Insulation?

An interior view of the Everard House before the restoration. Note the brick nogging between the studs on the right side.

On the June 2nd post, a few questions came up regarding historic insulation - specifically, what historic insulation might have been used in the 18th century in Williamsburg, if any. To try and answer these questions, I've included some information from Curator of Architecture Willie Graham, which previously appeared in the blog entry for March 9th:

Historically, no added insulation was likely used within the walls of the Coffeehouse. Virginians sometimes did use brick or clay “filling” within the wall cavity. Jefferson called brick filling “nogging” and that is the term historians commonly call this material. Many houses in Williamsburg had brick nogging (the Peyton Randolph House, for instance), and architects restoring the Thomas Everard House created an opening in the front wall of the parlor so that a shutter can be open to view this material. During the early years of the Restoration “Cabot's Quilt” was used for insulation (made of seaweed with a paper quilt backing), but this proved to have an insignificant R value and later fiberglass was adopted for most applications. The foam we are using on the Coffeehouse is a new trial for the Foundation.

Photos are from the Colonial Williamsburg collections.

A view of the exterior of the Everard House, showing nogging after the siding has been removed.

Another view of the Everard House exterior.