuse Public Library.
Possibly your readers would be interested in an old cobblestone house, the Woodford Homestead, in Victory, New York. Situated on the southwest corner of the intersection of Routes 370 and 38 in Victory village, this house was originally built as a school building for the Victory Academy by Joseph Woodford (1797-1876) a prominent resident and prosperous blacksmith of Victory and a son of Solomon Woodford (1751-1808), an early settler of the town of Cato.
A marble plaque in the front gable of the house reads: "Built by J. Woodford, 1836," and the stones for the house are said to have been brought from Fair Haven in carts drawn by oxen. Mr. Woodford sold this property to the Trustees of Victory Academy on May 15, 1837.
For some reason, probably default of payment, Joseph Woodford brought suit against the Trustees about 1842, and the property was ordered sold by the Cayuga County Court of Common Pleas. This was done at public auction in Cato June 18, 1842; and Joseph Woodford bought the property, being the highest bidder, and soon after made it his home. As late as 1950 some of his descendants were still living in the house.
According to some of his grandchildren, the second floor continued to be used as a private school for some years after the family took up residence there. The teacher's platform, which is built in at the front of the second floor between two clothes closets is still there and is framed by a lovely arch. Research courtesy Richard Palmer.
Later the frame wood wing was a dairy plant. Note on back of Vic-3 Martin 3.jpg image below.
The Victory Select School, courtesy the Tom The Backroads Traveller blog.
- "Cobblestone Masonry", 1966, Carl Schmidt: Name reference, Woodford - Martin House
- Page 22
- "Cayugas Cobblestones", by Ward O'Hara 1991
- Pages 20 - 21
 Screen Shot 2019-07-02.jpg4 Attribution not provided. |  GP Cayuga Victory Vic-3_1 N.jpg ¹ 10/30/1971 |  Vic_3_1.jpg |  Vic_3_2.jpg |
 Vic_3_3.jpg |  Vic_3_4.jpg |  Vic_3_5.jpg |  Vic-3 Martin 1.jpg ² |
 Vic-3 12027 Rt. 38 & 370 1.jpg ² |  Vic-3 12027 Rt. 38 & 370 2.jpg ² |  Vic-3 12027 Rt. 38 & 370 3.jpg ³ |  Vic-3 Martin 2.jpg ³ 10/13/1996 |
 Vic-3 Martin 3.jpg ³ 10/13/1996 |  IMG_0726.jpg 4 |  IMG_0731.jpg 4 |  IMG_0729.jpg 4 |
 IMG_0730.jpg 4 |
¹ Image courtesy Gerda Peterich.
² Image courtesy Cobblestone Museum
³ Photography courtesy Martin and Sheila Wolfish.
4 Photography courtesy Richard Palmer.
