Architectural Observations: Square Battens

By Richard Corrow, Assistant Caretaker

When William West Durant built Great Camp Sagamore he used square cut battens on the buildings in the Caretaking Complex. If you look at the Caretaking complex of Great Camp Uncas the battens are beveled on the exposed edges.

During the Vanderbilt expansion the battens were also beveled. I believe this to be explained by the fact that Durant had a higher budget when building Great Camp Uncas than he did during the construction of Great Camp Sagamore. So, naturally the Vanderbilts had a much larger budget during their expansion and were able to do extra work such as adding bevels on battens.

If you observe on the Durant era buildings such as the Blacksmith Shop and the original sections of the Barn and Carriage Shed you will notice this. The first four bays of the Carriage Shed have square battens all held in with cut nails. The Vanderbilt addition has beveled battens held in with wire nails. Almost all of the battens on the barn were replaced during the buildings expansion except one area. The gable end facing the road has the original square battens that were installed during Sagamore's construction.

At this point in time there is no logical explanation for this.