For Sale

We are moving to a different area of the country and, with much sadness, will be putting our home up for sale in the spring of 2010.

For the past four years , the purpose of this web site has been to encourage others to restore their old home. On this page of the web site, additional information is included which may be of value to someone thinking of purchasing our home.

The Lucinda Manning house is located three minutes walk from the center of Chelmsford with its many stores, banks and and library. Chelmsford is 45 to 60 minutes from Boston and 10 minutes from New Hampshire via the two major highways that pass through Chelmsford.

Our house is a fully restored and updated ten room home. All work on the house was done by a skilled cabinet maker who believed in the 'green' philosophy before the word was coined. There is no wall to wall carpeting, plywood (except under two tiled floors), chipboard or foam type insulation, all of which create gasses which can make home interiors more polluted than outdoors.

The home is situated on a 0.6 acre pie shaped lot fully bordered by stone walls. The land, on a series of terraces, is landscaped with mature perennial gardens, organic vegetable garden. multiple berry plantings, orchard and grapevines. We keep a flock of chickens on the vegetable garden terrace and beehives on the upper terrace. The walkways around the house are of clay brick and the 1800 sq. ft. of driveways are made of concrete pavers of the same colors as the clay brick.

We have had the best of two worlds, close proximity to Chelmsford Center and to Boston and yet, when we are in our backyard, we forget about the outside world. At the street level, a six foot cedar and painted pine fence with six foot gates offers privacy for the tree shaded patio and herb and perennial gardens.

For someone interested in raising organic vegetables, the 80 ft. x 70 ft. vegetable garden is fully enclosed by a 4 ft. high 2" x 4" mesh fence with 3 gates. For 25 years, we have raised and put up for winter many kinds of vegetables using the French intensive gardening methods as described in the Landscaping page. Since using much of the garden for wedding tents four years ago, we have kept two thirds of it as lawn and the rest for vegetables, raspberries and the chicken house and pen. If desired, the lawn can easily be converted back to garden.

Over the past three years, we have been completely updating the house inside and out. All the rooms have been repainted. The exterior was also repainted over the past two years.

The restored double hung windows have been updated by cutting grooves on sides and bottom and applying spring type insulating strips in the grooves and between the two sashes. This, in conjunction with the exterior storm windows, greatly reduces air transfer.

The kitchen is briefly described in the Style page. The built-in appliances including the stove top and oven are Thermador brand and the dishwasher is Kitchen Aid. My wife has spent much time cooking and preserving the products from our garden and never buys bread or other baked products. When the original Thermador oven and stove top needed to be replaced, we continued with the same brand because of the high quality.

The large pantry serves many purposes. Located at the end of the ell with the rear door opening to the back walkway, it acts as a mud room with shelves for hats, scarves and gloves, pegs for jackets and coats and rack for shoes and slippers. The clothes washer and dryer are located next to a convenient sink. The many open shelves allow for easy access to stored food. The maple countertops provide ample work area and permit portable appliances to be left out in the open ready for use. On the counters, there is a grain grinder, Kitchen Aid mixer, coffee maker, knife sharpener, toaster oven, ice cream maker and food processor, creating less mess in the kitchen.

All three bedrooms have been recently repainted using the same colors as before. The stenciling was touched up in the downstairs bedroom and reapplied in the two upstairs rooms. The upstairs rooms have two exits, one to the original front stairway and the other to the den and back stairway.

The home has an oil fired forced hot water heating system. Seven zone pumps and thermostats allow for more efficient control of the heat in the various parts of the house. There are separate zones for each of the three bedrooms, the kitchen, front room and computer room, the living/dining room, and the upstairs den.

For a number of years, we heated our home with wood and then with coal. The central location of the stove in the first floor front room allows the heat to reach all corners of the house. The coal stove has been removed and replaced with an antique 1880's Glenwood parlor stove. We have always had a solid fuel stove for enjoyment and as a backup in case there is a prolonged loss of electricity due to a severe storm. That hasn't occurred in Chelmsford Center in the 30 years we have lived in the house but we have seen it happen in other areas of town and in other communities. With this second source of heat we are able to cook, remain in our home, and protect the pipes from freezing. While a pellet stove sounds nice, it requires electricity to run and, therefore, can't be used as a backup.

Usually, when you buy an old house with fireplaces, you have to worry do to their age and not being up to code. As our fireplace structure was built about 15 years ago the two fireplaces, bake oven and two additional stove flues are all up to code. On weekends during the winter months, we usually run the kitchen fireplace all day. There is something about an open wood fire that no other heat source can match. Although not near as efficient as a wood stove, the 'Count Rumford' design of the fireplace means that it does not have a negative effect on the heat in the house. It shuts down the kitchen thermostat very quickly. Cooking a meal in the dining room fireplace cannot be equaled on a stove.

The small air tight Jotel wood stove in the upstairs den fires up quickly and warms up that room without overheating the area.

We have town water but originally each home had to supply its own. The well, up the hill behind the house, once served to fill the cistern at the farm which used to be across the street. When Lucinda built her home, she tapped into the well but the farm retained the right to continue to receive the gravity fed well water. When purchasing the house, I had to convince the lawyer that those water rights no longer existed because the farm no longer existed!

A second well is located on the south side about 10 feet from the kitchen. We had the water tested and found that it is safe to use on the vegetable garden. I installed a well pump and tank in the basement and hose faucets in three outside locations. Although the well usually dries up by the middle of August, we have basically free water through the springtime and much of the summer as well as in the fall.

We were told (by a now deceased friend) who used to visit the home when she was young, that there was also a well in the basement and milk was kept cool there by lowering a milk container into the water. There is a sealed up area in the basement wall which is the probable location of that well.

The roof structure of the original outhouse may be seen in the 'ell' attic. The later septic system was happily replaced when Chelmsford Center became one of the first areas of the town to receive a sewerage system in 1989 and we quickly connected to it.

After the addition was built in 1983, it was time strip off the old dark shingled roof and replace it with a cedar style fiberglass shingle. About ten years ago, I decided to re-shingled the house while the old shingles were still in good condition. It would not be a good idea to apply a second layer over old shingles that have begun to curl! This time I chose Timberlane Architectural "40 years to life" that look far more like real cedar shingles than the previous ones. The project took me the whole summer and was the appropriate time to install the three additional skylights that we had been wanting to add. One was for the kitchen over the sink area and two on the north side of the upstairs den in the timber frame addition.

There are two basements plus a crawl space under the kitchen 'ell'. The old basement is made up of stone walls with a cement floor. Two stone columns support the center of the house. Before the ancient furnace with its air ducts was removed, having to 'duck' was a constant necessity. As the new piping for the plumbing and new forced hot water heating system were installed, I made sure that there was always clearance for an average size person to walk without bumping their head. I have been in too many old basements in which the opposite was true.

Not long ago, the old basement walls were 'power washed' and repainted. The five wooden windows and frames were restored or rebuilt and painted. The exterior foundation was re-pointed last year.

The new basement under the addition has pored concrete walls and a 4 in. thick concrete floor. The new basement was made deeper than the old one so that I could build tall pieces of furniture in the wood shop I set up there. A large bulkhead was installed facing the driveway for easy transfer of large items.

	Location The Town of Chelmsford, Massachusetts
		"Here on the 19th of April 1775, the Minute Guns summoned the men of Chelmsford to the Concord fight"

Our home is located in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. We are a 3 to 5 minute walk from the center, including the library, plaza, stores and banks. Two major stores are Stop & Shop and Marshall's at the plaza as well as many other commercial establishments. Many medical offices are located on the other side of Chelmsford Center, a 2 minute drive from the house.

The town of Chelmsford has many things going for it. Besides parades and winter festival, it and other organizations maintain parks, bike trails, walking trails, beaches, etc.

The first segment of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail (a bike trail that follows an old railroad bed) should be ready this summer and passes right through the center.

This year, the town has a community garden which we joined and in which we have planted tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, etc. It is run by the Chelmsford Open Space Stewardship which also manages trails. They have reopened the South Chelmsford beach that we used to take our children to.

Chelmsford is at the junction of two major highways, I-495 and US-3. I-495 travels from I-95 near the New Hampshire border in a wide arc around Boston to the Cape. US- 3 extends from New Hampshire south as far as Rt. 95/128 as a major highway. With moderate traffic, the center of Boston and Logan Airport are less than an hour away (45 minutes on a Sunday morning). Up the Rt. 3/Everett Turnpike, Manchester Airport is evan closer

A shopping center is just three minutes walk from the house and opposite the Adems Library. The two closest major malls are Burlington Mall at the junction of US-3 and I-95 in Burlington, Mass. (13 miles) and Pheasant Lane Mall up US-3 just over the border in tax free New Hampshire ( 10 miles)

The nearest National Park is next door in Lowell. The Lowell National Historical Park interprets the industrial revolution in America during the 19th century.

Ten miles from our home, the Minute Man National Historical Park explains the beginning of the American Revolution. On April 19, 1775, minutemen from Chelmsford joined fellow farmers and merchants from surrounding communities to go to the aid of the citizens of Lexington and Concord when British soldiers came out of Boston to confiscate arms and gunpowder stored by the patriots. Massachusetts celebrates April 19th as a holiday although it is usually observed on the nearest Monday. A number of times, we have gone to the reenactments of the initial battle in Lexington Center at 5:30 AM and, later in the morning, the turning back of the redcoats at Concord Bridge. We would have breakfast at the Colonial Inn and later view the parade in the center of Concord.

During the warmer months we walk and hike at Great Brook State Farm Park two or three times a week and once in a while in the winter also. Only 3 miles away, the park has 20 miles of trails, a pond where we sometimes launch our canoe, a working dairy farm, cranberry bog, bike trails and cross country skiing. During the summer, we pick blueberries around the pond to be frozen for winter use, search for mushrooms, and keep a watchful eye for the cranes, turtles and beaver.


Master	bedroom	Downstairs	bedroom	2nd upstairs	bedroom


A church dominates the typical New England town center	With the Forefather's cemetery and a one room schoolhouse behind	The Town Common	Monument with names of soldiers who died in Revolutionary War	The Center


Another view	Old Town Hall	Present Town Hall	Adams Library	With recent addition


Dawn reenactment of first battle of Am. Revolution in Lexington on Patriot's Day every year	Minute Man statue, part of the Minute Man National Park	Canal boat entering the locks at Lowell National Historical Park	Canoeing up to the Old North Bridge, scene of the second battle of the American Revolution


Chelmsford High School front entrance	One of the athletic fields behind the high school


	McCarthy Middle School (one of two middle schools)		Center School (one of four elementary schools)


The dam at the pond	A meadow in Summer	The same meadow in early Spring


Barrett Byam Homestead	Old Chelmsford Garrison House	Old Sturbridge Village 4th of July celebration with parade, reading of the Declaration of Independence and fireworks

Home Driveway Fireplaces Addition Garage Style Woodworking Landscaping Beekeeping Poultry Lucinda