Stone ender

The stone-ender is a unique style of Rhode Island architecture that developed in the 17th century where one wall in a house is made up of a large stone chimney.

Rhode Island also had an abundance of limestone (in contrast to the other New England states), and this allowed Rhode Islanders to make mortar to build massive end chimneys on their houses.

Stone ender houses were usually timber-framed, one and one-half or two stories in height, with one room on each floor.

One end of the house contained a massive stone chimney which usually filled the entire end wall, thus giving the dwelling the name of “stone ender.” Robert O. Jones noted that the windows were very small “casements filled with oiled paper” and that “the stairs to the upper chambers were steep, ladder-like structures usually squeezed in between the chimney and the front entrance.”[1] He points out that a few houses may have had leaded glass windows, but that was very rare.

See Clement Weaver House, East Greenwich, Rhode Island for an example containing the leaded glass windows and ladder-like stairs.