New Ipswich Landmark Remodel

Curriers remodel the Appleton House

Fitchburg Sentinel - February 22, 1951

NEW IPSWICH LANDMARK --- "Something old and something new" is incorporated in the remodelled Appleton house, shown above, constructed in 1756 by Deacon Isaac Appleton, a member of one of the New Hampshire town's oldest and most prominent families, His father, a non-resident, had been the largest land proprietor when the town came into being in 1750.

FINISHING TOUCHES-Mrs. William Currier, who, with her husband, purchased the Appleton mansion in 1948, is shown as she completes the papering, in an English hunt motif, of a downstairs room in the 10-room dwelling. Mr. and Mrs. Currier are doing all of the repairing, renovating and decorating in the 195-year-old house. House

Transcription

The 195-year-old Appleton mansion, built six years before the town of New Ipswich was incorporated, on a lot owned by a land grantee named in the Masonian charter of 1750, is being renovated extensively by its present owners. Mr. and Mrs. William Currier, believed to be the first family outside of the Appleton lineage to acquire the property. 

   The remodelling project, which got underway in 1948 after the Curriers purchased the historic land- mark, is not expected to be completed for another five years. 

   "We are trying to retain the colonial atmosphere of the house, while modernizing it so that it will be attractive and liveable," said Mrs. Currier, the former June Rogers of Newton, Mass., who has had interior decorating experience. Mr. Currier, a native of Newton, is a local machinist and ski instructor, The couple have two children, Linda, three, and Roger, four. 

   Exterior of the mansion still looks much the same as it appears in the "History of New Ipswich," published in 1852. The transformation thus far inside the 10 rooms of the house and two rooms in the ell. The later eventually will be enlarged to house a retail ski shop, which Mr. Currier will operate. The family also intends to stock the 28-acre property with farm animals, and to provide for a large blueberry patch and vegetable garden. 

   Handmade panelling panel and wooden pins in the hand-hewn timbers are in evidence throughout the building, but only two fireplaces remain of the original six. Other vestiges of colonial days include the Dutch oven and parson's cupboard. The design of an old and unusual wall- paper, literally hanging from walls in the house, has been sold recently by Mr. Currier to a New York paper manufacturing firm. 

   Deacon Isaac Appleton came to New Ipswich about 1750, and settled upon one of the 24 lots owned by his father, also named Isaac, building his house near the southeast corner of the lot, upon the west side of the old country road not far from the point where the turnpike was to intersect it 50 years later. But in 1756 he went a short distance up the country road and there built the house that is now owned and occupied by the Curriers 

   Despite an apparent attempt to paint out the "1756" over the front entrance, the date of erection is still visible. 

    Deacon Appleton lived in the house for half a century, during which time he was an important political and civic leader in the town. He held the offices of town clerk and selectman for several years and was a deacon for 30 years. He responded to the call to arms from Concord. 

   All of the 12 children of Deacon and Mary (Adams) Appleton were born New Ipswich. Among the best known of these was Samuel, born in the old Appleton house in 1766: he spent his childhood and youth upon his father's farm, where his monetary resources bore little similarity to those of his later life. He was a successful businessman in his home some town, Ashburnham and Boston, Mass. 

    It was Samuel's grandfather and the deacon's father, incidentally, who was the "largest proprietor" of colonial New Ipswich, having six shares. He was not believed to have been an actual resident of the town, however. He represents the fourth generation of the family. which has traced its genealogy back to 1586 and he English progenitor. 

   The elder Isaac Appleton, known as the great land proprietor, was born in 1704 and died in 1794. The old dwelling remained in the Appleton family through the years, the Curriers purchasing it in 1948 from the heirs of William Sumner Appleton, said to be the founder of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. Prior to this time, the house was unoccupied for about 35 years.

James Roger diary entry

January 6, 1909 (Wednesday)

Fine fresh day wind west to N.W. snow all gone, and ice nearly away, getting colder at night.  David painting one horse team and put in pane in Town Hall.  I swept vestry and put leaves in hen house, and cows out and all the hens.  Wrote to Mrs. Ritchie.  Raid on Mountain House today.  Chased Duckett to New Ipswich and fired 5 shots to stop him.