THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408170152
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY SUSAN W. SMITH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 202 lines
THE OLD, WHITE farmhouse off Cedarville Road had horsehair plaster, no insulation, crumbling ceilings, layers of peeling paint, no heat, sloping floors and suffered from years of neglect.
But to Holly and Brian Beatson it looked like their dream house.
A year after purchasing the old Hickory farmstead they're still discovering its charm and history. But it has taken a lot of work to make it a home. And, except for plumbing and electrical jobs, they've done it all themselves.
Brian is an exterior-finish contractor by profession, but Holly and the boys are learning by doing.
The old house has a long history of additions and renovations, so the Beatsons are not the first to take it on as a project. The family room and the attic alcove were built in the early 1700s. About 100 years later the dining room and the front hall were added. In 1861 the parlor and the upstairs were built onto the growing house. There's a brick at the top of the chimney inscribed Oct. 6, 1861.
``Abraham Lincoln was the president,'' said Holly, ``when this chimney was built.'' She rubbed her hand over the weathered, handmade brick.
For the Beatson family this has been a year of stripping decades of paint, knocking out walls, locating fireplaces, sharing a single bathroom and enjoying lemonade afternoons and firefly nights.
Last year the Beatsons and their children - Micah, 19; Hunter, 17; Aaron, 15; Hope, 4; and Brian, 2 - lived in a comfortable needs-no-improvement home in Virginia Beach.
``But we wanted our children to experience some of the rural pleasures that we had growing up.'' said Holly. ``And everyone in the family had some special requirements.''
The Beatsons wanted growing room for a family of seven. Holly was looking for pastures, a corral and a barn for the horses she trains.
The older boys have been involved in wrestling most of their lives. Their father was a two-time all-American wrestling champion. All the men in the family wanted room to work out and train. They also wanted a place to have friends over for camp-outs, cookouts and bonfires.
Hope had animals on her wish list. She wanted a dog, cats, lambs, a pony and even a pet lizard.
The family targeted Chesapeake for their home search. They liked the small-town friendliness of Great Bridge, and Hunter and Aaron were lured by the winning wrestling program at Great Bridge High School.
``For months we checked out every real estate magazine, talked to Realtors and drove through the countryside.'' said Brian. ``We looked at a lot of possibilities, but nothing that seemed to really work for us.''
It was mid-August and three weeks before school was scheduled to start,'' said Holly. ``It was panic time about what we were going to do.''
As usual, Brian checked the Sunday morning real estate section. A small ad for an old farmhouse plus acreage caught his attention.
The owner met them in the driveway with the keys.
``Don't let them see you get too excited if you like this house,'' Brian cautioned Holly.
The house had been empty for almost a year. The previous tenants had left behind discarded furniture and the obvious smell of cats. Rat droppings were everywhere. Only a small amount of light shadowed through dirt-glazed windows.
There was a wide entry hall, two front rooms and dark-painted steps that led upstairs to two large bedrooms. The upstairs ceiling was cracked and water-stained.
Downstairs at the back of the house was a screened porch with most of the screens missing and a family room with a fireplace. The hardwood floors in the family room and the kitchen were painted red. A small door led up several steps to an attic alcove. Exposed beams showed through the holes in the ceiling.
Holly and Brian walked through without saying much. She pointed out the wide, pine, plank floors and the Federal period carved moldings over the doorways. Two large chimneys flanked the house. Brian thought there must be fireplaces hidden behind the walls in almost every room.
Holly went back upstairs for a second look. She smudged a clean spot on the window. The wavy pane was blown glass from the early 1800s.
Outside there were several barns, a smoke house, large trees and a sea of fields.
It wasn't long before Brian and the owner shook hands on a contract for the house and three acres of land. Holly took a deep breath, wondering what they had gotten themselves into.
The clean-up was a family project. They scrubbed the place down with brushes and gallons of disinfectant, and hauled away load after load of debris.
Replacing the A-frame ceiling in the back attic alcove was one of the first of many remodeling projects. Brian, Micah, Hunter and Aaron knocked out the ceiling and walls with hammers. Brian installed new plaster, and the room was painted gleaming white.
It was just the right size for the younger children, Hope and Brian. Their beds were tucked under the eaves. From their window they could see the barn where Little Babe, a bay pony, now lives.
Holly's project was the front staircase. Step by step, she and her sister, Linda Whitley, stripped off old paint to uncover the pine steps and banister.
``A friend asked why we didn't just carpet the stairs.'' