The Robinson-Clark House

Modern view of the Robinson-Clark House

One of the many things I love about our local history is the variety in the historic homes standing in Mill Creek Hundred. In this case, specifically, how some look immediately impressive, while others, at first sight, might seem a bit more, shall we say, utilitarian. However, if there's nothing else you've learned from this site over the years, I hope you've come to see that all these sites have fascinating stories of their own. The particular home we'll look at now is a two story, stuccoed, slightly asymmetrical three bay home, set just a few feet off of Hercules Road, just east of Newport Gap Pike. That puts it on the north end of the property across from Emily Bissell Hospital, which is important, because that's the tract it was historically connected to.

Eventually, and for most of its time, the house would sit on a 12 acre lot, but before that it was part of a larger tract. Actually, the 12 acres were originally on the northern edge of the 239 acres warranted to Bryan McDonald, Sr. in 1689. It was then part of the land willed to his son Bryan, Jr. in 1707, then part of the 286 acres sold to Jeremiah Wollaston in 1746. Wollaston in turn sold the northern 147 acres of it to George Robinson in 1757. Much of this was laid out in the post about the David Graves House, as our 12 acres were part of the original tract that also contained the Graves House. However, with the transition to the Robinson family, we turn our attention to the post detailing the later Henry Clark Woolen Mill. It was in fact the Robinsons who erected the first mill here along Hyde Run, sometime prior to 1781.

We can confidently push it beyond that date because in that year a certain deed specifically referenced a corn or grist mill on the property. But to get the full picture, we have to jump back a few years. I mentioned in the Henry Clark post that information about the Robinsons in general was hard to come by. While that's still mostly true, there are a few things specific to this tract that I've since found. When George and wife Elizabeth moved onto their farm in 1757 (probably building the original portion of the house that would later become Sunnybrook Cottage), they had two sons with them -- John and Jacob. When George died in 1766, he willed his land to these two sons. They owned it jointly until 1781, when they mutually divided the land more or less in half -- John took the portion west of Hyde Run and Jacob took the portion east. This deed dividing the land specifically mentions a mill. Ah, but there was another, younger brother.