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1839 Jefferson Township home maintains historic elements while offering modern amenities
Joan Adams' mother cried when she first saw the dilapidated farmhouse outside of Burgettstown that her daughter and son-in-law, Bill, bought 29 years ago.
"It was in really bad shape," said Joan, who was undaunted by its condition. "But I saw the possibilities."
The two-story brick Virginia vernacular home, built in 1839 with a wood addition constructed at the turn of the century, was desperately in need of a bottom-to-top renovation.
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Now, the home is for sale. The Adamses recently bought a Cape Cod-style house in South Carolina, where they plan to retire.
"It's going to be hard to leave," Joan said. "This home is beautiful, and it's private and quiet. We took care of it and did everything right."
Indeed, they did. Today, the rooms have modern updates but retain the home's 19th-century integrity.
"The house was salvageable. The exterior structure was solid. It just hadn't been loved in a very long time," said Joan.
The renovations included gutting the entire 3,500-square-foot home, installing ductwork for heating and air conditioning, replacing windows and replacing or refinishing the original hardwood floors, doors and hardware.
"We tore everything out, every wall, every ceiling," Joan said. "For 10 years, you could see the rafters to the attic."
The couple tapped into their talents and tireless work ethic to complete the project, and they turned to local craftsmen like Tab Donati and Randy Forney to help rebuild the interior. Donati built custom cherry kitchen cabinets with a distressed finish, several interior doors, cedar closets and media cabinets.
Outside, Joan and Bill stripped the paint from the addition, applied linseed oil and followed with primer and two coats of paint.
The property is a horse lover's dream. The wooden barn includes a heated feed room and tack room, and the grounds feature an outdoor riding arena, three paddocks, three large pastures, and insulated electric fencing.
The home sits less than a mile from Rails to Trails, a network of trails from former rail lines that are ideal for horseback riding, and is adjacent to state game lands.
"If you ride horses, it's a dream," Joan said.
The home is one of the three original houses in Jefferson Township and the bricks used to construct the home, whose walls are three bricks thick, were fired on the property.
Joan keeps documents and papers associated with the house and its original owner, Robert McGough, in several antique boxes and chests.
Paperwork includes the original "covenant," or deed, to the home and McGough's citizenship papers and bible.
"These documents stay with the house. This is where they belong," she said.
The rooms are relatively spare, which enables the home's architectural details to stand out: wide baseboards, wainscoting, deep window sills, pine flooring, an original cherry handrail, and a window seat.
Joan, who deeply appreciates all things old, decorated the home with period furnishings and reproductions including wingback chairs, a pine dining room table with bowback Windsor chairs, church pews, and a Victorian clothes press. She purchased a 1922 propane stove built in Pittsburgh for $100 and sent it to Texas for restoration.
She meticulously stenciled the walls of many rooms in a variety of patterns true to the period.
"The craftsmanship and workmanship of previous generations is remarkable. They took the time to do it right," she said. "Look at these steps. They're 140 years old and they don't squeak."
The historic farmhouse can be viewed on LandAndFarm.com under the listing "80 acre horse farm." Contact information is available on the Web site listing.
Quick facts:
© 1839 Virginia vernacular farmhouse sits on 80 acres near Burgettstown and includes a horse barn, riding arena, paddocks and a 60 X 48 equipment barn.
© Sale price: $1.2 million
© Bedrooms: 4
© Baths: 3 full baths
© Annual property taxes: $383 (Clean and green)
© Fireplaces: 6, with slate or wood mantels. The fireplaces are non-working.
© The home is heated and cooled with two propane furnaces and two air conditioning units.
