The Ebebezer Pierce Homestead...

It’s been awhile since our last newsletter, but we’ve been busy!  As we greet the cooler Fall weather we’re pleased to announce the construction of the Ebenezer Pierce homestead.

For those of you who have visited our website, you already know that the Pierce homestead was built sometime in the 1740’s.  As we dismantled the home this summer, it appeared, from the condition of the frame and the way it was built, that the original home had only two rooms, - one below and one above - with a front stairway leading to the upper room.  If we’re right, what is now the dining room may have been a summer kitchen that was later incorporated into the home. The final back shed addition to the house that turned the home into a saltbox was accomplished by modifying the roof rafter system.

As of this writing, we have built our new frame using the dimensions of the original homestead and finished re-assembling the old frame inside the new. In the weeks ahead we shall finish the rough mechanical installations and “buttoned up” the house before we begin the finish carpentry work.  That will be an exciting time for it’s then that the “new old house” comes alive!

As we mentioned earlier, Country Living magazine came to see the Maxcy Fisher homestead in Hollis and became intrigued with our mission.  Consequently, we are now collaborating with Country Living magazine to feature the reconstructed Ebenezer Pierce homestead. We are filming the dismantling and reconstruction right now, sending the magazine editors edited footage for the magazine’s website.  We’ll let you know when Country Living begins the web “pre-launch” of the Pierce homestead’s reconstruction that will lead up to publication of the feature article sometime in 2008.  We’ve never been involved in something quite like this and will keep everyone posted on developments!

And what about future projects?  So many of you have visited the Maxcy Fisher homestead that we hope you’ll come see us at the Ebenezer Pierce homestead on Yankee Way in Brookline. 

If you would like to work with us on future projects, please let us know.  Now is the time to find a parcel of land that you love and work with us to build your “new old” house. Check our website in the coming months for pictures and information about homes we’ve found that can be dismantled and rebuilt to suit your lifestyle needs.

Please also know that we are looking for ways to use “left-over” materials from our previous projects!  We can work with you to design your home using these authentic period materials. Email us at; info@therestoredhomestead.com!

Concealed Finds:

Now that we’ve rather shamelessly plugged what we do, let’s talk about personal items that are sometimes concealed in old houses.   While we were dismantling the chimney in the Pierce homestead we came upon a child’s shoe that had been placed between the chimney and the stairwell wall.  We did some research on our own, and then our new homeowners went a step further and found a museum in Northampton, England that has established a concealed shoe index that goes back many hundreds of years! 

Concealing shoes in homes has been a custom in Europe going back to the fourteenth century. In our country, concealed shoes have been found throughout New England, as far south as Virginia and west to Missouri.  No one is very sure why this custom came about but may reflect a superstition that hidden shoes around openings in a home could protect the home from calamity and misfortune.  About half the concealed shoes that are found are children’s shoes; all are well worn.

Here is a picture of the shoe we found.  You can see it’s been worn out where the little toe would have been; the stitching is beautifully done and it looks as if the leather was dyed blue.  There was also a canvas liner inside and note how the shoe was tied with ribbon threaded through from the top down.  If this shoe was concealed when the house was built – and we are pretty sure it was – then this shoe is well over 260 years old!