In the rest of the first week of owning the house we stayed busy. We worked on mowing the back lawn and weed removal around the house. We got a dry vent on the outside. We worked on getting the root cellar walls down. Took time and took the storm windows off the outside of the house to be able to clean up the outside of the windows to be able to open the windows to get some cross ventilation in the house. We built a cellar door and evening removed the two antennas on the roof.
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The first thing we did was mow the grass on the front lawn that seemed to be overgrown to say the least. We worked on the garden beds beside the front of the house to get the roots and all the weeds out of the house to clean up the appearance of the house and to let the foundation breathe a little. We took the chainsaw and cut trees around the house and use a truck and a chain and pulled out the roots from the ground. So the over grown roots would not hit the foundation. The duration of the first day was only 3 hours because how late it was when we got the start on doing everything. Neighbors stopped and slowed down as they drive by and let the encouraging “looking good” and “looks a lot better” as they drove by. It is the first time any serious work has been done to this house in quite a while. That night I went and bought new door knobs for the garage and the house to make sure I had a set of keys other than the pad lock the bank put on the front door. The following day I worked on raking up the grass clippings in a few piles. I put on the two new door knobs on the garage and house. I talked with the next door neighbor to locate the septic tank and some property lines. ( He got excited and started lending a helping hand that day by weed wacking on the onside of the garage….good neighbors are the best). I removed the rest of the roots and weeds in the front of the house and then reinforcements came to help get one of trees out. Of course the chain comes off the chainsaw within two minutes. WE loaded up the grass clippings and the roots and tree branches to get rid of them. As my parents and I got the roots and tree branches out of the way and in the back of the truck. My girlfriend after helping be with the front of the garden beds she started cleaning the closet in what will soon be our bedroom. She found some very cool finds, from old photos from 1904 – 1985. Enlistment papers and discharge papers from a female Marine. Piles of clothes and much more that will have to be sorted out soon. I found a broken but savable flagpole the night prior when I was mowing. I went to move it behind the garage on the second night of working there and when I did I found a old wooden ladder. I used it briefly to get up and clean one side of the gutters and try to clean the moss of the shingles of the garage.
That was the first two days of owning the house more to come soon. My name is Kelly James Hinkle, I have lived in Downeast Maine all my life. I am currently 26 years of age. I went to Maine Maritime Academy and work locally in Columbia Falls, Maine. I bought the Samuel Bucknam House on August 3,2015. It is my first house I have ever owned. The house had been sitting with no one actually living in the house for around 10 years. Machias Savings Bank took over the house as a foreclosure almost two years before I bought the house. When I called the realtor up to take a look at the house, I fell in love with the architecture of the house, the beautiful fire places and the wooden floors. The beautiful molding and the trim that surrounds the fireplaces around the house caught my eye right away. It had a good amount of land for a house right in the center of town. It needed a lot of work I knew that right away.
I made an offer on the house not thinking that they would even consider the price I told them I would be willing to pay. Within 30 minutes the bank said yes. Within two weeks from me making the offer I signed on the house and I am the current owner of this piece of history sitting in the middle of the sleepy little town of Columbia Falls, where the church bell rings every hour. I will be keeping everyone update on the improvements to the house to get it back in the shape that it used to be in. Please follow this blog to learn more about this piece of history and the revamping it needs to get back to its breath taking self. The Samuel Bucknam House is a historic house on 161 Main Street in Columbia Falls, Maine. The house was built in 1820 and finished building in 1821. It is one of the state’s finest Federal-period Cape houses, with well-preserved woodwork and other features. |
Author/ OwnerKelly James Hinkle is the current owner of the Samuel Bucknam House. ArchivesCategories |