Though this Garrison-style saltbox home dates back to 1665, it's a relative newcomer to the green hills of Gilmantown, N.H., and like most Americans, a bit of a historical hodgepodge. It was originally built by George Farley, an early settler of Billerica, Mass., essentially copied from the home he left in England, with all kinds of fun First Period features that somehow fell out of fashion: Indian shutters, gunstock corners, barricade doors, a "borning room." The Farley family occupied the place for 12 generations, and upon selling off their land, had the property dismantled and put into storage, later approaching restoration enthusiast Doug Towle about having it reassembled elsewhere.
As Towle tells to Zillow, his was a "down to the last nail" ordeal, but he also updated the home with modern appliances and central AC while making sure that the furnishings and building materials were true to the period. After recreating an eighteenth-century one-room schoolhouse and a nineteenth-century water tower on the same land, Towle listed the homestead for $1.85M in 2011, later dropping it down to the current ask of $1.495M. Even if he clears that, it would be about $1M less than what he spent in renovations, although having gone a bit "overboard on this one" doesn't seem to faze him; he's been in the business since 1969, so it sounds like potential buyers can rest easy about the quality of this museum piece. Take a tour below:
· For Sale: Pilgrim-Era Saltbox Built By One of America's Earliest Settlers [Zillow]
· 1246 Province Rd [Zillow]
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