David and Anne Singer of Chestertown were out of town for a few days at the beginning of July. When they returned, they noticed a puddle in the driveway but thought nothing of it. Maybe it had rained. But the next day, the puddle was still there. Was it a little larger? Long story short, a pipe under the driveway from the house had sprung a leak. They turned off the water to the house and called their plumber. However, it was now in the middle of the July 4th holiday. Their plumber was out on a job and not available. They called several other plumbers but each was either busy or didn’t have the large equipment necessary to dig down to the pipes. The Singers had now been over 24 hours with no water in their house. Finally, they found Doug Nicholson, Sr, plumber and electrician, who had the equipment and was willing to come in over a holiday for an emergency job. After excavating the full length of the driveway to a depth of about five, Nicholson unearthed something the Singers had never seen before – “tar-paper” pipes.
The Singers’ house is one of those wonderful old brick homes on Queen Street. Built around 1790, number 109 N. Queen Street is listed as “The Chambers House” in Michael Bourne’s Historic Houses of Kent County (p 350). According to Bourne, it was probably built at the same time (1788-90) as the Nicholson House, next door, with which it shares several architectural features including a molded Doric cornice, one of the earliest documented in Kent County.
The Chambers house is not known to be listed in any official records until 1811 when it appeared on a deed. The land was acquired in 1786 by Benjamin Chambers, a prominent attorney in the town who served as Clerk of the Court and later as a general of the militia at the Battle of Caulk’s Field. His prominence can be measured by the fact that in 1810 he moved to Widehall. At that point, he transferred the house to his son Ezekial Chambers, a prominent attorney in his own right and later a judge. The younger Chambers moved to Widehall in 1822, and the North Queen Street house became a rental property until 1865, when Chambers sold it to a local contractor, John Greenwood.
Then Greenwood sold the property just a year later to the Vestry of Chester Parish, who converted it into a residence for the rectors of Emmanuel Church. It remained in the hands of the parish until 1910. During that time, the house was expanded to add a pantry and dining room on the first floor and two bedrooms upstairs. Thereafter it had several owners until 1994, when the Singers bought it and began restoring it.
The tar-paper pipes were a surprise to the Singers but not to Nicholson who said that he had seen them often in the older parts of town. They looked like hollowed out logs. Not at all like today’s plastic pipes. The tar-paper pipe is made of wood pulp and pitch. It represents a less expensive alternative to classic clay piping which has been used throughout history, in ancient Rome, through Chinese dynasties, and into modern times, and is usually referred to as terra cotta.
In addition to tar-paper pipes being used as sewer pipes, they were frequently used as conduits for electrical wiring – notably in the Empire State Building and other skyscrapers. Tar-paper pipes were also adopted by the oil industry to pump salt wastewater out of drilling sites. Its use as sewer pipe was very common during World War II and into the 1950s, which fits Nicholson’s estimate that the pipe at 109 N. Queen St. was “about 70 years old.” The pipes are commonly called Orangeburg pipes from the name of the upstate New York town where they were manufactured by the Fiber Conduit Company, which later changed its name to the Orangeburg Manufacturing Company. Orangeburg pipes were widely used from 1860 until 1970, when plastic pipe such as PCV came into common use.
Bob Sipes, Utilities Manager for the town of Chestertown, said the sewer system on Queen Street was installed in the first decade of the 20th century, so it’s conceivable that the Orangeburg pipe, which is a lateral line leading from the town sewer mains to the house, dates back to that period. However, that would be unusually long for that sort of pipe to last. The town’s water and sewer systems were not built using Orangeburg.
Orangeburg pipe’s main liability is its tendency to flatten under pressure. The layers of rolled-up tar paper can also begin to separate, creating “bubbles” or humps. While its normal life expectancy was listed at 50 years and some can last considerably longer, Orangeburg was often known to fail within 10 years, usually due to the pressure of the soil in which it was buried. So this one, at 70 years old, did pretty well.
While we were there taking pictures and talking to the Singers and several neighbors who came by to see the progress, we noticed a steady stream of cars come slowly up the one-way street, carefully negotiating the speed bump and the construction. David Singer sighed and said that for some reason many GPS systems give this narrow, one-lane, one-way, residential street as the preferred route to downtown Chestertown rather than the wider Cross or Spring streets. At least, he noted, the drivers first view of Chestertown is the beautiful, historic homes of Queen Street.
Well, now the pipes are all replaced with modern longer-lasting pipes. The water is turned back on. The Singers can heave a sigh of relief. Until the next time. That’s the joys of owning an historical home – you never know what’s in the attic, under the stairs or the paint or even the driveway. But you learn a lot of fascinating history along the way.
(This article, “It Happened on Queen Street,” is the first in an irregular Spy series on the homes and history of Chestertown and Kent County. Please contact us if you have an idea for a future subject in the series, either below in the comments or by email to [email protected].)
Trena Williamson says
Doug Nicholson, Sr … couldn’t ask for a better (and nicer) resource in Chestertown. He has done many jobs on our old home.
James Urda says
Very interesting and quite fascinating. Thanks to Singers and to Jane Jewell…great story.
Jim Urda
Marty Stetson says
This is the kind of story I enjoy reading on The Spy, please do some more of them. I can get the other news from my daily and weekly newspaper or off the tube. My house was built in early 60’s and I suspect I have Orangeburge pipes and I do have trees, it is said the roots can cause problems with the pipes. Keeping my fingers crossed.
David Ryan says
GREAT STORY! Thanks for the interesting story on the homes of our time!
Amy Goodfellow Wagner says
I grew up in this house, which was owned by my family from 1963 until the early 1990s. It is actually older than reported in this article and in Michael Bourne’s book, Historic Houses of Kent County, as it was built in two stages. The back of the house clearly predates the front of the house, which likely does date from the late 18th century. The back of the house has three stories, like the front, but these floors all have much lower ceilings. The second floor of the house is in two levels: my family liked to refer to it as an early “split-level” house. In reality, the house has four floors. The internal configuration of the house is not visible from looking at its post-colonial facade. It is a wonderful house and I was so interested to learn something new about its infrastructure.
Elizabeth Alexander says
We have had to replace Orangeburg sewer lines in two of our historic homes. Talk about money down the drain!!