Historic Moment: 98 W. Genesee St.
By Jorge Batlle
Skaneateles Village Historian
John Briggs, a Revolutionary War veteran, built a log cabin on this property and then constructed what is now the rear wing of the house in 1815. He sold it to Nicholas Thorne who had the front portion built in 1824, said to be designed by architects that did the work on George Washington’s home at Mt. Vernon. According to local author E. N. Leslie, local carpenters Peter Thompson and Joseph Billings were the builders. They had built many of the prominent homes in the area.
One of the most prominent features is the front entrance, called a “Salem Door.” This type of door was popular in the Federalist style of architecture having delicate features in the side lights and fan light. A portico with Tuscan style columns frames the doorway. A unusual balustrade sits over the doorway with delicate architectural features such as urn-like turnings topping the posts.
Nicholas Thorne died in 1832. His widow was forced to sell the home to pay off her husband’s debts. A British born Quaker, James Cannings Fuller, bought the house and 156 acres for $9,500. (That is about $284,277 in today’s money, and the current market value of $615,385) Fuller described his holdings as having a large house, barn with stables, cider house, sheep house corn house, field barn and worker’s cottage. Thirty acres are woodland, and there are small orchards of apple, cherry, peach and plum trees.
The two story east side portico was added about 1848, as well as heating stoves, after the family trying to keep their English habits of living, shivered through many central New York seasons.
James Cannings and Lydia Charlton Fuller were traditional Quakers in both spiritual habits and dress. Even after moving to Skaneateles they continued to wear the traditional English Quaker style clothes.
Fuller was an abolitionist, as the Quakers believed that slavery went against their beliefs of the brotherhood of man, and that slavery was a moral issue, not a political issue. slavery was despised in the Skaneateles community. In 1837, the Skaneateles Anti-Slavery Society formed. The Fullers were deeply involved in this Anti-Slavery Society and the Underground Railroad.
About 1839, James Fuller opened his home as a station on the Underground Railroad.
Slaves traveled at night on a route from Syracuse to Marcellus, to Skaneateles and on to Auburn. According to local authors Barbara Spain and Karen Anklin, the Fuller home was one of these stations where slaves could rest and get something to eat. There was a rumor that the house had a “blind cellar” for hiding the slaves. This cellar has never been located.
James Cannings Fuller died in his home Nov. 25, 1847 at the age of 54. He is buried in Lake View Cemetery in the Quaker portion that he had donated to the Cemetery. Wife Lydia continued with anti-slavery work.
1851, Syracuse abolitionist Dr. James Fuller, son of Lydia and James, were part of the successful rescue of freedom seeker William “Jerry” Henry sending him to Kingston, Ontario. This is now known as the ‘Jerry Rescue.’ Sumner Fuller, another son of James and Lydia, assisted the Rev. Jermain Loguen, another Syracuse freedom seeker, who left his horse and carriage at the Fuller house and Sumner drove him west.
Lydia Fuller died December 12, 1857 and is buried beside her husband James in Lake View Cemetery.
James Allen Root purchased the house from Lydia Fuller’s estate in 1861. He too was a strong abolitionist and the house continued to be a meeting place for persons of that opinion. He started a nursery and locals began calling it Evergreen Manor. Most of the large evergreen trees and those in Lake View Cemetery were most likely planted by Mr. Root.
He also had apple orchards and was known as “Appleseed Root.” He developed a process to remove apple seeds by evaporation, and supplied seeds to customers in the State of Washington. In 1900 the property was sold and two roads were laid out, one of them appropriately called Orchard Road.
In 1934, now the residence of Mrs. Thomas Merrian, the house was included in the U.S. Government survey of historic buildings, where a complete set of architectural drawings were preserved in the Library of Congress.
In 1935, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, on her way to speak at Wells College, in Aurora, stopped at Evergreen Manor to have lunch. She was given a tour of the house then stayed a short while to work on her knitting before her 3 p.m. departure.
There were subsequent private owners. Mary VanVranken, Walter and Norman Wilson, Marian Labourdette, the Wittkuhns, the Walters, the Whitmans, the Awes, the Honsakers, the Oskouis. In 1989 Evergreen Manor once again opened for guests as a bed and breakfast by John and Jean Marino. In 1998, Regina Hannan owned the manor.
In 2002, the Hannans applied to status on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2003, Hannan’s daughter Amanda, experienced what was a long rumored ghost sightings, of an apparition walking through a wall. She contacted the Atlantic Paranormal Society’s cable tv The Syfy Channel’s program “Ghost Hunters.” They sent a crew out spending a week at the house, and provided Hannan a room at the Holiday Inn in Auburn while they searched the house. The investigators didn’t have much in the way of hard data. They said that did corroborate feeling some of the sensations, unusual noises, opening doors and the presence of people behind them.
In 2016 the Federal National Mortgage Association was the owner of record, followed by Colin Carroll. As of 4/30/2019, the current owners of record, the Broges from Temple City California, have applied to the village to again open the home as a bed and breakfast.
Submitted photo
The home at 98 W. Genesee St., has had a long and interesting history in Skaneateles.
