NEWBURY – If you are looking for a home that was part of early Newbury history with the same views of the Parker River that the earliest settlers enjoyed, a two-bedroom home that has been updated with modern amenities just came on the market.
Built originally in 1728 as a tavern that served locals and visitors traveling between Boston and Portsmouth, NH, the 2,356-square-foot home at 7 Lower Green once stood in the path of what today is State Rte. 1A.
Then-owner Florence Bushee, a conservationist and philanthropist who was the daughter of a Boston banker, moved the house in 1933 to its current location, which had one of the nation’s last remaining single-room schoolhouses as its front yard.
In her 50-plus years in Newbury, Bushee dedicated herself to preservation. In addition to restoring this home, she also renovated the 1715 Dole-Little House, and she donated more than 200 acres of the estate to the Trustees of Reservations to create Old Town Hill, a 3-mile network of trails near her home on Newman Road.
After portions of the house burned in the 1940s, Bushee hired renowned restoration carpenter, Roy Baker, to rebuild the home. Baker had restored the Wayside Inn in Sudbury for industrialist Henry Ford.
Adjacent to the house is the Newman Farm Pasture, which was donated to the Greenbelt, after locals raised $500,000 to buy the property next to the Lower Green to keep it from being developed.
Keller Williams Evolution Realtor Casey Peicott, who has listed the home for $950,000, said in the first few days that the house has been on the market, she has had a steady flow of prospects touring the home. “There has been a lot of interest,” Peicott said.
Central air, a security system and other modern amenities, like a concrete floor in the basement, plus a detached two-car garage with a second-floor for storage, were added through the years. The current owner, who purchased the house in 2004, purchased a disassembled building that housed a barrel maker shop in South Berwick, ME and reassembled it as an addition, complete with original flooring and stairs.
The house with one and a half baths has three large rooms on the first level. And there are four fireplaces, including a walk-in fireplace on the first level.
Just minutes from the Parker River, boat ramp, and marina as well as an historic one room school house.
“It is the best of both worlds,” the current owner said. It has maintained its historic character and charm, but lives like a house build in the 1940s. “It is an excellent house to live in.” ♦
