Restoration work continued

Here is the room-sized cavity where the maze of brickwork and chimney had been; note old front door in background.

 The restoration took many years, but given the care and craftsmanship that went into building the house, it was worth the effort. Here is a photo of the parlor mantle and woodwork around the original fireplace.

Speaking of the restored center chimney, it was built in 1973 by master craftsman Ralph Burnham, then in his 80's. 

Ann Marie Maguire writes, "It was built in the old way, with new bricks, and faced with old bricks salvaged from prior chimneys.  He even included a working beehive oven in the large kitchen/keeping room fireplace, which could be used to bake bread in today.  It  was the next to last chimney Ralph ever built, and he built it to last.  Ralph was a pleasure to work with, and to watch working.  He had a great sense of humor, and always words of encouragement for us as we worked on the old place."

The parlor as it stands today:

 The keeping room today:

 View of the hall and, on the far side, a glimpse of the parlor.

Restoration of chimney and rooms

From inside chimney space, looking into back room (called the "hall" in the early days)

 

photo of keeping room under re-construction/restoration and brickwork: hole to cellar where hearth had been; stacked bricks and stone

front door as seen through chimney cavity from kitchen (a.k.a. "keeping room")

From parlor looking through fireplace opening to where chimney once was  (you can see across the opening into the other room through that rooms fireplace opening)  Front hall on right (this was called the "porch" in the old days)

Doors, latches and interior restoration

Now there's a bleak house, if I ever saw one. This is a photo taken one winter in the early 1970s.

Here is a photo taken in 1973, the beginnings of a significant restoration project that would last for many years. Alex Maguire is pictured here, standing in what the Maguire family discovered was the keeping room.

    "When we bought the house in 1973, the beaded pine paneled wall with its original red paint in the keeping room was covered with plaster and lathes, patched here and there with cardboard, and peeling paint hung in shreds from the ceiling," said Ann Marie Maguire.

    "It was a wonderful surprise to clear off the old plaster and discover the paneling intact underneath.  Wide pine boards form the wainscotting which still protects the lower walls of the room."

This door is an original to the keeping room, as is the door's latch. The screws, however, are not. I wonder where this latch was made. It is over 200 years old and would have either come from a nearby metal smith or brought up (by train?--There were trains back then) from some coastal ship. In fact, Waldoboro, which is not so far away, was a thriving ship building community at the time (I think) and it could easily have come from there, as well. This is probably not such a mystery for local historians, but does cause one to think back and imagine what life was like more than 200 years ago here in Whitefield and nearby.

Here is a photograph of a chimney built to accommodate late residents of the red house close to the early 1970s. According to Ann Marie Maguire, this smaller chimney was not the original. The house was originally a center chimney cape. The massive brick and mortar heart of the house, Maguire said, had long since disintegrated and its bricks dumped unceremoniously on the old stone wall bordering the nearby field and woods.
"On a bleak frigid February weekend, soon after passing papers on the old center chimney cape, we gathered at the house to begin dismantling the old chimney," she said. The chimney the Maguire family and friends would begin to dismantle on that cold February day was small in circumference. There were brick walls leading to stove openings in boarded over fireplaces, Ann Marie Maguire said.

  "We began at the top, chipping the decaying mortar to loosen the bricks, and sliding them off the roof.  When the roofline was reached, the process continued inside, out of the bitter wind.  It was not a chore to be completed in a weekend, and over the next month we continued the process - using hammer and chisel - chip mortar, loosen and remove bricks, stack them around the walls to prevent too much weight on the floor joists in any one area - then hurrying over to the blazing kero-fired salamander heater to thaw our hands - and back to work.  For us, it was the coldest job ever."

More on the Keeping Room

 

Here is a photo of the Keeping Room, taken in the early 1970's.

"When we bought the house in 1973, the beaded pine paneled wall with its original red paint in the keeping room was covered with plaster and lathes, patched here and there with cardboard, and peeling paint hung in shreds from the ceiling," said Ann Marie Maguire.

