{"nrhp_refnum":"79000246","name":"Cold Spring Farm Springhouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NE of Monroe","address_restricted":false,"city":"Monroe","county":"Monroe County","state":"PA","lat":41.062295436000056,"lon":-75.01866068199996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-08-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story fieldstone spring house, roughly 12 by 24 feet, built on a small unnamed stream into the embankment of an unimproved rural road about 2½ miles south of Bushkill, near the Delaware River in Monroe County. The original farmhouse it served has been demolished.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the spring house is a typical surviving example of the many cold-water storage structures that supported rural life in the Upper Delaware Valley before rural electrification in the 1930s. Its surviving features, including the watercress bed and the remains of a waterwheel-driven butter churn, are said to make it useful for interpreting rural life and energy use.","narrative":"Built in the late nineteenth century of fieldstone, this one-story spring house measures about 12 by 24 feet and stands over a small unnamed stream, set into the embankment of a rural road about 2½ miles south of Bushkill, near the Delaware River. It once served a farmhouse that has since been demolished. A concrete dam, built around 1909, holds back the stream to form a watercress bed measuring 29 by 22 feet, reached by a slate walk. Below the dam lie the rusted remains of a small waterwheel that powered a butter churn housed in a shed beside it, whose stone foundations survive. The nomination treats the building as a typical example of the spring houses that dotted the Upper Delaware Valley before rural electrification in the 1930s. Its cold running water, storage function and auxiliary equipment make it a useful record of a way of life that relied on water rather than electric power.","period_of_significance":"c. late 19th century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Roof is a replacement wood shingle roof in poorer condition than the stonework; masonry of the watercress bed needs repair; the structure is otherwise in relatively good condition.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.687646-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79000246.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000246/e83f8c25f9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000246/e83f8c25f9-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"National Park Service","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cold_Spring_Farm_Springhouse_DWG_NPS.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">National Park Service</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cold_Spring_Farm_Springhouse_DWG_NPS.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996593","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Spring_Farm_Springhouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5142350"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/monroe-county/cold-spring-farm-springhouse-79000246/"}