If you would like to live in a rustic piece of history in New England, for a very affordable price, House Crazy Sarah has found the perfect place for you!
Priced at a mere $54,900, this enchanting building is located in Newry, Maine in close proximity to Grafton Notch State Park, Umbagog State Park and National Wildlife Refuge, and, the famed Appalachian Trail.
This historic building, known as the Upton Grange Hall, is not only listed on the National Historic Registry, but it also has a literary past, having been featured in many novels (according to the listing), most notably ones by Louise Dickinson Rich.
What exactly is a grange hall? Back in the days before the internet, telephone, and TV, These halls provided a formal place for the farmers and rural folk to meet for business activities. They also served as social gathering hubs for country families where they held dances, quilting bees, and other recreational activities, to help alleviate the isolation of farm life.
The former Upton Grange Hall was built in 1899 and was first used as a space for spruce gum manufacturing. According to its very own Wikipedia page, the building was sold to a local grange chapter in 1911, when it henceforth became known as Upton Grange No. 404.
The building has since been utilized as an antique shop with living space on the second floor – complete with a full bathroom.
Have a look inside…
The interior features maple floors throughout, a stage on the first floor, and somewhat of a ramshackle kitchen.
Check out those vintage beadboard cabinets!
Admittedly, it is a little rough around the edges, but there is something rather romantic about the notion of living here.
Perhaps you could run an art gallery on the main floor… or an antique bookstore?
Even a country cafe with homemade baked goods! Tourists would trickle in and linger for the quaint country atmosphere.
Whoever owns the place now has a bedroom set up at the far end of the main floor.
The Upper Floor:
That sign! What a treasure!
House Crazy Sarah loves unearthing obscure historic places such as this one.
It is such a time capsule of how life in rural America used to be.
Looks like whoever lives here now, is doing so with the comfort of old books and well-worn antiques.
House Crazy Sarah is imagining an elderly woman with a couple of cats – or maybe dogs. She paints in her spare time and is widely read in American literature and local history.
She likes to collect rocks and pine cones and whatever else she finds on her many walks in the woods.
She enjoys being close to nature, and she relishes the unvarnished history of small-town Americana.
She lives on a tiny pension, but that is all she needs.
She lives simply and uses many of the existing pieces that have been left behind in the grange hall over the decades of its existence.
House Crazy Sarah can picture herself living here.
It may be rather dilapidated, but that is all part of the charm and romance of the place.
For a price of only $54,900 in beautiful New England, it is very tempting!
Source:
https://www.trulia.com/p/me/newry/236-thistle-st-newry-me-04261–2344712038
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You do find intriguing places! Has much potential in the right hands.