Applethorpe Farm is a historic farmstead in northeastern Ross County,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

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. Located along Whissler Road north of the

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

of Hallsville, it was established by the family of John Buchwalter in the early years of the nineteenth century. Among the region's earliest settlers, the Buchwalters erected a large log building soon after taking possession of the property. As the years passed, the farm acquired the name of "Applethorpe" because its grounds included the first apple

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

in Ross County.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 2. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 1213. By 1840, John Buchwalter, Jr. owned the property; in that year, he decided to construct a new

farmhouse FarmHouse (FH) is a social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 33 active chapters and four associate ch ...

. Erecting an elaborate structure in the popular

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

style, he built its two- story walls of brick with

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

details. The house is generally a very symmetrical structure: the west-facing facade features an entrance in the central of five

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

, and twin chimneys rise above each end of the structure., Ohio Historical Society, 2007. Accessed 2010-09-25. Among its most distinctively Greek Revival elements is the classical

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

around the main entrance; it features a triple

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

with square columns, and the doors it shelters are heavy and constructed of multiple large components. In 1983, the Buchwalter house and the rest of Applethorpe Farm were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. As well as the house, two agricultural outbuildings qualified as

contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

within the area designated as historic. Key to the farm's recognition was the architecture of the farmhouse, which was seen as an exceptionally well-preserved example of the rural interpretation of the Greek Revival style.

References

{{NRHP in Ross County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Ross County, Ohio Houses completed in 1840 Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Greek Revival houses in Ohio Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Houses in Ross County, Ohio