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| Newbold-White House, ca. 1730, Hertford, NC |
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Brick – Brick was a more expensive and labor-intensive building material than frame or log during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Bricks were usually manufactured close to the construction site. They were formed in sand-dusted molds, sun-dried, and fired or “burned” on the building site. Early bricks vary slightly in size, but on average they are around 8¼ inches on the long face, 4¼ inches on the short end, and 2¼ inches high. The long face is known as a stretcher and the short end as a header, and the different brick bonds are described by the combination of stretchers and headers in each horizontal row, or course. There are several ways to arrange the bricks in each course. Alternating several courses of stretchers (3, 5, or sometimes even 7) with a course of headers is known as common bond or American bond, and often identified as a 3-over-1, or a 5-over-1 common bond depending on the number of rows of stretchers between the headers. English bond is composed of alternating rows of headers and stretchers. A variation of the regular English bond is English cross bond where each alternating course of stretchers is moved over half the length of a brick. One of the most popular and decorative bonds is known as Flemish bond, which consists of alternating headers and stretchers in each course, with each header over the center of the stretcher below. The English and Flemish bonds could be enlivened by the addition of so-called glazed headers, which could allow the bricklayer to create distinctive patterns. An excellent example of this can be seen at the Newbold-White House near Hertford, NC, which dates to around 1730. The bricklayer created a checkerboard pattern by laying the walls in a Flemish bond with glazed headers. The example of the Newbold-White House would have been time consuming and costly to produce. Bricklayers could also create a diamond-shaped motif known as a diaper or diapering, or even add the initials of the owner and the date when the house was built—this was common among Quaker settlers in southern New Jersey. Most of the historic use of brick we see in eastern North Carolina is on chimneys and foundations. Because of the low quality of early bricks and the varying colors – caused by uneven firing temperatures – owners sometimes applied a red wash to the finished wall or chimney to make it look uniform and provide an extra level of protection against the elements. The bricklayer could score the horizontal mortar joints while it was still soft using a ruler to create a straight line, which would subsequently be “penciled” with white paint to give the appearance from a distance of perfect brickwork. The uneven firing also created different quality brick, some of which was not suitable to be exposed to the elements. The softer brick is known as salmon or sammel brick was often used on the inside of walls. Over-fired bricks, known as clinkers, often ended up being used as pavement. (Photographs by Jeroen van den Hurk)
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