Issues → January/February 2007 → Home & Garden →
House For Sale: West Freeport, Maine
Saltbox built by Jeremiah Ferguson and Jeremiah Ferguson
by The Moseyer
Before reaching the driveway, we caught a glimpse of our destination through a break in the trees. It was there in a sunny clearing, just beyond a brook. It was a bigger, more impressive-looking house than we'd expected. And, except for trim, it was all clear-stained wood. Although we already knew it had been built just 19 years ago, it appeared to be a mid-18th-century saltbox, very similar to some of those you see in Old Sturbridge Village.
Well, as it turned out, that's exactly what it's supposed to look like. And the model generally followed by owner/builder Jeremiah L. Ferguson and his dad, Jeremiah M. Ferguson, during the three years it took the two of them to build it was the 1748 Richardson House parsonage, a saltbox, at Old Sturbridge Village.
Jeremiah L., his eighth-grade daughter, Emeline, and 10th-grade son, Jeremiah (of course!), who goes by his middle name, Moses, met us at a side door next to the three portals of the attached 2-1/2-story garage.
"Did you and your father really build this huge home yourselves?" was our first question. We'd surmised they'd maybe had it built by a contractor under their close supervision.
"Dad and I contracted for some of the cement work as well as a bit of the electric power stuff, but, yes, the two of us built it," Jeremiah said. "Dad, then retired as an engineer, worked on it full time for three years, and I, working full time as an engineer in Brunswick, was there with him early mornings, late evenings, and every weekend."
He said they enjoyed the process and the quality the two of them were able to produce. "We think alike," he added, "so there were no arguments." But he had to admit that neither of them much liked the huge amount of time such a project requires. We wondered to ourselves how the wives felt about that part of it, too, but since it became obvious that there was just Jeremiah and his two children there that day -- no wife in evidence -- we decided not to ask about it. Yet. (We'd learn everything before we left.)
While we were chatting, we made our way up some stairs; past a large living room with lots of windows designed in the pattern of the 1740s, a brick fireplace, and gorgeous red-oak flooring; and then into the kitchen, where we sat on stools at a large center island with four burners and the oven on one end. Along two walls were lovely dark-cherry cabinets, and there was plenty of Formica counter space. A brick hearth occupied one corner, ready for a woodstove hookup, and on the other side of a door leading into what was obviously the dining room, we noticed a small breakfast nook. For sure, nobody living in 1748 had ever seen such a beautiful kitchen. But, hey, nobody said this was supposed to be an exact replica of an Old Sturbridge Village house.
Over a cup of coffee we learned that not only were there three Jeremiahs in the current immediate family, two of whom were sitting opposite us, but at least one Jeremiah was in each of the past five generations of Fergusons, and before them, another five generations of Sweetsers, an earlier family branch. Many of the men on both sides were sea captains sailing out of Searsport and Belfast. Not surprisingly, throughout this house we could somehow feel that meticulous, cut-no-corners, do-it-right approach to life we've always associated with true Down Easters. For instance, according to Jeremiah, the house is situated 6 degrees east of due south to maximize sunlight coming into the rooms. Not 5 degrees or 4. Precisely 6.
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