Author Jean Cochrane will tell stories from her research about The Old Stone Heap, the oldest standing home in Ithaca.

The many lives of this home, also known as Davenport’s Tavern, have engaged a full arc of community life across more than two centuries. From the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʔ to pioneer settlers on a farm that wrapped around the Cayuga Inlet to West Hill; from village presidents to professors; from tenant farmers to an Arts and Crafts acolyte; from the Voice of Cornell Football to a grumpy old man whose deathbed testament left the Heap in limbo for years. Images of this New World Dutch stone house will illustrate its architectural uniqueness and multiple transformations across time, including rare scenes from a Wharton Brothers silent film. Sparked by curiosity about Cochrane’s ancestors’ interlude here as dairy farmers, her research weaves together social and architectural history to reveal a home with “one of the finest views in Tompkins County.”

This presentation will include a powerpoint and Q&A