Restoring An Old House: The Squire Bagley House
Program at the Holliston Historical Society
Tuesday, March 19th at 7:00 PM
On March 19, 2024 we will welcome Holliston resident, Denis Semprebon, owner of Beacon Hill Restoration, to the Holliston Historical Society. Denis will speak about his work restoring the Squire Bagley House in Amesbury.
Built circa 1780, this house was expanded over the years to meet the growing needs of the Bagley family. Squire Lowell Bagley married Sarah Osgood in 1811, and the couple raised three daughters here — Emmeline, Mary, and Sarah. It was their daughter Sarah who, nearly fifty years later, offered shelter here to Mary Baker Eddy.
www.longyear.org
In an interview with Stacy A. Teicher, Denis said preserving historic houses is “very rewarding, because you’ve left your mark.” In her article Ms. Teicher writes:
As the owner of Beacon Hill Restoration, Denis was equipped with decades of experience renovating historic buildings. Longyear hired him to serve as a preservation consultant, and he and his staff mentored the Longyear staff as they trained them in preservation techniques. He guided the project as longtime issues surfaced, including rot, caused by moisture and insects, that was hidden in parts of the 18th-century timber frame….
The goal was to save as much original fabric as possible, and when original material wasn’t available, Denis found the most historically accurate replacements….To structurally repair damaged cornerposts, the crew spliced in new wood—a technique that reminded them of working on a three-dimensional puzzle. And just as the Bagleys would have done, Longyear purchased many of its supplies nearby. Board sheathing was custom-made at the Bartlett Sawmill in neighboring Salisbury, Massachusetts, based at a family farm that goes back more than 10 generations. The nails used on the exterior came from Tremont Nail in Mansfield, Massachusetts, which still makes steel-cut nails the way it did in the mid-1850s.
article from May 2022 found at https://www.longyear.org/learn/research-archive/an-old-house-made-new/)
We hope you will join us for what should be an interesting talk about this project! Refreshments will follow the talk which will be held in the Great Room of the Asa Whiting House.
Now owned by the Longyear Museum, a museum founded by Mary Beecher Longyear to advance the understanding of the life and work of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, the Squire Bagley House is open to the public in the summer months.
