The Woodpile: Brambleworth

The Brambleworth Cottage is the first of four family houses that form part of "The Woodpile"; the Wood family farm purchased in 1809 by James Wood. Each home represents the style of the decade in which it was built. Bramblewood Cottage was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis in 1848 in the Gothic Revival style for grandson, Henry Wood. "The Woodpile" is a historic landscape district that represents rural agrarian ideals and culture.

The Brambleworth Cottage is a part of the collective enclave, the Woodpile homes of Brambleworth, Evergreen Lawn, Braewold, and Stonecrest belonging to the Wood family in Bedford. The Wood family farm began with the first James Wood, who bought the Wood family farm in 1809. The Wood family were Quakers, as such they were very involved in political and social reform committees during this time. This legacy and the family farm would continue with his three grandsons, Henry Wood, John Jay Wood and James Wood II all of whom lived and built the famous Woodpile homes. Henry's daughter Mary Augusta Underhill also built a home on the farm.

Brambleworth Cottage is a Gothic Revival architecture style house built by Henry Wood in the mid-nineteenth century, this style of architecture features pointed arches, steep gable roofs and an ornamental facade. Henry Wood was the eldest of the three sons, born in 1816 he was also the first to strike out to seek his own fortune away from home. So he entered the dairy business in Brooklyn in 1835 which granted him much success, this success allowed him to persuade his brother John Jay to join him. However, due to respiratory problems, Henry took a leave of absence from the business and moved back to Bedford temporarily leaving his younger brother to oversee the business.

Moving back to Bedford, Henry purchased 110 acres from his fatherd upon which he built Brambleworth Cottage, the first of the Woodpile houses. The Gothic exterior of the cottage was designed by noted architect Alexander Jackson Davis, who also designed Westchester houses Lyndhurst, Whitby and Sans Souci. Henry Wood himself designed the interiors of this 11 room home and acted as the master builder using local stone as part of the construction. In addition to the house there are three other structures on the property. The first being a cabin which was constructed to house the workers who built the house, as well as a Carriage house built in 1849 and a wooden shed.  

Henry would be back and forth between Brooklyn and Bedford until 1855 when their mother became terminally ill, prompting both John and Henry to permanently move back to Bedford. Thankfully, the Woodpile houses retain their architectural integrity to this day. 

1. The Woodpile, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed October 15th 2020.
2. Williams, Gray. Jackson, Kenneth T.. Picturing Our Past National Register Sites in Westchester County. New York. 2003
3. Barbour, Hugh. "The Woods of Mt. Kisco." Quaker History 87, no. 1 (1998): 1-34. Accessed October 26, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41947372.