SNELSON-BRINKER HOUSE ______HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT ______Prepared by the MTSU Center for Historic Preservation
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________________________________________________________________________ SNELSON-BRINKER HOUSE ______________________________________ HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT ______________________________________ Prepared by the MTSU Center for Historic Preservation ___________________________________________________ Submitted to the National Park Service, National Trails Intermountain Region, Santa Fe, NM December 2016 ________________________________________________________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS This report was prepared by: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 Amy Kostine, Trail of Tears Project Coordinator Location ................................................................................................................ 2 Ashley Brown, Fieldwork Coordinator Historical Background and Context .................................................................. 3 Introduction .................................................................................................. 3 Levi Lane Snelson Establishes a Homestead ............................................. 4 The Brinker Family & The Trail of Tears ..................................................... 6 The Snelson-Brinker House, 1852-Present ............................................... 12 Snelson-Brinker House Architectural Description ......................................... 21 South Elevation ......................................................................................... 24 West Elevation .......................................................................................... 25 North Elevation .......................................................................................... 25 East Elevation ........................................................................................... 29 Interior ....................................................................................................... 29 Preservation Needs Assessment and Recommendations ............................ 32 Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Preservation .................................... 32 Additional 1830s Resources at the Snelson-Brinker House ......................... 51 Brinker-Houston Cemetery ........................................................................ 51 Historic Road ............................................................................................. 63 Additional Structures at the Snelson-Brinker House ..................................... 64 Smokehouse/Root Cellar .......................................................................... 64 Privy ........................................................................................................... 66 Water Pump Site ....................................................................................... 66 Appendix ............................................................................................................ 67 A. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form ......................... 67 B. Crawford County Survey Report No. 135 ............................................. 79 C. Mothballing Checklist ............................................................................ 81 D. Maintenance Chart ............................................................................... 82 Endnotes ............................................................................................................ 83 Table of Contents Snelson-Brinker House HSR INTRODUCTION National Register Criteria for Evaluation from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service This study was made possible by a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Task Agreement with the National Trails Intermountain Region of the National Park The quality of significance in American history, architecture, Service (NTIR) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. archaeology engineering, and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, The Snelson-Brinker House in Crawford County, Missouri, is a certified site on the and association, and: Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. In 2007, the property was listed in the National A. That are associated with events that have made a Register of Historic Places under Criterion A and D for its association with the significant contribution to the broad patterns of our Cherokee Trail of Tears (see Appendix A). The property includes the Snelson- history; or Brinker House (originally built in 1834 and extensively remodeled and rebuilt in the B. That are associated with the lives of significant persons 1980s), the Brinker-Houston Cemetery (established in 1837), a smokehouse/root in our past; or cellar (built ca. 1880 and rebuilt ca. 1988), a ca. 1910 cast iron water pump, and a 1 C. That embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, ca. 1988 privy. Although the Snelson-Brinker House and its associated period, or method of construction, or that represent the outbuildings are listed as noncontributing resources in the National Register work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, nomination, the Brinker-Houston Cemetery and fields located east of the house or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack distinction; or are listed as contributing features for their role as burial sites and campsites respectively for the Trail of Tears. Seeing a need to better understand the history D. That may have yielded or may be likely to yield, information important in history or prehistory. and preservation needs of the Snelson-Brinker property, NTIR approached the Center for Historic Preservation (CHP) at Middle Tennessee State University to A contributing resource has the following characteristics: complete a Historic Structure Report for the site. • It was present during the period of time that the property achieved its significance; • It relates to the documented significance of the CHP staff first visited the Snelson-Brinker House in January 2014 in order to property; document the property as part of a partnership project with NTIR to survey • It possesses historical integrity or is capable of yielding important information relevant to the significance of the buildings associated with the Cherokee Trail of Tears. In March 2016, CHP staff property. members Amy Kostine, Ashley Brown, and Dr. Carroll Van West visited the property again in preparation for this report. Special thanks are due to Deloris A noncontributing building, site, structure, or object does not add to the historical associations, historic architectural Wood (President of the Missouri Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association) and qualities, or archaeological values for which a property is Pete Vannatta (caretaker for the Snelson-Brinker property). significance because: It was not present during the period of time that the • property achieved its significance; • It does not relate to the documented significance of the property; Due to alterations, disturbances, additions, or other • changes, it no longer possesses historical integrity or is capable of yielding important information relevant to the significance of the property. Introduction Snelson-Brinker House HSR 1 LOCATION A segment of the original road which ran in front of the house and cemetery is located on the property, as well. More than 10,000 SNELSON-BRINKER HOUSE SITE MAP Cherokee traveling on what is known today as the Northern Route of the Trail of Tears 1-Snelson-Brinker House National Historic Trail journeyed down the 2-Smokehouse/root cellar 3-Privy extant road segment during their forced 4-Water Pump 3 4 5-Brinker-Houston Cemetery removal to Indian Territory in 1838-1839. 2 1 5 CRAWFORD COUNTY, MISSOURI MAP Approximate distance between Approximate location of house and cemetery is 366’ Trail of Tears route N Figure! 1. Snelson-Brinker House Site Map. Basemap courtesy of Google Earth. Snelson-Brinker The Snelson-Brinker House (UTM NAD83, Zone 15N: 631682E, 4201154N) is House located on a 1.7-acre parcel of land bordered on all sides by the Woodson K. Woods Memorial Conservation Area on the north side of State Highway 8, approximately nine miles west of Steelville and two miles east of Maramec Spring Park in Crawford County, Missouri (see Figures 1-2). In addition to the log house, the property includes a smokehouse/root cellar (UTM NAD83, Zone 15N: 631701, 4201156), privy (UTM NAD83, Zone 15N: 631690, 4201166), water pump site (UTM NAD83, Zone 15N: 631708, 4201167), and the Brinker-Houston Cemetery (UTM NAD83, Zone 15N: 631805, 4201150). While the house and outbuildings Figure! 2. Crawford County, Missouri Map. Basemap are located in close proximity to one another, the cemetery is situated courtesy of Google Earth. approximately 366’ east of the Snelson-Brinker House. Location Snelson-Brinker House HSR 2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND & CONTEXT When the Reverend Daniel Butrick penned this account of the Richard Taylor detachment’s difficulty and delay in crossing INTRODUCTION the ice-laden Mississippi River into Missouri, he was a little more than halfway through a “We are told the detachment will probably be able to proceed on the journey journey to Indian Territory along the tomorrow. It will then have been three weeks since our arrival on the other bank “Northern Route” of the Trail of Tears. The of the [Mississippi] river. About half the detachment [had] crossed when the ice Taylor detachment was