After several years of scrimping, saving, and patiently waiting, I purchased a home in Roxbury, Vermont, right on the edge of the Green Mountains. I will be writing a bit more about the place as I delve deeper into it; the broad strokes are that it’s a mid-19th century hill farm exemplary of that type of quintessential high-posted cape which is as close as you’ll ever get to identifying a vernacular Vermont style of architecture.
The best part about the house is its originality. The town records state that the house was built in the 1870s (though I have reasons to believe the house is older), and after changing hands a few times it was bought in 1940 from an out of state family who only ever used it as a summer place for a few weeks a year. In effect the house is almost entirely untouched since the 1940s, and even then very little was done to it, just necessary maintenance. The previous owner kept meticulous records for 80 years about everything he did to the house, which is a habit I am continuing. As I explore the house I’ll do my best to update things here; we can explicate, explore and remediate this little house together, and perhaps add these entries to the ongoing chronicle of the house, which bears the moniker of Primrose Hill. Here’s my favorite pair of facts about the house so far: didn’t get electricity until 1986, and indoor plumbing came just a few years later.
