Quincy House

10/08/2024

10/08/2024

…Getting into the spooky mood with the northern lights tonight over the house, the chilly crisp air and the start of our Halloween display.

08/30/2024

HELD OVER!!! Day 2 of our bi-historic house garage sale happens again tomorrow, Saturday, at the Quincy Captain’s House (green colored house 2 houses up the hill from Quincy House).

There are still some nice finds to be had and great prices like $3 women’s clothing, housewares, vintage solid wood desk suite, small snow blower, John Deere riding lawnmower, jams including thimbleberry and more!

More hand painted items and furniture at very very reasonable prices are still available like a hand painted junior daybed for $5. Starts at 9am tomorrow August 31!

08/30/2024

Garage sale starts at 9am today 2 doors up the hill from Quincy House on Highway 41.

Clothing, housewares, furniture, antiques, thimbleberry jam, and miscellaneous everything!

We will also be selling Quincy House Thimbleberry Soda until it sells out!

Look for the signs at the green colored house on the corner of Frenchtown road.

Soda and jam proceeds help us fund the exterior restoration on the house currently underway!

08/30/2024

GARAGE SALE TOMORROW!
Not at Quincy House but 2 houses up the hill at the green colored house (Quincy Captain’s house Highway 41 and Frenchtown Road)

Starts at 9am and goes until ??

Lots of nice women’s clothing all $3 each
Also men’s clothing, housewares, furniture, kitchenware, 2 antique mid century cast iron bathtubs and more.

Also local artist hand-painted furniture including a baby bassinet and hand-painted craft items along with Quincy House-made jams including Thimbleberry and more!

See you tomorrow (Friday) morning. Look for the signs!

08/11/2024

There was at least one earlier Agent’s House for Quincy Mine before Quincy House construction started in 1880. The location is unknown to this day and not recorded anywhere. Quincy House may have been built on the same foundation of an earlier agent’s house and this may explain why the house’s basement is in 2 odd different sections (an interesting story for a different post). But this is just a theory. The other possibility is that the earlier agent’s house may have been near the site of Quincy House. This would make sense as the agent at the time could have resided in the old house while the new house was being built.

The first known photograph of the 1882 built Quincy Agent’s House (current day Quincy House) as seen in this post, is from around 1890. No early photos of the interior of the house are known to exist as it may have been unfeasible or impossible at the time with photography being complicated or possibly because it may not have been customary to do so. What a treasure if we could ever find some early inside pictures of the house and how it was furnished!

08/11/2024

We call this great house “Quincy House”, but it was built as Quincy Mine’s: Agent’s House. Who was the ‘agent’ of Quincy Mine and what did they do?? The agent was the ultimate local authority & manager of Quincy Mine and superintendent of Quincy Mining Company’s area holdings and prospects. The agent reported directly to directors and shareholders on the east coast and was the top representative of Quincy Mining Company for local officials and dignitaries.

It was common for a mining company back then to provide workers and officials with housing, the agent included. Except, for the agent, the top dog above all the workers and other mine officials, was provided the grandest accommodations as it was a perk to help attract potential agents to come work for Quincy Mining Company. It also promoted the paternalistic nature of operations. For their work, the agent would receive not just salary but also housing inside the grand Quincy Agent’s House. The house ‘s physical prominence represented the stature and power of the agent. It purposely was the largest and most ornate residence and everyone knew who the big boss was.

The pictured man in this post is the last and longest tenured mine agent for Quincy: Charles L. Lawton. As Quincy Mining Company gradually dissolved and was stressed for cash, they owed Charles significant back pay and ultimately came to an agreement with him in 1939 to sign over the house in lieu of that back pay. Charles lived in the house until his death in 1946. His widow Grace lived in the house until her death in 1971 when the house was sold on the open market to Charles & Angela Anderson. In 2021, after 50 years, they sold it to us in hopes of the house being restored, filled with grandeur anew and that is currently in the works!

07/15/2024

Beautifying, re-using and re-purposing! This is an old water heater closet we crafted into a custom niche. The sides are made with stained wood slats cut from an original wall stud and never-used spare arch trim left-over from the time the house was built.

The rest of the back of the closet was added to the bathroom behind it to expand a "closet" bathroom itself. This area is within the Maid's Quarters (formerly the apartment) in the back of the house. We incorporated an antique marble-top pier table/mirror below the niche to finish the wall.

It's the perfect area to enjoy fresh flowers from the garden!

07/04/2024

Happy Independence Day everyone!

06/24/2024

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1178455392026457276?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=662186f3-1e98-4899-a319-e8a4e529fdfe

Maid's Quarters of Quincy House

06/24/2024

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1178455392026457276?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=44c62bfa-fef6-49e0-a266-be50d91c8e2e

We are pleased to announce the opening of guest accommodations at historic Quincy House!

The newly restored former Maid's Quarters is available to rent nightly on AirBNB and VRBO. The nightly rate includes a newly restored bedroom with Queen sized bed, separate living room with a single pull out bed and custom bathroom with antique Carrara marble and rain shower. The rooms are decorated in Victorian high style with original woodwork, windows and period antiques complimented by just the right amount of modern amenities we all expect.

This is the chance for guests to experience something Quincy House has never offered in its existence: nightly accommodations.

The 2 of us, David & Zach own, operate and live in the house and run the Quincy House Preservation Foundation, a 501c3 charitable public nonprofit. Proceeds from the guest accommodations go directly back into the nonprofit which facilitates the ongoing restoration and preservation of Quincy House's historic educational interpretation.

Former residents of the house may know this separate back section of the house coined as the "apartment" and accessed by the servants staircase. Old records are incomplete about who may have been employed as servants or maids and resided in this section during ownership by the Quincy Agent. However 1930 Federal Census records show Charles and Grace Lawton employed a live-in cook named Mary Rippin and she possibly could have resided here.

The maids would have been standing in line to work here if the Maid's Quarters looked like this back then!

06/24/2024

Mysterious treasures in the attic? Yes! This wooden crate full of pine fretwork survives from the time of Quincy House construction 1880-1882. The mystery lies in why so much of this was ordered as the only fretwork inside or outside of the house (3 pieces) adorn the bottom of the spire atop the Quincy House tower exterior. The pieces seen here in the crate were never used nor was any other fretwork installed in or on the house. And there's a lot left over! No one knows why so much was ordered and not used.

However! Repurposing is our passion. So after 142 years sitting idle in the crate we have incorporated 4 of these pieces into the design of the newly finished Quincy House kitchen. We thought the house deserved to showcase these pieces and add another interesting story to the large book of stories this house holds. We intend to use more of the spares in the house as restoration progresses.