OUR RESTORATION
We fell in love with 'Downeast' Maine on our honeymoon eight years ago. After many years in the Hamptons restoring other peoples' homes, we longed for a place to restore of our own. In 2001, while surfing the Internet, we found our dream home, on an eight-acre farm, overlooking Boyden's Lake, in Perry, Maine.
Built by Nathaniel and Mary Golding (c. 1893), the farmhouse was later the residence of their son, Robert N. Golding, from the early part of the 20th century, until his death in 1969. Mr. Golding was well known in the area as a guide, hunter, farmer, stone mason, woodsman and celebrated storyteller.
The noted painter/historian, Eric Sloane included this story about Golding in his book The Spirit of 76', which was also reprinted in the September 1973 issue of the Reader's Digest:
"I remember Rob Golding, one of the last of that vanishing race of old-time Maine guides.
'He is an old friend', my wife said, 'and he is coming this spring to prepare a garden for us.'
One day in May, Rob arrived. The next morning, during breakfast, I began to wonder at what time
one should awaken a 92-year old man. At that moment he appeared at the kitchen door.
'I hope I didn't wake you,' he said. 'Tried to be quiet, but I kept striking your confounded Connecticut stones.'
He'd been hard at work since six.At the end of two days, Rob had laid out an extraordinary garden
with a split rail fence around it. I suppose local help would have made it a weeks work.
When I brought up the subject of pay, Rob gave me a lesson in human nature.
'Work is work when you're paid to do it,' he said. 'When you're not, it becomes pleasure.
There's a lot of time in heaven for me to rest, so I want to get in all the working hours I can while I'm still alive.'"
Over the past six years we have completed extensive restoration on the home; recreating a 1930's era kitchen and bathroom, as well as creating his and hers studios, where we pursue our fine art. We have also gathered volumes of material from many sources, including descendents and friends of the Golding family. This material is comprised of photos, letters, documents and personal objects, from the family that once lived in our home. We have discovered both silent and sound movie footage archived at Northeast Historic Film Society, in Bucksport, Maine, shot by Thomas Archibald 'Archie' Stewart, dating back as early as the 1920's. Mr. Stewart was a businessman from Newburgh, New York who summered in Maine. Rob was his guide. For fifty years he filmed their hunting and fishing expeditions, sequences of Rob storytelling and period shots of the Golding family and farm.
At the University of Maine Folklife Center in Orono, another surprising find. Hours and hours of audio reels (recorded by Mr. Stewart and Dr. Edward "Sandy" Ives) of Rob telling his legendary stories and reciting his poems. These tapes contain wisdom and wit and document the history of The Golding's, as well as life in rural Maine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Our philosophy has been to do as little damage as possible to the original fabric of the house, to restore elements that are important and have been lost. We choose finishes that are inspired by the original choices of the Golding family, but are in keeping with our own sensibilities and taste.
The experience of restoring our home has been an unexpectedly magical one. We never anticipated the volumes of material that would be produced by simple inquiries, or the friends that we would make along the way. Ironically, as much as we've come to know already, there are still many untapped sources to be mined.
about your restoration project.
(Above: photo of our home c. 1895 with Jim Golding in foreground.
Right: Rob Golding 1898 in Spanish American War uniform.
Below left: aerial of our farm 1933 taken from the 'big pine'.
Below right: Nathaniel & Mary Golding c. 1900).
