Windows, Closets, Taxes, and Indians: Architectural Legends and Myths

Windows, Closets, Taxes, and Indians Architectural Legends and Myths PAMELA SIMPSON Washington and Lee University "There are no windows (or closets) on this side of the house because there was a tax on windows (or closets) back in those days, and where we do have windows, they are small (or the doors are strong) to withstand Indian attack."1 The gracious guide smiles and sweeps her full skirt along the hallway to the next room of the historic house, urging her visitors to imagine themselves in the life of another time. It is not always a costumed guide; often it is an ordinarily dressed owner of an old house, but most architectural historians doing field research have had the experience of being told improbable tales about windows, closets, taxes and the need to defend against Indians. The usual response is either to tell the narrator they are wrong, or to remain silent and amused. Specialized knowledge and even common sense argue that such stories are untrue. But rather than ignoring the tales or dismissing them as fake, the architectural historian might find some reward in examining these "historic house stories" as a form of folklore. Oral tradition and folk history often offer insights into community social values. It is the purpose of this paper to argue that an analysis of historic house stories can shed light on the cultural process of remembering history and looking at old buildings. Most of the stories that one hears about historic houses fall into the category that folklorists call "legends," oral narratives with traditional patterns and themes.2 The actual details of the stories may differ from place to place, but the structure of the tales is similar and recognizable. In some ways these legends are like what popular parlance might call "origin myths." In classical mythology, for example, there is the tale of Ceres' grief over losing her daughter to the King of the Underworld and the resulting compromise that allowed the girl to return to her mother part of every year. Thus, Ceres' grief produced the 1 While I have heard such stories for the twenty years I have been doing fieldwork, it was a talk that Catherine Bishir gave at the Vernacular Architecture Forum meeting in 1986 that first made me aware of the possibility that such stories might reflect important cultural values and that they should be listened to. Since then I have systematically collected the tales. Bishir's talk was later published as "Yuppies, Bubbas and the Politics of Culture," in Thomas Carter and Bernard L. Herman, eds., Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, III, (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1988), 8-15. I also wish to thank my many VAF friends who helped supply the stories. 2 Michael Ann Williams, a folklorist at Western Kentucky University, was kind enough to critique several drafts of this paper and suggested the term legend as more technically correct than the popular term myth to describe these stories. ARRIS 3: 23-34. 1992 23 24 ARRIS 3. 1992 winter and her joy at her daughter's return, the spring. The mysterious and incomprehensible process of the seasonal change was explained by the Greeks in terms of human emotions. Whether Ceres was real or not is irrelevant, as the story conveys an underlying truth about the concept of cyclical repetition. Architectural legends function in a similar way. When people see something unfamiliar in an old building, they explain it in terms they can understand. They use their own expectations and experiences as a base. A thick door or a small window might be interpreted as defensive measures, and several generations brought up on cowboy and Indian movies might be ready to name the likely aggressors. When a guide tells the tale, the visitors nod knowingly. The explanation confirms their expectations. After all, they probably locked their doors and windows before they left home this morning. Having defensive measures for the protection of one's house makes sense to them. When the visitors to a historic house later repeat the tale, they may be repeating inaccurate information, but their acceptance of the story is revealing of their own world view. The first step towards understanding these...