The old kitchen addition was added to the main house around 1804, and includes 20” thick stone walls. It was used for cooking and food storage to feed the slaves and homeowners. There are two bedrooms above, each with its own small staircase. The fireplace in the middle room is six feet wide by five feet high and includes the original cooking swing arm. Next to the fireplace is an original hand-carved sandstone dry sink, which was used for food washing and processing. The wash water drained out through the side of the wall into the yard. Upon purchase, this structure was unsafe to enter because the fireplace had suffered a partial collapse and there were several cavities in the walls which allowed groundhogs and black vultures to take up residence. Once the structure was cleared out, the first floor stone walls and fireplace were rebuilt, and it was discovered that the original walls had been plastered with a mixture of soil, lime and horse hair inside and out!
about the house being brought back from certain demise and worked with the Rojas’ s architect to ensure all plans for the property were acceptable. It took three years for the renovation to be completed.
There is always a moment of truth when anticipating a dive into a historical renovation project of this magnitude.“ I did see the potential, and I also saw a lot of the really bad stuff like the degraded stone walls, which we had to underpin,” muses Tom.“ It meant extensive digging under the foundation in five-foot segments, filling them with concrete and rebar, and then moving moving on to the next five-foot section. And then there was the problem of the sagging second and third floors! Six 20-ton jacks had to be installed to level the house back up. We actually left the jacks in place and built around them to conceal them.”
Home renovations of any size present an unfolding array of challenges that need to be surmounted, as well as a few surprises that can cause a project to go sideways. Historic renovations are even more demanding when overlaying the importance of historical authenticity as a goal. Doubt and second guessing can creep in.
plenty I spring sowing 2025 43