Historic Homes in New England

We are very fortunate in our local communities from Holliston to Boston, where we can be an eye witness to some amazing antiques lining our main roads. I enjoy seeing a town’s church steeple before the town itself is visible, and always feel grateful to live in a place with so much early American History. 

I am a preservationist to some extent – I am a remodeler after all, and so I see and understand a lot of value in existing structures where others may want to simply demolish a home and start over. The caveat is that I am not a purist when it comes to preservation; first, because I am a property rights advocate, and there are too many people trying to take some of your rights away under the guise of preservation, and second, because once something reaches the point of being a safety hazard or reaches the end of its serviceability, it is ok to make progress to some extent. After all, isn’t that what the people who originally built the existing building were doing when they built it?

That said, there are many reasons to preserve some of our past, such as educational value, a sense of history, as well as the comfort in the community having a great foundation. That is why I was heartbroken today when I drove by one of my favorite homes- built circa 1774- during our country’s Revolutionary times. In the photo of the home still standing, you can see the classic salt box architecture, the period stile windows and the very small dormers in the attic to capture the southern sunlight. Imagine that every piece of this was struck by hand and that there was a farm all around it producing food to be consumed in the Boston area.

As I looked over the chimney that was still standing, I couldn’t help but be in awe of how elaborate this marvel of masonry was – 4 sides to provide heat in the cold winter months. The fireplace facing the street had an oven above the main firebox for baking. When you look at period architecture, that oversized central chimney was a product of that important piece of the building. I wish I had the opportunity to go through the home before it went down…. I will probably always expect to see it when I am driving through Dover.

May the new home being built on the lot be made half as well as this one- and provide history for a future generation 250 years from now.