"It was a wonderful surprise to clear off the old plaster and discover the paneling intact underneath.  Wide pine boards form the wainscotting which still protects the lower walls of the room."

To the left is the original latch for the door. The screws holding it in place, however, are modern.
 To the right is the Keeping Room as it looks today. This photo was taken in 2010.

the old barn

Here is a building from the past; a ghost really, since it no longer stands. It is the old barn that was once attached to the house and had to be torn down. It dared to fall down otherwise. I wonder what it looked like inside and the crew of people who built it. People don't build like this anymore. The wood was likely milled right here in Maine and some of it could have come right off the property. There used to be a long stone wall leading away from the house. That was all that remained of the old barn back in the early 1980s. Old tools, rusty nails, bits of glass and other odds and ends would turn up in the grass every now and then in the small field next to that stone wall. It only takes a little imagination to wonder what else is buried by the red house.

Good soil makes for bountiful harvest

Good soil and hard work produced bountiful fall harvests each year, for the Maguire family and for those who lived on this land in years past.
"We had a very productive garden in the field below the house," said Ann Marie Maguire. "Though my children said its best production was glacial leavings as they picked rocks in the spring!"

Built into the wall of the parlor is a corner cupboard. Attempts in early years to remove it failed and it remains with the Red House today. See the rippled, bubbled glass? It was likely hand made here in Maine over 200 years ago.

Keeping Room

Here is the Keeping Room. See the small, cast iron doors on the right of the fireplace? They are still operable and a nice place to bake bread, a pizza or keep food hot. Note the wrought iron hooks in the beams where the cook would hang herbs to dry in front of a roaring fire. The wood box to the right was built by a crafty visitor to the house one winter, Michael Goelet, with his wife, Hallie and their daughter Anne in 1970. Ann Marie Maguire says, "Under the disintegrating plaster and lathe in the keeping room lurked an original beaded paneling wall, painted with the old brick dust and buttermilk paint."

Red House, unrestored 1973

Here is an old photograph of the Red House at the time the Maguire family purchased the property, in 1973. Work had yet to commence. Much is hidden behind old apple trees, which still stand to this day.

 Swan's Island resident and current property owner, Ann Marie Maguire states the original owners had a large apple orchard. "I remember an old apple tree that had "walked" down the hill behind the house," she said. "It would grow old, die and fall over, and then a branch would grow roots from contact with the ground, and the cycle would resume. "You could trace it happening 3 or 4 times, and this may give some idea of the age of the orchard.  It may go back to the late 1700's."

Tearing off the old porch

Denis Maguire hard at work

Work on this old house has continued since the early 1970s. This front porch, not part of the original structure, was taken down. (photo courtesy Ann Marie Maguire)

Restoration

Restoration of the original house has been ongoing since the early 1970s. The Maguire family bought the house in 1973. (photo courtesy Ann Marie Maguire)

Martin Potter

Martin Potter: 

Here is an intriguing person. Martin Potter farmed the land, but was also a photographer and printer with his own printing press (which was sold at auction). The Potter family owned the farm for about 100 years until Martin died and the property sold to pay for taxes. According to the current owner of the property, he was a tall man and known for his strength. He never married and died intestate. (photo courtesy Ann Marie Maguire)

Red House, pre-1949

Here is an old photograph of the farmstead before electricity came to Heath Road, pre-1949. The barn, almost falling down on it's own, was taken down in the 1970s. Modifications to the property came in over the years. It is believed there were a number of outbuildings on the property, in addition to the barn and attached shed, including a possible spring house for cold storage of food. Family members who lived here in years' past raised sheep on both sides of Heath Road, as well as chickens. (photo courtesy Ann Marie Maguire of Swan's Island)

old roads, relics of a different time

In the woods beyond the field behind the red house are traces of old roads. Remains of house foundations, rock walls and a couple of very old car chassis offer indications of life here long ago. The web of these roads, now well over-grown paths, show that Whitefield's history extends well beyond its woods, its pastures, the rippling ponds and brooks.

Cormorants and Canada Geese have stopped for a dip in this pond next to the house, joining the peepers, frogs and other birds and wildlife.