In the early 1840s, Henry Spence had a vision, and he knew a good deal when he saw it. His vision was for a huge Greek Revival house on a large estate near Dundee, one that would house his family, professional space, and room for his other interests, from growing grapes to hiding escaped slaves. That vision, the Spence House, begun in 1842 and finished in 1848, is the southernmost of all the cobblestone houses in Yates County.

Cobblestone construction had become popular in the region, starting when the Erie Canal opened in 1825, making the transportation of the small, rounded stones found about Lake Ontario an affordable option that was fireproof and didn’t require paint. These stones, of different geologic types, had been rolled by glaciers, smoothed by water, then deposited on the shore. The cobblestone construction period lasted until 1860, when the supply of stones dwindled and construction in general got more expensive with the onset of the Civil War. Up to 90 percent of cobblestone structures in the United States can be found within a hundred miles of Rochester.

For Henry’s home, stones were loaded at Sodus Point on Lake Ontario, brought down by canal to Seneca Lake, transferred to oxcarts at Starkey Point, and on to Dundee. The quality of walls was completely dependent on the mortar, which was completely dependent on the mason. Each mason had their own closely guarded secret to mixing their mortar. As construction began, Henry noticed that a mason was spacing the stones too far apart. The stones took more time to place, but were cheaper than the mortar, giving Henry and the mason different priorities. Visitors to the porch can see at what row that mason was fired and a new one hired.

The layout was typical Greek Revival symmetry—a four-column porch and a central hall with two large rooms on either side. A south and north wing attach to the back and stretch to each side, with a sheltered courtyard tucked between. When Jan Carr purchased the property as-is for back taxes in 1992, she had not been allowed inside, so she didn’t discover some of the unique elements in Henry’s design until later. All the windows were covered, so peeking was not an option.

Nevertheless, Jan, like Henry, had a vision. She wanted a special place to host retreats for groups and individuals to explore their spiritual connection to others and to nature. With sixteen acres that included ponds and trails, this property called to her. When she could finally get inside, “It was a wreck,” she says. There was no heat or lights, and the fieldstone basement had a couple feet of water. As the owner of a blueberry farm, Jan was no stranger to manual labor, but this seemed overwhelming. She showed the property to anyone who was interested, and often they fell in love enough to come back with help. “You find people who are crazy like you are,” she explains with a laugh, “with the same type of vision, and even if it looks impossible, with others who have the same vision it becomes possible.” Like Sr. Eileen Curtis, a Sister of St. Joseph from Rochester, who saw the place at its worst and came back the next week with her tool belt. A cabinet maker and woodworker, she made sure when they added a downstairs closet that the new trim matched the original.

The work of restoring made Jan intimate with the structure and gave her a sense of the man responsible for it. “Henry was brilliant,” she says. He put in an indoor bathroom off the kitchen, using water from a spring. Unusual at the time, the building’s central portion had three stories and four chimneys—each with three flues so each bedroom had its own heat.

Jan loves showing people the home, which operated as Cobblestone Springs Retreat Center for over thirty years but is now on the market. The kitchen in the south wing was updated and expanded to handle large meals, and the bedrooms have names and stories connected to the group that “adopted” that room’s renovation. The closets in the bedrooms are original, even though in Henry’s time they were taxed as individual rooms. One large room has been split into two bathrooms. The home sleeps ten people comfortably.

To the right of the main hall is the front parlor that the Chronicle-Express in 1954 called “one of the show places of the county” for its crystal pendant chandelier and decorative plaster medallion. The gold valences for the large bays still gleam, though one is not original. The attached room, used by the retreat center as a dining room, also has an original chandelier. “We found it in a manure pile out back, cleaned it up, and hung it,” says Jan. “The Spences said that’s where it had been.” The large gilt hall mirrors were also restored.

The north wing where Henry, one of the first cataract surgeons in the country, had his surgery has a stone fireplace and vaulted ceiling. “There used to be a low ceiling here,” Jan says, “because above they’d hide escaped slaves.” A spiral staircase leads up to a loft that can also be reached by a low door in one of the bedrooms. A dresser in front of it would have hidden it.

The third story is unfinished, showing construction strong enough to hold the original slate roof (since replaced with shingles). Jan points out the strange zigzag in the chimneys. “He knew that with three stories, the draft would suck the fire right out,” Jan explains, “so he had to slow it down.” Henry had held dances in the space, but Jan found a basketball hoop up there.

Henry Spence’s great-great-granddaughter, Gwen Chamberlain, served on the Cobblestone Springs board and grew up visiting her grandmother, Blanche Spence, who lived there. (The property moved out of the family in 1972.) “As a little girl, I remember ‘helping’ grandma make popcorn in her old-fashioned popcorn popper and going to the pantry next to the kitchen where the cookie jar sat tucked away in a corner,” she says. “I remember a story about my father, as a child, knocking loudly on the front door, and then racing to the back of the house as my grandmother walked through the house to answer the door, which gave him time to sneak in the back door and grab a fresh cookie from the cookie jar.”

Gwen appreciates how generous Jan and the Sisters who helped run the center were in “allowing our family to visit and share experiences and stories, helping our children and grandchildren grow to love the property.” The Spences still often decorated the front of the house for Christmas, and organized Easter egg hunts around the grounds. “One of the favorite elements of the property is the fountain in the front yard,” Gwen says, “where the little ones enjoyed watching tadpoles, frogs, and goldfish.”

Cobblestone structures, with repairs made as necessary to the mortar, will last for centuries. The Spence House has had the care necessary to keep many of the original elements intact, and is waiting to see what the next owners will do.