Timothy Brown House (Brown's Temple or the Spirit House), Georgetown New York
, Georgetown New York)
Timothy Brown was born in Vermont in 1815 and moved from the town of Newburn, in Orange County, Vermont, to Georgetown, N.Y. in 1847 with his wife, Sarah, and their children. Apparently he was trained as a carpenter by the "spirits", which he kept in dark closets, assisted him in all his work. The present "Spirit House" was the second house he built in Georgetown. The Browns lived in part of the house and used the rest for meetings and allowed theatrical and touring groups to entertain there. Brown died in 1885 and his widow in 1906.
In 1874 the rear portion of the house was removed and the former Presbyterian Church building was added to the rear. In 1906 the church addition was torn down and the present addition built, the porches were added, and the second floor was divided into bedrooms. In 1938-1940 the second floor ceilings were lowered and a new roof was installed over the old one. In 1946 the bathroom, sun parlor, and sun porch on the south side were added, and the upstairs den was enlarged.
The stairway along the interior east wall of original house was constructed in 1980 in space of former spirit darkroom. There's evidence in the attic of a fire that occurred in 1922.
