Slate Roofs 2: The sequel (with a focus on N. Bennington)

It is hard to decide which roofs to show, or rather, which roofs not to show, since I enjoy them all.

But they are hard to photograph. When I look at a roof with my naked eye, I can see wonderful detail or color, but that often doesn't translate to the picture - if the sun is out, the slate shines, but on a cloudy day, the colors don't show. Photos taken of north sides are best, but some roofs don't face north. Photographing from a distance generally works well, but often trees or houses block my view.

So the photos I've selected to post here may change, as I figure out how to take better pictures.























The Park-McCullough observatory, built in 1864, now missing its iron cresting. Here's a slate roof that is just roofing, while the wood arches, corbels, and brackets are the high points. The Victorian emphasis on surface decoration doesn't come to the fore for another 20 years.





























The cupola of the Park-McCullough Stabling, built in 1864. Here the arched vents, the double pitch of the roof, and even the weather vane are more important than the slate.













The elegant tower of the N. Bennington train station.






Roof on a barn in Keene, NH - I imagine that when the load of slate arrived, the roofer looked over the color variation in the lot and decided he could make the diamonds.










The pattern on this roof in Pownal, VT, goes all the way around.












A hexagon slate pattern on a warehouse's Mansard roof, by the railroad in Hoosick Falls, NY













A circular tower with round columns, curly Ionic volutes on the capitals, circular slate, and a ball atop the finial - Bennington

















This pattern is on several houses and barns in N. Bennington.


The roof of the Congregational Church in N. Bennington is visible from quite a distance. People passing by on foot or on horseback had plenty of time to enjoy it, but today we whiz past in traffic. I had to take a backstreet so that I could slow down enough to really look.




Roof of Powers Market, in N. Bennington, and neighbors.







Read Slate Roofs 1: Looking up.

Slate Roofs 1: Looking up

Slate roofs are commonplace around Bennington, VT - you find them on mansions, cottages and sheds.

The slate roof here is just one more flourish on an exuberant Queen Anne Victorian.

A slate roof on a garage. Many roofs are laid like this, with no pattern.


The history of slate use in Bennington
The slate quarries are just up the railroad line in Rutland County, Vt., and Washington County, NY. From the 1800's to the 1920's, slate was the roof of choice. Slate patterns vary by town. In Bennington, many roofs have the same pattern of curved and straight slate, although the number of scalloped rows may vary.

Row of houses for mill workers, with slate roofs using rows of scalloped slate






Scalloped shingles become half circles, scales, when that's all there is. This roof is on the same street as the ones shown above.



Brattleboro, Vt. roofers laid their slate in a different pattern, a double overlap:








The Creamery Covered Bridge, just off Rte 9 in West Brattleboro, has a double-overlap roof like this one.



Slate is both strong and attractive
Good slate lasts at least 150 years, poor slate only 75 years. The underlayment, flashing, and nails will wear out well before before the stone, so slate pieces were often reused. As an added decorative bonus, slate comes in various colors, and pieces split from the same block will have gradations of color. Different quarries will also have different shades and intensities of a similar color.

Used slate showing the range of color - even in slate from the same quarry. The gray layer is sloughing off on the furthest left piece, revealing a reddish layer underneath.

Note double nail holes on all but one (indicating that those pieces have been used twice) and the vertical lines showing how the next layer of slate was laid upon these. The brown on the top half is dirt, and the little swirls are lichen.

Here are at least 4 different slate colors. The green pieces are probably patches. Some of the darkish red slate is also sloughing off and chipping with age.

Red slate has always been in short supply, and is therefore the most expensive. In 1879 three quarries produced red slate, but today there is only one.












a red slate roof on a company's headquarters





Some owners used slate to create eye-catching roofs, and some roofers had fine imaginations. Some quite simple houses have amazing roofs (Hoosick Falls roof, below) and some amazing mansions have simple roofs (photo at beginning of post).
Perfectly placed colors on a roof in Hoosick Falls, NY, with both scallops and hexagons.
The hexagon slate was used in Hoosick, but is rare in Bennington, just next door.



This roof uses the expensive red slate sparingly, for emphasis




The Thatcher House has slate on the walls as well as the roof, and all of it is scalloped.







Sometimes only one color is used, from one quarry. Here the church's walls and windows are what's important. The slate roof is a quiet surface, a complimentary color.



The decline of slate use
Beginning in the 1920's, if a slate roof failed it was replaced with asphalt shingles, the 'modern' solution. So the roofers who had installed slate had no reason to pass on their skills, and by the 1970's very few people could lay or repair slate roofs.

This roof in Brattleboro, may once have had a design, or the reddish slate were used for patching. Some of the slate in the lower right corner do not have enough overlap.





A roof with broken, missing (along the lower edge), and loose slate. The darker slate to the right is a patch.


Today, although we are relearning the old trade, we haven't mastered all the tricks. And sadly, many people don't value their original slate roofs. When I went to photograph an amazing roof for this article, I discovered that it was gone, replaced since I last saw it in the fall by dull, asphalt shingles.

As this post is about the general use of slate, I have left out photos of many delightful local roofs and details. My next post will be a series of neat roofs and towers, just for fun. In the meantime, here is a site and a book for more information:
Slate Valley Museum, in Granville, NY
The Slate Roof Bible, Joseph Jenkins, Jenkins Publishing, Grove City, PA, 2003

Read Slate Roofs 2: the sequel.