It was a cold and gray January day. We had seen the house online, and thought we would take a ride to check it out. In the listing, it said the house was built in 1870, and we wanted an old house. The online photos were dark, and the rooms were mostly bare, with crumbling roll up blinds and draperies shrouding the windows. Not exactly inviting, but we could see the potential. Beautiful woodwork, hard wood floors, big windows and beautiful old doors. Calkins Creek ran beside it, with an old green barn leaning out back and a sloping woodland landscape coming down toward the house from a ridge behind and next to the property. Randy and I got out of the car, and walked around. It was a dream. Way bigger than we needed or wanted, and clearly needing TLC. The trees on the property were all stately and large, including a large spruce next to the house, a few tall sugar maples at the edge of the forest, and an old apple tree between the house and the stream.
We decided to walk across the bridge to the General Store, and inquire about the house. We met Vanessa and Rocco behind the counter. Husband and wife, second generation hardworking owners, running the store. Randy, who can strike up a conversation with anyone, ordered a sandwich and was engrossed with them in no time. Before long, they were encouraging us to call the seller and Vanessa offered us the phone number we needed. We went and sat in our warm car and while Randy ate his sandwich, Lori made the call. We wanted to see the inside, and wondered if she could show it to us, that day. She was not exactly close by, but was willing to drive up and meet us. Linda met us three hours later and the rest is history.
We liked Linda right away. She was a cheerful woman about our age with bright eyes and a wide smile. She brought her friend Sonny with her, and we thought her wise to care for herself in that way. She liked us, too, and we could see her enjoying our reaction to the house, as she gave us a tour. The inside was even more beautiful than we imagined. The old wallpaper was stunning, and there was lots of it! Ten foot ceilings vaulted above a grand center hall staircase with a wrap around banister on the second floor. All of the doorknobs were porcelain, and the original light fixtures hung at the top and bottom of the stairs. Both Randy and I found ourselves touching the wallpaper as we climbed the stairs. It was golden and felted, cracked and faded, but just gorgeous. We were in love with it all! We looked at the house three times before making an offer. Linda had been a close friend of Ginny, the previous owner. Ginny and her husband George had lived there for forty years. Both were known and loved by the local residents. When people meet us now, after they realize where we live, they say “Oh, you bought Ginny’s house!” They had both passed away, Ginny outliving George, and leaving Linda in charge of the estate. Linda had expressed to us how happy she was to see a couple who loved the house as much as Ginny and George did. “She would have wanted you to have it.”
We signed contracts in February and closed on the house in April, 2017. We have been working on the house nearly every day since then and hope to move in at the end of June. It is a restoration project, not a renovation (with the exception of the kitchen and baths, which will certainly be more modern than the original outdoor cold storage and outhouses). We simply fall in love with it more and more each day.
J. Howard Beach House 