The Country Lady Antiques : Tour
PLEASE TURN UP THE VOLUME ON YOUR COMPUTER
We have added some of our favorite period 'musick' to the house tour page of our website! We will periodically change the songs, and hope you enjoy them as much as we do~
The song you are now hearing is an 18th century slip jig, and our favorite period dance tune~
CLICK ON THE LINK IN THE HEADER AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE
WELCOME TO OUR HOME
The two of us built our batten doors from over 1 inch thick hand milled cedar boards we got at a one man sawmill in Vermont. The hinges are period. Adam hand-gouged the diamond pattern, and I hammered rosehead nails at every corner. We designed the wood latch. The rope goes through the door, and is pulled on the inside to unlatch the door when someone comes!
We bid you welcome
Please come in...
The kitchen
These handmade 17thc. leaded glass windows are our pride and joy, and something we waited years for. The windows here are the ones that were here in the house---c. 1950's casement frames with wood muntins, and 4 panes of glass in each. We took each one out. Adam broke out the glass and sawed off the wood muntins, and handed them off to me. I filled holes with wood putty and sanded them where needed.
We gave the now empty frames to the artist who made diamond panes in lead cames in our existing frames. We thoughtfully chose several pieces of different wavy, swirled, and bubbled glass from his stock, as well as one piece that was a pale green bubbled glass.
The impurities in the sand that made 17thc. windows caused some panes to turn a beautiful pale green over time. We wanted ours to look as authentic as possible, so we had the craftsman make several of the green panes, and put a few randomly in each window.
The horizontal window supports are called 'rebars'. Adam took wood dowels and whittled them for a more handmade look and I stained them. We gave them to the glassmaker who wired them into the windows...
We picked up our window frames from the glassmaker artist and we both installed them back in the kitchen in about an hour!
To ensure that they look lovely in summer, we had invisible screen put in our metal screens for this room. This winter we will spray paint the screen's metal borders with a flat pewter colored oil base spray paint so that when we put them on next spring, you will see only the beautiful diamond paned windows.
Our camera in not great, but in person these windows look just like authentic 17thc. ones, with the wavy and bubbles glass, as well as the pale green panes interspersed in with the clear ones.
The buttery
I built my buttery years ago with 250 year old wood that I salvaged for free.
Even the window was a salvaged find. I only spent $16. and that was for reproduction rosehead nails.
This c. late 17thc. wood sink has it's original drain and part of a 'pipe' going down from it that was made from a hand-hollowed out branch! It is rare and pristene.
The antique wooden barrel was a $20. find. Adam made the lid from a 250 year old board.
The hornbeam with pestle is American and very early and original.
The one of a kind stone and wood piece on the wall was dropped off on my doorstep by a neighbor with a note that said "You might like this". I think it is an old make do for scrubbing clothing.
The taproom
This is our taproom with a period style cage bar we built. In the 17thc. a taproom was known as an 'ordinary'.
Another fantastic old barrel, this one with it's original lid with handle. I found this recently for $25.!
We designed and built the wide board interior shutters for our taproom.
Welcome to Spencer's Ordinary...
My husband is my best friend, soulmate, and dearest love. He hand painted this sign for me, for our taproom, or 'ordinary'. He painted an exact replica of our signed Westerwald jug on it.
THE MERRY LADS~ Raising an elbow to the strains of the 17thc. music, 'Johnny Cock Thy Beaver' with mugs of Mary and Adam's homemade Rum Shrub.
Dear friends, and fellow reenactors Ken and Jeremy~honored guests at 'Spencer's Ordinary'.
We built the bar on the wall for hanging some of our reenactment clothing and gear in our Ordinary. All of the items are clothing and items used in the 17th century.
I love the little treen rumlet on the table. It is period, and was a real find locally.
Dining room
The beams in the rest of the house are original and are part of the post and beam structure of the house itself. Adam and I put these beams up in the dining room recently.
One of the tables set for our DINNER WITH THE PILGRIMS, Nov. 5, 2011
The brass chandelier is a c. 1950 copy of a 17thc. 'Hapsburg double eagle' chandelier.
We love the beams we just installed in this room. An original 17thc. joint stool sits by the fireplace. It has a hinged lid, and storage compartment. We found it in Essex County Mass.
A 17thc. spice cupboard on top of an old chest.
I love old the metallic embroidered tea cozy...
The inside of the spice chest. Each drawer has the original 17thc. pulls.
Adam and I built the sink table and the shelf above it from 250 year old garbage picked wood from an dismantled 18thc. house near us.
On the shelf wooden trenchers, a very rare and early American treen mug, and a bellermine jug keep company with a Kurdish grain bag.
One of our rarest and earliest pieces, this 1630's livery cupboard is English, and was the one featured in John Fiske's book on early English furniture.
The cornice boards are old, hand embroidered crewel and were found in a house in Maine years ago. A friend's home is featured in the EARLY NEW ENGLAND HOUSES book. She has the original 17thc. wood sconce, and told Adam to copy it for me, which he faithfully did from 250 yr. old wood. We have one more for sale...
The photo is deceptive; this late 17thc. stretcher base table is 6 feet long and almost 4 feet wide.
The BEST early scrub box I have ever seen.
The embroidered bag with our entwined initials and the date of our American chest, 1678, was designed and made for us by Charisse Goforth.
Untouched American 17th century chest made in Rowley Massachusetts. It is dated 1678, and had the initials 'J' and 'B' on the front as well as regional decoration. This chest decended in an unbroken line in the Nelson family, Adam's aunt. We are proud and happy to have it now.
