Incredible Workmanship in the Reconstruction of a c. 1847 Mansion

For the last seven years there is an old stone mansion near us that has been in the local news and, currently, in the process of being renovated.  

Why was it in the local news?  Well, it started with the old stone mansion being torn down and sold and replaced with several new houses.  

It was such a shame as this old stone mansion was built in 1847 and had quite the history associated with it regarding the town and even one of the presidents.

In 2014 a group of teenagers heard about this old mansion being torn down and decided to do something about it.  They decided to protest the demolition of the mansion and used all their social media skills to help them with protesting it.  

They created signs and stood outside the mansion waving their signs for motorists passing by, created online petitions, and posted where ever they could online to educate the community about what was going on with the demolition of this mansion and why it shouldn't be demolished.

Their efforts quickly spread throughout the community and many residents joined in on the protest.

Well, as you can imagine, several weeks into the protest the current owner changed his mind and decided not to sell the property.  After that several groups concerned with historic preservation got involved with the end result being the residents approving utilizing funds to help preserve the mansion at their town meeting.

In 2016 after weeks of discussions the owner and town had an agreement on preserving the mansion and renovating it.

So, for the last few years we have been watching the meticulous and amazing process of renovating this historic property.  Every day we drive by it and marvel at the workmanship involved with creating this unbelievable mansion to it's original glory.  The stone and masonry work involved has been nothing short of astonishing.

The mansion was registered with the Massachusetts Historical Commission in 1999 and, according to the Friends of the Burnett-Garfield House, which worked with the owner and the town to preserve this old mansion, it is considered a historic property for many reasons.

 If you're interested in reading about why this house is considered historic please visit their Friends of the Burnett-Garfield House Facebook page.

Well, this past spring when my husband and I were driving by and marveling at the workmanship I decided to take some pictures as I found all of the renovations remarkable and thought you all might agree.

To put all of this in perspective you first need to see how the old mansion looked before they started renovating it.  

The property consisted of the old stone mansion, a carriage house, a chapel, and a summer house - all of which would be renovated.

The picture at the beginning of this post shows the renovated chapel, mansion being renovated and part of the carriage house being renovated.

Photos courtesy of PM (Preservation Massachusetts) https://www.preservationmass.org/

Here's how the mansion looked before the renovation. 

Here's how it looks now while being renovated.

Photo courtesy of Community Advocate - https://www.communityadvocate.com/2017/10/11/preservation-work-continues-on-southboroughs-historic-burnett-garfield-house/

Here's how the chapel looked before the renovation. 

Here's how the chapel looks now after being renovated.

Photo courtesy of PM (Preservation Massachusetts) https://www.preservationmass.org/

Here's how the carriage house looked before the renovation.

Here's how the carriage house looks now as it's being renovated.

The incredible workmanship didn't just extend to the buildings.  It also extended to the beautiful landscaping all along and within the property.

I love all the roses and the garden just outside the chapel, which is shown in the pictures above.

Shrubs have been planted all along the property.

A watersprout was built in the pond.

A beautiful gazebo, shown in the picture above and a bridge across the pond, shown in the photo below were added.

They also decided to renovate the corner along the street at the end of the road where the mansion was.  

Every day for the 33 years my husband and I have lived here the corner was nothing but a big mud pit filled with weeds and dirt. 

So, we were so happy when they started to renovate the corner.  I don't have a picture of how it used to look but the picture below is how it looks now.

We just love the way the corner has been finished and love seeing all the improvements to the old stone mansion. 

We can hardly wait to see what it looks like when it is done. For sure, it is a huge improvement to the town and this area.

We're hoping when it's finished that they will have tours for the residents of the town so we all can see the beautiful renovations that were done outside and inside this remarkable mansion.