When we first discussed embarking on this adventure, one of the things we told each other was that we were going to be patient, take our time, and let the house lead us in the restoration. A couple of the first pieces of advice our friend John told us was: 1) Tackle no more than two projects at a time, and 2) Take at least one day off per week. We really took those to heart. We planned them. We preached them. When we got here, we tossed them into the trash. It’s so easy to get caught up in “we need to do this, this, this, this, this, and this, NOW!” Between unpacking (which after going on three weeks is about halfway complete), cleaning (which is a challenge in a 236 year-old house in the country), fixing the little things that we can fix, and scheduling contractors to look at the big things that we cannot fix (like leveling and cleaning the floors of lead paint, and restoring the windows, of which most are original). We’re beginning to accept the reality that even as a full time “job”, taking on a restoration and the caring for a house like this is a long-term project. Long term, like for the rest of our lives, which is OK, as that is what we signed up for. We think we know which project we need to work on, but we find that something else needs to be fixed first. It’s just so easy to get distracted and pulled in too many directions to be effective.
Deep breath. Grab a cold beer and head to the screen porch….. Ahhhhh…..
We ARE making progress, and we DO have something to show for the last couple of week’s work. In addition to what I’ve shown in previous posts, we finished our workshop area in the ell, so we can start unpacking our tools and have a clean heated/cooled area in which to work.
We’re finishing the interior of the screen porch in shiplap, and will install beadboard on the ceiling. The shiplap will be stained a semi-transparent colonial gray, with light gray paint on the trim and windows
We also painted the front closet so we could finish unpacking our room, making room for a little reading/writing area in front of the fireplace, which we hope to open and restore at some point.
We’ve also spent more time exploring the area, handling the transfer of the car’s titles, getting them inspected, transferring our drivers licenses, doing general maintenance like mowing, grocery shopping, looking for a church home, walking the dog, looking for the cat (who has learned to explore the ell and barn whenever he gets the chance), trimming shrubs and trees, and all the things that make the day go by.
Yesterday, we drove Allie down to Boston to catch a flight back to MN to attend a Harry Styles concert and to see some high school friends once more before college starts.
I felt the closer I got to town, the more uptight I became. It’s not so much that I’m not used to commuting, but we live in a very rural, mountainous place; there is no traffic, no stoplights, no freeways, no noise….. there is no good way to get to anywhere from here. You can look at the map and see that it appears where you want to go is just an inch or so on the map, but it may be 50 miles, and take an hour-and-a-half to drive. Don’t get me wrong, this is one of the things we love about living here. It’s breathtakingly beautiful. While we technically live in Harrisville (our house was in Dublin, NH until Harrisville was created in 1870), we’re closest to Hancock. Hancock is basically a one-block town with an inn/tavern (The Hancock Inn and Fox Tavern, c1789), a delicious bakery/cafe (Fiddleheads), a general store (Hancock Market), and an historic church and cemetery (the church still rings its original bell cast by Paul Revere). The Hancock Inn has 14 rooms named after famous people from the area, one of whom once owned our house (The Moses Eaton room). We love running up to the Fox Tavern for Innkeeper’s dinner on Sunday nights, which is a 3-course meal of whatever they feel like serving, but it’s always fresh, creative, very-local, and delicious.
The next closest town would be either Harrisville or Dublin. Harrisville was created in 1870 from land from four surrounding towns in order to bring the railroad into the Harris family’s woolen mills. Harrisville is one of the best preserved mill towns in the world. Most of the original mill buildings have been restored and are now used for art studio space, residential, and learning spaces. Harrisville is also home to one of our favorite restaurants in the area; the Harrisville General Store. Super-fresh, creative food, all sourced from within a few miles. The scones are worth the trip alone, and we stop every chance we’re in town. Harrisville is just a short 4ish-mile drive west along the shore of Skatutakee Lake, and the town center is built over the peninsular outlet of Harrisville Pond (where Jenny swims with the other ladies in town on weekday mornings), which is fed by Brickyard Brook. In New Hampshire, natural lakes seem to be called “lakes”, where “ponds” appear to be reservoirs. Dublin (pop. 1600) is just south of us, and its claim to fame is that it is the home of Yankee Publishing, which produces the “Old Farmer’s Almanac” and “Yankee Magazine”.
Peterbourough is the closest town of any size, and it’s just eight miles down the mountain. It has several restaurants, a grocery store, a hardware store, an auto parts store, and more, such as a beautiful little shopping district in its town center that sits on the Contoocook River.
We’re located in what is known as the Monadnock region, named after Mount Monadnock (Grand Monadnock), which at 3166′ is the tallest mountain in the area. It’s just a few miles down the road from us. The top 1000′ was denuded in a fire set between 1810 an 1820 by local farmers, who thought that wolves were denning in the blowdowns.
While Monadnock is a stand-alone mountain, and not part of a range, just 10 miles east of us is Pack Monadnock and North Monadnock, which are part of the Wapack range, a 20 mile long range that starts in MA and runs into NH.
The closest body of water from our property, outside of the Nubanusit River, would be Halfmoon Pond, just a half-mile down the road. There are roughly 20+ miles of hiking trails down there, between the Sargent Center (a camp operated by BU), and the Army Corps of Engineer’s Lake McDowell area.
We’re still discovering little treasures everywhere we look, from wildflowers, to some perennial that may have been planted generations ago, to various fruit- all within our property or along the old road along the Nubanusit. Here’s a little slideshow for this week….
It’s now cooling down, and we’re winding down for the day… thanks again for coming along on our adventure. Send us a message or comment if you have any questions, ideas, funny jokes, etc. See you next time.
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