 The
door that once covered the beehive oven was missing but the hinges were
still there. We then cautiously went toward the back of the house. Three
small rooms , all connecting. The room in the middle had a small fireplace
with delicate simple molding and also made of granite. These rooms must
have been bedrooms with the middle room serving as the heat for the other
two rooms. We noticed the doors in the back of the house were just plank
doors and the pintels were still in the door molding and the strap hinges
were still on the doors. I guess not easily removed if you are looking to
scalp a house of all its original dignity.
The middle room in the back of the house had a fireplace lined
with granite also, but much smaller than the fireplace in the big room,
but you could still see the beautiful but simple mantel through all the
grim and dirt. As we tugged on the door in the small room to go toward
the front of the house we noticed that the molding changed from simple
to a little more ornate. No ornate in not the right word it was just a
little bit fancier than that on the back of the house, which was just
plain simple. Our first thought was that the people who built this house in 1772 had a little money but were not wealthy but were able to show their status in the community having a living room that was certainly very presentable in its day. The living room was a real charmer with its bowed out front wall where water had dripped for countless years until the plank walls just surrendered and bowed outward. Through the other six paneled door in the front to the small front hall and we heard that hissing sound again. At that point we thought our hospitality had reached its limit and we went out the door we had first entered. Once outside Charles and I looked at each other and knew ……..we
had to have this house. This house had been virtually untouched by anyone
attempting to modernize this historic charmer. What little electric there
was had been installed in the 1930's? There was no running water in the
house. The sink room still had a hand pump. The bathroom was a cozy outdoor
building in the back yard. The glass in every window had been broken as
well as the frames. |
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