I was following the discussion on a facebook group dedicated to the restoration of Colonial homes the other day, very deliberately avoiding preparing my syllabi for the new semester, when the term “Beverly jog” came up, and it was clear that a lot of people on the thread did not recognize it. That surprised me, but it might just be an eastern Massachusetts phrase. There might be other terms: I was reading Frank Cousins’ Colonial Architecture of Salem last week and he used the phrase “jut-by” to refer to such additions, as in: occasionally the rear half of a gambrel-roof house was extended several feet beyond the front half, as had often been the earlier lean-to, forming a “jut-by” to provide a side door facing front. All old houses have all sorts of additions and protuberances of course, and I think “lean-to” and simply “addition” can cover all the bases, but I learned the phrase “Beverly jog” when I was taking a tour of the Peabody Essex Museum’s Crowninshield-Bentley House long ago. It remains a perfect example of a very specific type of addition.
So here’s a good definition, from the Dictionary of Building Preservation: a narrow addition on the end of a house with the back slope of its roof in the same plane as the back slope of the main roof; originally found on late 18c houses in the Boston, Massachusetts, area; now found in other areas. I had thought it was an Essex County building practice—hence the reference to Beverly, Salem’s neighboring city to the north—but over the past few years I’ve seen such additions in southern New Hampshire and on the Cape. The addition of a staircase was likely the primary reason for a Beverly jog: I remember from my historic plaque researching days how many people lived in these old houses: you don’t want them all coming in the front door, especially in the middle of the winter! And then you get the added benefit of the mudroom: another New England necessity. I don’t think a Beverly jog can be on any house other than a Georgian, or at least that’s where you’ll see them in Salem. Some of my favorites are below (these photos were taken two days ago, when the sky was white with our first snow, as opposed to the Crowninshield-Bentley photos from yesterday when the sun finally came out after several dreary weeks!)
The first house above is on Federal Street and its Beverly jog is perfect! My neighbor’s house on Broad Street; the green house on Andover Street, which belonged to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s aunt, has TWO Beverly jogs—one on each side. Does the orange house on River Street have a jog or merely an addition? I’m not sure about the plane……and the last house is no longer with us, a victim of urban renewal.
January 18th, 2023 at 8:30 am
Gorgeous homes, all of them, Donna! Now I wish to see these Beverly jogs from the inside!
January 18th, 2023 at 9:31 am
Nice article, and great photos. I learned the term “Beverly jog” from an old-house carpenter who had lived and worked his whole life in Western Mass. I don’t think it’s limited just to around here, although I don’t know that there’s any place where it’s in wide use.
January 18th, 2023 at 11:58 am
Really—Western Mass? Interesting.
January 19th, 2023 at 1:07 am
Wonderful to learn about this and see the pictures. Thank you. I’d like to see the insides too.
January 19th, 2023 at 8:50 am
Well, they are all private homes, except for the Crowninshield-Bentley House, which belongs to the Peabody Essex Museum—and the PEM rarely opens its houses.
January 24th, 2023 at 10:29 am
There are several on River st I think. At the end of the road on the corner (18 river st.) there is one with a Beverly Jog on both ends. It’s quite prominent from Bridge street.
January 24th, 2023 at 5:09 pm
I think you are right!