DENISE MARCHIONDA, Sun Correspondent
PEPPERELL Low ceilings, King's board walls and gleaming wide pine plank floors greet visitors at the Hezekiah Winn House in Pepperell. Although it's now the private residence of Sherrill Rosoff, co-owner of The Restored Homestead, it looks like a living museum set.
When she first bought the cabin-style house more than a year ago, it was run-down from years of disrepair. Now, restored and remodeled, it sports new glass in the original windows, the beehive oven is once again the centerpiece of the kitchen, and its dark chestnut beams are exposed.
Rosoff has not only restored the old homestead of the 1700s Pepperell settler, but also learned its history.
"I've traced it back at least to 1828 on a survey map," she says with pride, "and I know it was here in the 1700s because of the building structure." Her scrapbook of the house includes before and after pictures, original deeds, family histories, and maps of the area.
The house was the inspiration for the business Rosoff and partner Holly Bradman, also of Pepperell, started earlier this year. They met when Rosoff was looking for a new home after moving here from Pennsylvania. Bradman, a former Realtor, was showing the house when a colleague brought Rosoff to look at it.
Realizing they both had a love for old homes, Bradman and Rosoff combined their resources to start The Restored Homestead. They now locate old houses at risk, such as the Hill Jock House in Chelmsford, and "determine what we can do to save them, either through restoration on-site, or by moving them," Rosoff said.
With minimal bylaws to protect old homes, developers often raze old structures because it is more profitable to use the land for multiple housing than it is to restore an old home and resell it.
The mission of The Restored Homestead is to "blend the old with new" when restoring homes, said Rosoff.
"We need to rebuild to code," she said. "When we take the walls down, we re-insulate, wire, plumb and put back the walls to look like new with the charm of the old."
The partners are constantly on the lookout for old glass windows, barn board and other salvage pieces from old homes to use in another restorations, said Bradman.
"We have them stored safely for a future restoration," said Bradman, who urges anyone with these types of material to contact her. "Materials like these, you just can't go out and buy. Our challenge is to restore at an affordable cost to buyers."
Bradman's background is not only in real estate, but also in interior and landscape design. Rosoff is a former administrator at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. They feel that with their backgrounds, along with investments by both partners they describe as "sizeable," their business is bound to be successful.
"We don't just restore homes, but try to capture the history of the house," said Rosoff. "We are willing to take it down piece by piece or lift the whole house. During restoration work, you work with what you got if it is of good quality."
The partners say they're looking west of I-495 for land to move their treasures. They want to be part of preserving these bits of local history and communities.
"The houses don't have to be on the National Registry to be of importance," said Rosoff. "Just important to the community and the families that contributed to the community. Once we lose these homes, that is gone."
(c) 2003 The Sun (Lowell, MA). All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.
