The Loom House

The Loom House. . , This line of bricks marks the location of a log structure that stood behind the Sherman-Fisher-Shellman House., The one-and-one-half story structure served as a loom house. The 1822 inventory of the estate of Jacob Sherman, the first owner of the house, lists nearly 900 yards of linen and cotton cloth that had been woven by at least one black slave, Lucy Behoe (b. 1802 - d. 1851). When Jacob's wife Elizabeth died in 1842, she bequeathed to Lucy a "Weaver's Loom, leading to the conclusion that Lucy was the weaver in the household . The loom house was probably intended as living quarters for Lucy and her children, William Henry, Mary Ann, and Frances Anna., In the late 19th century the building appears to have been used as a summer kitchen. It was demolished sometime between 1904 and 1908. Because it was built without a masonry foundation, no archaeological evidence of the loom house remains., [Captions:] , This detail from the 1887 Sanborn map of Westminster shows the location of the loom house (designated as a kitchen at that time) in relation to the Sherman-Fisher-Shellman House. This map was a key to finding the exact location of the structure., These c. 1900 images of the Shellman yard show the loom house. The couple in the images are believe to be Elizabeth Tyson and Henry Johnson. Elizabeth Tyson worked as a cook for the Shellman family and was living in the main house as early as 1870 when she appears in the Federal census. She married Henry Johnson in 1881.