Why Preservation Matters

Recently, I had a chance to tour the interior of the Historic 1858 Wells-Sherman House that a group of us is working hard to save. Admittedly, after 42 years as a college rental, it doesn't really look like much inside, or even outside for that matter. It has suffered from a bit of abuse over the years, as a college rental is wont to do, but if you know what to look for, if you know architecture and architectural history, you can see that good parts of the original interior of this house remain. The newel post on the banister is the only remaining part of the stairwell, as the finial on top is missing, and the banister is of modern vintage, but peel back the carpet and you can see the holes in the stairs where the original banister was. What is of 1858 vintage is the baseboards, some doors, the stairwell newel post, the millwork under the windows and posts in corner rooms that clearly show the house to be of post and beam construction. Perhaps the most exciting part of the entire house can be found in the basement, where a massive beam crosses under the floor. This beam was obviously once a tree trunk that a carpenter used a hand adze to remove the bark from, but he left some of the original bark on it. Would that I could identify the type of tree from which this was made! It could be chestnut or some other sort of very hard wood, but I would need to have a closer look at it. Finding something like this is extraordinarily exciting because it is almost like having a virtual time machine at your fingertips. Touch the beam and you are touching the hand of the carpenter who worked on it 154 years ago. You are looking at a tree that existed that long ago as well and that was probably cut down right on the property where the house was built. This is why preservation matters, because it allows us to reach back into the past to connect directly with it in a tangible way. It is one thing to read about someone or something like this, it is still another to see it and touch it and get a feel for how things were so long ago.

This old house has many stories to tell, based on my research into those who resided in it throughout its long history. Even though the house has been cut up into many small rooms that were rented out to college students, you can still get a feel for its history when you walk inside. People lived, and in some cases, died here. They gathered for family occasions, they laughed, they cried, they gave birth, they died, they had ideas and contributed to the city's history. This was a family home and it speaks of a time past when people built beautiful Classical style homes using "model books" by what were then called "country builders", self trained architects. Kent once was filled with just such homes, but time has not been kind to them and most of them have since disappeared and are but a memory. Now we have a chance to save one relic of our city's long ago past and we are working diligently to do so. We have cleared many hurdles, from finding a place for which to relocate the house since it stands in the way of progress, to receiving a $15,000 loan from the city to do so. A local bank is also offering to make this project happen and we've also received private donations from various individuals to help us along the way. It's going to be costly any way you cut it, but it will very much be worth it to bring it back to its 1858 appearance. It's difficult to push this project forward in a city like ours that has historically been extremely hostile to preservation, and for reasons that I do not understand at all. But our goal is to show that preservation and repurposing of old buildings and homes can enhance the quality of life in a town, and we hope that this is the opening salvo in what will be a long struggle to change hearts and minds.

Many decades ago, this beautiful 1875 railroad station was threatened with demolition. With an almost unanimous voice, people here were calling it a useless eyesore that should be torn down and as is typical in our town, converted to a parking lot. The trains had ceased to run and the station as a result became an abandoned hulk that fell into disrepair due to neglect. Many of us saw the value in this beautiful Victorian Italianate building and hoped and prayed that a way could be found to preserve it. Fortunately for our town, people began to notice what a lovely old building it was, and when it was found to be an extremely rare example of this style of railroad architecture still standing, the clarion call went out to preserve and repurpose this building. It is now an extremely popular restaurant and gathering place for our city and is a favorite destination of residents and visitors alike. Someone with vision and imagination saw that, with the right venue, this building could be brought back to life and reintigrated into our downtown. But it takes vision to look at a crumbling old home or building and look not at what IS, but what can BE. Too often, people lack imagination and see just what something has become, and if it is decrepit, they think it should be torn down instead of imagining what it might become with the right vision. This is another one of our hopes, to change minds about what things can become with the right vision. People see an abandoned home that, at the end of its residential life, was pretty trashed inside by its departing tenants. What they fail to see is a house that has withstood the test of time and has a bright future if the right vision helps it to be saved. Our little dedicated band of preservationists has that vision and we hope that we can make it a reality by continuing our efforts to save this historic home that was built and lived in by the family for whom our town is named. It may not look like much now, but when we restore it to its 1858 appearance, I have every reason to believe that people will be proud of us for having the vision to save a crucial piece of our city's past. Stay tuned, we've only just begun!