Deconstructing the Past — The end of an old farmhouse
All traces of the farmhouse at 11703 Noggles Rd, the focus of the Deconstructing the Past project, have now been removed.
by Sybil Kolon
This house now has a beginning and an end. What happened within its walls and in the farmyard and fields that surrounded it during that time has been the subject of the Deconstructing the Past project. Since walls cannot talk, we relied on memories, local history, pictures, documents, and conjecture to bring some of its secrets to light. The Manchester Area Historical Society was instrumental in helping our team share this story. There is much more to be gleaned that can illuminate our understanding. That process is ongoing.
For now, we document its final stages with pictures and words to help establish its place in history and set the stage for more research.
“This house” is the farmhouse at 11703 Noggles Rd in Manchester Township that was and is the subject of the Deconstructing the Past project. All traces of the house have now been removed. Last fall, the house was methodically deconstructed, with much of the lumber, timbers, and other materials reclaimed for future use.
The fieldstone foundation sat through the winter, awaiting the right conditions for removal. Those things all came together in the past few weeks and the work was completed on April 26.
We are continuing to work on telling this story, which has evolved into three themes related to this location over time:
- The natural lands that provide the foundation for human habitation;
- How the people who lived here over time lived on and with the land and how that can inform our own connection to the land;
- What we can learn from that in order to live more sustainably to ensure that the land can continue to support us and the natural world on which we depend.
The original goal of this project, which went along with the donation of this property by my husband and me to Legacy Land Conservancy as a public nature preserve, was to connect people to the land. Why do people need to be connected to the land? Because people will take care of what they know about and understand, especially when they realize that their well-being and the well-being of future generations depend on taking care of it.
When we began to grapple with the fate of the vacant farmhouse, which sat at the only entrance to the preserve, it became obvious that the known history of the people who lived on this land for 165 years was a way to connect people to the land.
The original dream was to turn the old farmhouse into a small museum. That idea got no traction, but we learned about deconstruction in the process. Legacy Land Conservancy was going to demolish the house, sending everything to the landfill. Legacy agreed to fund the somewhat more expensive but more sustainable process of deconstruction that also allowed for a unique learning opportunity. Timbers and lumber were reclaimed and will be repurposed.
We will continue to share more details and history as we sift through the information we have acquired and see what is yet to be found. For now, the focus turns to preparing the land to become a preserve. Native seeds will be planted where the foundation was. A gravel parking lot will be installed. Signage and trail upgrades are being planned. A detailed stewardship management plan will be prepared.
The Iron Creek Preserve is expected to open in the spring of 2025. Until then, limited access will be allowed during volunteer events. Two are already planned. Both are on Thursdays, May 9 and May 23, from 3 to 5 pm. Register here: https://legacylandconservancy.org/event/5-9-workday-at-iron-creek-preserve-remove-invasive-species-garlic-mustard/
Richard and Ann Sutton began building the house in about 1858. Three generations of Suttons lived there until 1937, living off the land. Then it was neglected like so many other marginal farms after the Depression. The Kolongowski family came along in 1948 and revived the farm. The house was renovated and expanded, including electricity and plumbing. Corn, chickens, geese, and ducks were raised. Two more generations followed.
Much more about this project, including the names of all the people and groups who have supported it, is available at the Manchester Area Historical Society website: www.mahs/dtp.org. We invite you to explore that at your leisure. Be sure to come back as we add more content.
The last chapter of this house deserves final recognition:
The fieldstones that formed the walls of the basement were gathered nearby over 160 years ago. When the glaciers receded over 10,000 years ago, they left behind sand, gravel, rocks, and boulders. The materials for the foundation of the house were at hand.
After the Suttons dug the hole and collected the rocks, they needed only water, sand, and lime to make the mortar to hold the stones together to build the Michigan basement. Iron Creek provided water, sand was everywhere, and lime was another natural resource that was readily available.
How much of a wall could be built in a day? It must have taken many weeks of hard labor. Did the neighbors help? Did they have a temporary shelter? Maybe they were staying with Ann Sutton’s family at the house just a few hundred feet down the road? It was hard work. They succeeded. Another family took over. Now these eighty acres will become the Iron Creek Preserve and return to something like what it once was when the idea to build a home here was first conceived.
It took only two days for the entire foundation to be removed. As the foundation was removed, the old mortar gave way and all of the stones fell apart. They will go back to the earth.
One of the things that helped with the final step of removal of the foundation was the donation of sand needed to fill the foundation. Both Legacy Land Conservancy, who funded the deconstruction, and Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit, who performed the work, are nonprofits. When Holcim US learned about the need for sand after acquiring Farmer’s Sand & Gravel north of Manchester, they decided the process of creating a nature preserve in Manchester Township deserved their support. “The Holcim Manchester Sand & Gravel team was happy to contribute to the new nature preserve that is sure to be enjoyed by everyone in the community. As a proud member of this community, we are committed to showing our collective support to the Manchester community and everyone in it.” — Billy Curry, senior operations director at Holcim US.
While there have been discoveries made during the deconstruction process, one significant part of this project is that the foundation was removed by Keith and Brad Alber, the great-, great- and great-, great-, great-grandsons of Richard and Ann Sutton. Keith’s grandmother was Hazel Sutton Alber, who was born in this house, the granddaughter of Richard and Ann Sutton. If anything about this project typifies “coming full circle,” that just might be it. Hazel’s brother, Harry, was the grandfather of Laura Sutton, who still lives in Manchester and has helped us tell the story of the Sutton family.
In 1824 this land was originally surveyed by the US government in order to lure settlers from the east. The Indigenous families who lived here before then surely loved its slopes, the burbling creek, and took sustenance from it, too. Two hundred years later the new purpose of this land is to sustain and enhance the native plants and animals that have managed to withstand the advances of European settlement. Nature and people are resilient. We can learn, adapt and prosper together.
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