Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
Most often when people are invited to a house moving, they expect it’s because someone has moved into a new home and want to celebrate with their friends and new neighbors.
In the case of William and Sarah Benson, of Frost, they invited neighbors, friends and family to witness an actual house moving.
The couple bought and restored/renovated the Frost School and that is where they now live. They were recently given a house that was located on land next to theirs. It was most recently owned by the late Steve Wooddell.
Wooddell had told the Bensons they could have the house, but they would have to remove it from the property, so they set about to do just that.
Last week, they got help from brothers Caleb and Noah Pugh, Troy McLaughlin and several others who helped prepare the house for its few hundred feet journey. All the windows and doors were removed, and telephone poles were placed underneath to roll the house to its new location.
“Troy McLaughlin made sleepers for the telephone poles to roll on,” Sarah said. “That cushions it, to help it roll better.”
The house, which was built in the 1850s is in really good shape and structurally sound, William said. The plaster didn’t crack except in one place near where the chimney was located.
The house has been owned by several families, including the Townsends, McCartys and the Graggs.
It is a two-story house with intricate molding on the exterior, dark green shudders, a built-in fireplace on the first floor and shake shingles under a tin roof.
“The staircase is kind of interesting, formal – with acorn and oak motifs,” Williams said. “We have the original banisters that are upstairs. The details – I just love that they took the time to do formal, classical accents.
“The original roof is shake shingles,” he continued. “I think we’re going to go back to that because they’re all in the attic and looking up from the inside, they’re all in perfect condition.”
The house had a kitchen addition that fell apart when they were preparing it to move and there was also a porch that was taken off while the house was still inhabited. William said they plan to rebuild the porch once the house is set and restoration can begin.
“It’s called a parade porch because there’s a door above, and there was a [second floor porch],” he said.
As the house was slowly moved to its new location, friends and neighbors gathered on the back porch of the Bensons’ home – the former Frost School – to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime spectacle.
The house is now in place, on top of shipping containers – two of which will be used as a workshop for William and the other three, as an apartment for visitors.
The Bensons can now get busy doing what they love to do – restoring life to another old home.
