On March 16th, Leigh and I purchased the the 1790 House at 133 Old Ferry Road in Newburyport. The house, occupied by Rebecca Chase before 1963, has been unoccupied since she passed away. Originally part of Arrowhead Farm, it, along with the rest of the Farm, was purchased by the Trust for Public Land in the early 1990's. In 1998 the house was split off from the farm by the Trust and sold to the Skibbee Family, who owned the house adjacent to it. At the time of the "sub-division" a strict conservation and preservation covenant was placed on the property to ensure that whomever restored the house would do so with the historic character of the property and the area in mind.

For the last month or so, Leigh and I have been making plans to restore and add on to the house. It is currently 1100 square feet, with two rooms on the first floor and two on the second floor. We intend to add an ell that consists of a kitchen and dining room on the first floor and a bedroom and two bathrooms on the second floor. The original house will contain the living room, a library, master bedroom and a guest bedroom.

We're working with Newburyport Architect William March, who drew the original restoration plans for the Skibbee's in 2002. We're also working with Mark Bergeron of Creative Custom Construction, a contractor that we met through North Shore Habitat for Humanity. We begin exploratory demolition tomorrow.