This historic home, built in 1790 by a family of shipbuilders and house wrights, has many period charms, including original pumpkin pine floors and four working fireplaces. It also has a secret room. Inside a closet in the master bedroom, on the second floor, a wooden ladder leads upstairs to a small room, now used as an office. On the other side of this “double’’ house - it was originally built for two families - the same space, also accessible by ladder, is an open loft.
A ‘double’ home with history, and a secret room
Home of the Week
The Carr-John Estabrook house, built by the Estabrooks, is a double saltbox where many of the original ceiling beams are still exposed. It is part of Rocks Village, a National Historic District, an assemblage of houses and outbuildings that was settled along the banks of the Merrimack River as early as 1640.
The front entrance to the house, with the sloping pine floors, is bookended by a living room and a library. The fireplace in the living room has an unusual brick niche above the mantel. The fireplace in the library sits beneath an original hand-planed board.
The small dining room, with stained beams, has room for a table beside a brick fireplace whose beehive oven is visible from a screened porch behind it.
Another dining area, behind the kitchen and looking out toward the property’s perennial gardens, is sunken, with a brick floor.
An addition to the back of the house contains a sunroom with a hot tub.
The four small bedrooms, including the master bedroom with a fireplace and a long closet, are on the second floor.
One of those bedrooms, which has some exposed brick along the walls, leads to the loft beneath the eaves on the third level.
Outside, a barn can be used as a one-car garage, and the house has two driveways, one on each side.
Listing agent Sonja Shine will hold an open house today from noon to 3 p.m.
20 River Road
Haverhill
Price: $325,000
Style: Colonial
Year: 1790
Square feet: 2,343
Rooms: 10
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 2 ½
Sewer: Septic
Advertisement
Advertisement
