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Marcus Hook |
The Plank House itself is a one-and-a-half story, hall-plan house featuring a finished upper level and full cellar. The house is constructed using sawn planks fitted together with dovetail joinery and caulked with oakum in a manner similar to that seen in one of the only other plank houses known in the region, the Christopher Vandergrift House in New Castle County, Delaware. Some of the original riven lath remains on the interior of the house and it is felt that the walls were finished with plaster at the time of construction or soon thereafter. A stone and brick relieving arch in the cellar supports the fireplaces and chimney stack. The upper level of the house, accessed via a winder staircase located in the northeastern corner of the structure essentially mirrors the main room below except that it has an inclined garret ceiling, which follows the peak-pinned rafters. The upper room also features a fielded panel fireplace surround which is felt to be original. Both the architecture of the house and the archaeology indicate a probable construction date of circa-1735.
The Plank House is Delaware County's most recent inductee into the National Register of Historic Places and was listed as of April 2017.