Metcalfe Manor, c. 1860

Metcalfe Manor

76 Groton Street

Pepperell, Masachusetts

Joy and I live in an antique Victorian house in Pepperell, Massachusetts. You can see the pictures of the house with this link. The house sits on a single acre of cultivated and landscaped land, including fruit trees and many varieties of other plants. Our house was built in 1860, the year Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States of America. We call it Metcalfe Manor because such a place deserves a name. In May-June of 1998, we repainted the house in bright colors so it can be also appropriately called the Painted Lady of Pepperell. Click here for images of the Manor with its new look.

The house has had four owners: the Fords, the O'Tooles, the Bagbys, and the Metcalfes. My neighbor across the street told us that the house was built as the Ford Estate, home to a well-to-do family with quite a bit of acreage and lovely gardens. It is unclear to me about the next owners, but we believe that the O'Tooles married into the Ford family, and the house passed into their hands when the Ford family died out. It stayed in O'Toole hands for some years, the land was parceled, and O'Toole relatives still live next door in several of the adjoining properties. The last O'Toole in the house was a spinster school marm who had let the place fall into decay because it was too much for one person to care for.

The Bagby family bought the property which was now a single square acre and restored much of the house to what it is today, removing aluminum siding and making many lovely rennovations.

Since we moved in, our major projects included installing a 3/4 bath, replacing the three roofs (because of defective shingles) and painting the house. We've made other, less costly renovations, too.

The property itself is fully landscaped with both flowering and edible plants. Our fruit trees include apple, peach, and pear. Other fruit-bearing plants on the property include seedless concord grape vines, blueberry bushes, beds of strawberries, a bed of red raspberries, and one black raspberry bush. The vegetable garden has raised beds with crushed stone pathways. We plant corn, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, onions, cucumbers, squash, rhubarb, and canteloupe. The flowers and gardens at Metcalfe Manor have a dizzying variety throughout the Spring and Summer months. There are over 80 different kinds of flowers including 5 kinds of lilac, 6 kinds of lily, numerous variety of roses, and other flowers too many to list.

The perimeter is bordered on one side by a stone fence, by low hedges in the front, another side by a split-rail fence and the back by a stockade fence.

There is also a large in-ground pool in the back surrounded by its own garden with a small bathhouse in which guests can change their clothing.

When you walk in from the farmer's porch on the south side, you walk into a 15'x25' kitchen with hardwood floors, corian counter tops, and a large island in the center, big enough for buffets, or lunches. Joy has stenciled a ceiling border of climbing rose vines. The kitchen also has white, windowed cabinets, a huge antique porcelain kitchen sink, stove, dishwasher, a 27cf refrigerator, and trash compactor. At one end of the kitchen is the doorway to the barn, which I'll get to later. On the other end is a narrow stairway up to the master bedroom, and the doorway to the dining room.

The dining room has two chandeliers, a pressed tin ceiling, a walk out bay window, and hardwood floor. We've installed a corner hutch to hold china, goblets, and Precious Moments figurines. The room also has a large hutch and oak table sitting on a large oval braided rug.

Off of the dining room, through French glassed pocket doors, is a smaller room where my home office is set up. It also has a tin ceiling and hardwood floors. The family pet, a cockatiel named Cookie, also takes up residence in this room.

I should note, so that I'm not terribly redundant, that the entire house - except the barn - is beautifully floored in hardwood - or wide pine on the second and third floors. The barn is carpeted. Most floors have some (small or large) throw rugs adorning them.

Through the dining room into the front room is the living room with another walk out bay window. Joy has stenciled a lovely vine and flower pattern on a latticework background in the ceiling border. Follow the link for the "biblical account" of How I Rennovated the Living Room. Turn right out of the living room and we come to the main hallway with a mahogany-railed staircase up the second floor. The double front doors to the house are to the left at the bottom of the stairs. Underneath the stairs is a small half bath (right off another door from the office).

At the top of the stairs is the main bathroom, and three bedrooms. The bathroom has a clawfoot tub with sunflower shower head. The main guest room has the third tin ceiling (with a different pattern) in the house and a large closet. This used to be the master bedroom until it was moved to the back of the second floor. Anoher guest room is in between the main guest room and the master bedroom. The master bedroom has a built-in hutch/bookshelf, a walk-in closet and a laundry room off of the closet. We installed the 3/4 bath (shower and toilet) in the laundry room.

Another stairway (above the main stairs) leads to two smaller bedrooms on the third floor.

The barn is a completely finished 25'x27' space with carpet and a large loft where my pinball machines go. The barn is our family room where the 50" TV and games go. There is also a high tech weight training system attached to one of the main posts of the barn wall. All the beams and posts are exposed. Off the barn there is another porch that overlooks a decorative pond which we stock with goldfish in the Spring.

The main house is heated by antique steam radiators (gas heated). The barn has forced hot air for the cold months and central air conditioning for the summertime. The entire house is outfitted with a central vacuuming system.

We love having guests enjoy this spectacular place with us. We feel more like park rangers (caretakers) than owners; this place was meant to be shared with others. We're not rich by many standards but we were very fortunate to find such a place in Small Town, USA.

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Updated: April 13, 2009