GEORGETOWN — The Georgetown Historical Society is sponsoring a Historical House Tour on Saturday, Sept. 27, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Seven private homes, the Brocklebank Museum and School House No. 3, will be open for the tour. Many of the homes selected were built in the 1800s and have been maintained and restored in keeping with the original architecture and historical value. All proceeds will benefit the continuing restoration of the Brocklebank Museum.
The fourth house is the George H. Carleton house, 55 West Main St., built about 1870, by G.H. Carleton, a leader in Georgetown's economic growth in the late 1800s. A banker by trade, helping to create three area banks, George was also active in the community and in government, serving as Georgetown's treasurer, a two-term town selectman and member of the Committee to Enforce the Illegal Sale of Intoxicating Alcohol and also the Special Fire Police Force after the devastating downtown fire of 1874. He had many financial interests as well. Along with Alfred B. Noyes, he incorporated and obtained the funding to build the elegant Odd Fellows Hall, which was the home of "Little's Block" on the corner of West Main Street and North Street. He also seems to have a financial stake in A.B. Noyes' thriving shoe manufacturing company in the 1870s.
Details: This Colonial-style home is approximately 4,900 square feet with 10 rooms, 3.5 bathrooms and four fireplaces sitting on .79 of an acre.
Style: The G.H. Carleton home is a unique mix of architectural styles that combines traditional federal traits with many stylistic overlays. The eye-catching jerkin-head dormer, rope-turned corner boards and denticulated cornices and window caps announce Second-Empire style. But the recessed porch and narrow sidelights recall a Greek Revival precedent, while the shallow-pitched roof with considerable overhang and profusion of scrolled brackets looks backward to the earlier Italianate idiom.
The home has gone through some modest upgrades in recent decades, but there was one feature of the house that was well-known by the neighbors in the 1960s — a glass enclosed outdoor pool! Used year-round, it was apparently quite an attraction before its removal by the Rohners in the 1970s.
The present owners, Barry and Joanne Crawford, are enjoying learning about the history of the home and its original owners.
Tickets will be available mid-August for $20 at Sedler's Antiques, Theo's Restaurant, Meader's General Store all in Georgetown and Kay's Interiors in Groveland. The day of the tour tickets will be available at the Brocklebank Museum. This is an adult event only, including children 10 and over for the $20 price, and we ask that backpacks are left home. For further information, call the Brocklebank Museum at 978-352-8526 or e-mail us at info@georgetownhistoricalsociety.com and you can visit our Web site at www.georgetownhistoricalsociety.com.
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