The Country Lady Antiques : Tour
PLEASE TURN UP THE VOLUME ON YOUR COMPUTER
NEW PERIOD MUSICK! PLEASE TURN UP YOUR VOLUME TO HEAR THE 17thc. TUNE, 'A TRIP TO KILLBURN'~
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We will be putting up new photos of the rooms of our house in late spring~
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To purchase an item email us at
countryladyantiques@yahoo.com
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...
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Dining room
A very early 6 foot long stretcher base table is surrounded by 17thc. chairs, joint stools and settle.
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.
This incredible settle is 1630, and the carvings pinpoint it's place of origin as Somerset, in England.
The brass chandelier is a c. 1950 copy of a 17thc. 'Hapsburg double eagle' chandelier.
The floorboards in our home are of pumpkin pine and are from 18 inches to 26 inches wide each. The cradle is 17thc.
A 17thc. spice chest on top of an old court cupboard.
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...
American treen on an ancient table with the c. 1630 English settle ~
The photo is deceptive; this late 17thc. stretcher base table is 6 feet long and almost 4 feet wide.
The rare 17thc. spice cupboard has drawers inside with original teardrop pulls ~
Photo showing the well worn stretchers on the table and the carved base of the Somerset settle.
The spoon rack is very early, with dry red paint and original rosehead nails.
This bellermine jug is a 17thc. original.
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Living room
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 big faux cheese'! When we watched the BBC series of the historians living in a 1620 farmhouse for a year, we noticed when the ladies made cheese they stored the wheels up on a hanging shelf in the dairy, almost identical to this one Adam made for me several years ago from 18thc. wood. I found a fantastically authentic and realistic 'fake' wheel of cheese for mine!
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.
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.
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.
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Our bedroom
New bedhangings
New photos of the bedroom coming soon
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!
A very rare 1630 livery cupboard hangs on the wall above the bedroom fireplace. This very same piece was featured in John Fiske's book on 17thc. English furniture.
Our bed warmer dates to 1650~It is extremely rare
The embroidered goldwork coif on top of the livery cupboard has my initials embroidered in 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.
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.
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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!
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 descended 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 descended in an unbroken line.
It was amazing to sit near the spot where our chest spent much of the 18th century.
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.
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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