This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
09/19/2018 08:30 AMWhen Peter Mousch was growing up, some of downtown Guilford’s most remarkable historic homes and outbuildings were simply places where kids could play—including a Broad Street home with a Victorian-era bowling alley on the property.
On Saturday, Oct. 6, the public can visit that very bowling alley and have access to many other hidden historic outbuildings and structures, during Guilford Keeping Society (GKS) Mystery Buildings Tour II.
Highlighting the importance and role of outbuildings during the 17th-, 18th-, and 19th centuries in Guilford, the tour also visits a cider mill, a water tower, several exceptional barns/carriage houses, and an assortment of other notable structures.
“All of the owners of the properties have been kind enough to open their doors. It’s giving people the opportunity to go into buildings that they normally wouldn’t have access to,” says Peter, who is co-chairing the GKS event with Fran Swietlicki.
On River Street, for example, “people drive by the cider mill all the time, not knowing that inside that barn is the original mill, which has been beautifully restored. It’s all wood, and it’s incredible,” says Peter. “And the Regicide Cellar, I’m not sure how many people appreciate the importance of that building. In the brochure, it tells the story of what happened. It’s incredible, and it’s right here in Guilford.”
The cellar hid three judges who fled England in 1660 and were wanted as “regicides” by King Charles II for their part in the 1649 trial that led to the beheading of Charles I, father of Charles II.
On tour day, the history and location of all of the mystery buildings will be revealed in a brochure distributed to ticket holders (purchase advance tickets at www.guilfordkeepingsociety.com). Tickets, $15 (children 15 and under free) will also available day-of at the tour’s launching point, GKS’s Thomas Griswold House Museum at 171 Boston Street. The Oct. 6 tour opens at 10 a.m. and runs through 3 p.m.
The historic Griswold House will be open as will its outbuildings—a blacksmith shop, corn cribs, Victorian privy, and barn, where woodworkers will be at their craft. Guests can park at the Griswold House lot, explore the property, and head off on the tour on foot. The highest accumulation of outbuildings on the tour are centered around Broad and River streets. All mystery building sites will display a number out front corresponding to a map in the brochure. Docents at each location will help describe the property, answer any questions, and can also help point guests to the next spot.
“People can make a day of it,” says Peter, “They can leave their car at the Griswold House and go into town, where they can grab lunch at some point at one of the restaurants.”
This is the second time in two years GKS has offered the tour and the third overall tour for 71-year-old GKS (the very first GKS Mystery Buildings Tour went off 60 years ago). This time around, several high-interest structures on the 2016 tour will be back, but there will also be some new surprises for guests to discover.
“The pigsty that’s on Broad Street is one new location which we’re excited about, because people don’t realize it’s there,” says Peter.
Wait—people will want to see a pigsty? You bet.
“It’s built of all stone walls, and it’s in beautiful condition, right in the center of Guilford—four houses from the green. I never knew about it, and I drive by it all the time,” says Peter. “I’m not sure how Fran found out about it, but it’s really cool. That [property] was the Hubbard’s farm; it was a gentleman’s farm. They used the pigs for meat and the pigs ate all their garbage!”
One location on the tour that’s very familiar to Peter is the Victorian bowling alley behind the 1808 Abraham Coan House on Broad Street.
“As a kid, I used to play there. We used to go bowling there. You could just go in and set up the pins. It was great,” says Peter.
The outbuilding was added in the 1880s, when American Ten Pin fever was the social sport of the day.
“The bowling alley is spectacular—the windows alone, together with the architecture of it, is phenomenal,” says Peter.
The Gothic-style bowling alley was built by Simeon Chittenden as part of his summer estate and was constructed to match elements of the 1868 barn on the property. Both of the buildings, which are painted a buttery shade of yellow, will be on the tour. The barn is another time capsule of Guilford that’s astonishing to visit, especially with recent restoration completed by the current owner following hurricane damage.
In fact, a view of the restored barn on the 2016 tour inspired neighbors to restore their vintage barn on Broad Street, and now that barn will also be featured on the 2018 GKS Mystery Tour as a new outbuilding, Peter notes.
Peter also grew up with access to play in another outbuilding at 29 Broad Street that’s on the tour: Cranbrook Tower.
“You could go into Cranbrook Tower back then, it was all accessible,” says Peter.
The Romanesque tower isn’t open for access anymore, but it’s story is fascinating. Built as a domestic water tower for 29 Broad Street, the interior contains a 4,000-gallon water tank encircled by an iron staircase and was once topped by a windmill. Later, it was used as a civil defense spotting tower during World War II and the 1950s.
“During the second World War, the tower was used for airplane spotters, and my mother used to be an airplane spotter on the tower,” says Peter. “A lot of local women worked at [66 High Street] during the war effort; they made ball bearings during the day, and in the evenings, they were airplane spotters.”
A third-generation Guilford native (Guilford High School Class of 1972), Peter grew up in downtown Guilford at a time when kids would have the run of many historic homes and locations as their playground.
“As a kid growing up downtown, we would play at the Whitfield House—the docents would let us go through the house and wander around,” says Peter of Guilford’s 17th-century “Old Stone House,” also known as the Henry Whitfield State Museum. “There used to be a cannon in the field and there was a flagpole, and we would go there and pretend we were pirates or fighting the British. I used to know the people that lived in the Harriet Beecher Stowe House, so we would go and play in their yard. When you’re growing up here, you don’t really appreciate it, because your friends live in those houses.”
In fact, Peter’s grandparent’s house was built in 1850 as the mainland home for the Faulkner’s Island lighthouse keeper.
“It’s been in the family since the early 1900s and it still has the original kitchen with the fireplace and the beehive oven. Those old homes were really built beautifully,” he says.
As an adult who returned to live in Guilford after an absence of 30 years, Peter has a deep appreciation for the town and its historic past. He served on the Guilford Community Fund board for seven years and is a member of the St. George Men’s Group together with his work on behalf of GKS.
“I just think it’s important for people to give back to this community. People don’t realize the needs in town,” he says.
Among those needs are “the need to raise money to support these historic properties,” he adds.
Peter began volunteering with GKS 12 years ago and was honored to be asked to serve on the GKS board. Through fundraising efforts like the Mystery Buildings Tour II, non-profit GKS continues its mission of preserving Guilford’s past so that it will be there for future generations to understand and appreciate. In addition to owning and operating the Griswold House Museum, GKS also owns and operates Medad Stone Tavern Museum on Three Mile Course.
“Our goal is to preserve the past for the future. Without saving these beautiful buildings, the future generations won’t know anything about what Guilford is all about,” says Peter.
Guilford Keeping Society’s Mystery Buildings Tour II is on Saturday, Oct. 6, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets, $15 (children 15 and under enter free, are available at www.guilfordkeepingsociety.com or day-of at Thomas Griswold Museum, 171 Boston Street. For more information, call 203-453-2263.