LITTLE ANTIQUE CAPE, LOST AND FOUND Part 2

This post will be brief compared to recent posts but I have some more information about the old cape and its odyssey around New England.

It was 1988 when the Kenyon's abandoned the idea of getting the little house put back together for their new home.  They had built their new post and beam house on their land in Gloucester so they advertised the old cape for sale all numbered and ready to go for $19,500.  It was advertised in Maine Antique Digest.  Obviously, it didn't sell.  I would guess that at the time of the advertising it was in the cellar of the new house which is where I saw it for the last time.

It was finally sold to Tom Farmer from Falmouth, Maine.  The Kenyon's had taken it from Massachusetts to Northport Maine in a school bus.  Tom Farmer probably had it for quite some time but that is just a guess.

The new owner bought it from Tom Farmer  as recently as the spring 2014 and they moved it to Casco, Maine a distance of 35 miles.They had looked at it in the previous fall of 2013 but did not buy it at that time.

Here is Cheryl, the owner, in front of her fireplace mantle
that was salvaged from another house in Massachusett.

In 2014 Tom Farmer revealed that it was about to be moved to Ohio.

Others had hesitated to buy it because the Kenyons had marked all of the pieces with oil based paint.  Potential buyers must have thought the removal would be a problem.  Cheryl, the new
owner bought a Quonset hut in which to store the old house and the rest went into her cellar.  Like deja vous for the traveling house.


Cheryl belongs to a reenactment group where she depicts the 1760’s - 1820’s with the Ancient Ones of Maine (a living history group)

Here is what she said about her purchase and what she did with itl

"I was in love with the gun stock posts so they were high on my priority list. In the end I needed a garage/barn more than I needed a full size Cape so I opted to build a barn and a mudroom addition onto my retirement home. The mudroom was made using various parts of the Georgetown Cape."

So now the work began using the parts of the old house.

"The mudroom was made using as many of the gunstock
posts as I could! The ceiling was made w boards from the Pine trees removed to make way for the barn and mudroom.

Heavy framing, gunstock corner.  Is that a chamfer on the beam?  Great gunstock post.

The wainscoting boards were about 22” wide and the mop board is 12” tall.
You can see the painted labels on the beams. I left them visible to reflect part of the history. I am not sure if the posts are oak or chestnut but they sure are heavy and solid!

"A friend and I plastered the walls. It is still a work in progress but I have no immediate plans to do any but use the room as is! I hope to incorporate other parts into my home as time goes on."

Wide sheathing boards with layers of paint.

Wide Boards from Georgetown

When it didn't seem as though the cape would be re-erected in its entirety, Cheryl made good use of many of the parts and will collectively use more as time goes on and other uses come along

Newly constructed barn.

A new room but showing plenty of antiquity.

Potting shed using some old material from the Georgetown cape.

This is where I will end for now but if I can possible get one of the earlier names on the house from its old location I will endeavor to discover its history going backward rather than going forward as we have be doing.

I hope you enjoyed the strange tale of the old Cape from Tenney St. in Georgetown, MA.  The final photo is of the entire property.  It's all here, not in its original form but utilized and loved.  That's what is important.  It is a miracle that any of it survived after thirty years "on the road"

Winter in Maine!