Here Mary sits on a stone plaque and Adam stands in the old cellar hole along the 'battle road' in Lincoln Mass----all that is left marking the location of the home of Revolutionary war hero Josiah Nelson. This is the Nelson family of Adam's aunt, and the one in which our 1678 chest decended in an unbroken line.
It was amazing to sit near the spot where our chest spent much of the 18th century.
This is an English, c. 1650 chair-table. We got it from Yorkshire, where it resided in a Dutch weavers house there in the 17th century.
The hanging cupboard with it's fantastic butterfly hinges is 17th century, and was found in Georgetown, Mass.
This is an original 17thc. bible box. We mounted a frame stained to match on a paneled wall, and the box sits in it, and gives me the little built in desk I always wanted in a corner of our main room.
Atop the court cupboard are a large early pewter charger, an authentic period bellermine jug, and a handblown period style glass.
Adam hand made me the oven door from a wide pine board as a Valentine's day gift a cew years ago...
Here I am cooking in the 'beehive' oven at our DINNER WITH THE PILGRIMS, Nov. 5, 2011
The goose over the fireplace is a rare species, and none are now allowed to be hunted or stuffed.
We electrified this candle standard. The chair is a 17thc. backpanel back stool, with a gorgeous carved crest, and is featured in John Fiske's book on early English furniture.
We took ugly legs off this sofa and added Jacobean ones ourselves!
This is a very rare set of 4 17thc. English chairs in original condition.
Our chair-table in it's upright position.
A dated band style sampler hides the ugly thermostat!
This original and rare early standing rush light was a real find. I placed one low bid at an art auction, and no one was interested in an early lighting device, so it was mine!
The oil painting of a 17thc. lady is early, and one of my favorite things.
Over the doors hangs Adam's J. Cookson 17thc. style doglock musket, which is used at reenactments. A 'Brown Bess' hangs over another door in the entry hall...
The crane is 18thc. All the hearth iron is period.
Our bedroom
The find of a lifetime several years ago was our all original, carved English 17thc. tester bed.
This bed is one of our most cherished possessions. It is very comfortable too, as it is as long as a Queen size bed.
The rare, one of a kind rope dog bed is for sale!
An English, carved 17thc. wainscot armchair sits in a corner by the bedroom fireplace.
The cradle is a late 17thc. piece found hiding in plain site among refinished Victorian furniture in an antique mall years ago.
An identical cradle was featured in the mini series 'Aristocrats' on PBS about 10 years ago.
The goldwork coif with my initials on it~
The bible box on top of this carved chest has it's handwritten provenance on an ancient piece of paper inside the lid. It was made in mid 1600's as a gift for the Bishop of Durham England by the from the cathedral workers there. When King Charles was executed, this bible box went to France for a time with the bishop.
A rare, early iron lighting device.
I love this early copper bedpan with brass fittings.
Our bed bears the initials TMA and the carved date, 1686. When we found it, Adam said it was meant to be because he saw the 'TMA', and said "that means 'To Mary and Adam' "!
This shows the underside of the incredible bed canopy. It's mellow, dark, hand carvedl panels are lovely to look up at.
The interior shutters in 2 rooms of my house were made for me by a friend years ago.
The little sitting room
'Adam's chair', and his leather covered joint stool. The lid lifts up and he has magazines and the TV remote in there!
An early mirror and stumpwork picture...
The leather box was completely handmade for us by a reenactor friend for a wedding present.
Here, many items of our reenactment clothing hang on a wood bar the lenght of the room...
Move them, and a flat screen TV is hiding!
The leather 'possibles' bag was made for Mary by a reenactment friend
NOW THAT'S LOVE---One day I walked into this room to see Adam fiddling with the phone and a basket. He was rewiring the phone and answering maching into the basket to hide it for me, as a suprise!
I made the curtains from authentic linsey woolsey that I got right off the loom and washed and fulled myself.
We built this arbor together from trees we cut down on our own property. Cost: nothing!
We built our raised beds from cedar from our Vermont friend. You can read the whole story on Mary's blog: http://anhistoricallady.blogspot. com
Look under '17thc. raised bed gardens'.
The firepit we made. All of the rocks were from our property including the curved back rock, which is natural!
Adam made the wattle fence for me one Saturday morning as a suprise. It is around our herb garden in the back.
Our 'babbling brook' flowing down the hill.
Our 18th century cape is locally known as the " the mill house". This is a photo of the mill just a few doors down from our house. It was built in 1784. This mill is owned by a friend, and houses the 1920's lathe that Adam is using to handmake our lovely 17thc. style treen candlesticks! He is working on them in this idyllic setting, just a few doors down from our house!
Here is a photo showing one of the walls in our entry hall. I have a quote from Proverbs written on the wall which means a lot to us. The picture below shows a close up of the quote. We continue to do things to the house and slowly collect treasures for our home. OUR BOOK WILL FEATURE MANY NEW PHOTOGRAPHS OF OUR HOME, INSIDE AND OUT, NOT SEEN HERE. THERE WILL BE PICTURES OF US AT REENACTMENTS, AS WELL AS PICTURES TAKEN WITHIN ONLY A FEW MILES OF OUR HOME, GIVING THE READER A LITTLE TASTE OF WHERE WE LIVE...
----IT IS A NEW HAMPSHIRE OF OLD GRAVEYARDS AND STONE WALLS, AND GREEN TREE BRANCHES ARCHING OVER MEANDERING ROADS. OUR BOOK WILL ALSO FEATURE SOME OF OUR FAVORITE RECIPES, AND THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF HOW WE MET, AND OUR "COURTSHIP IN 18TH CENTURY STYLE", AND MORE~
OUR HOUSE IS FOR SALE
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email: countryladyantiques@yahoo.com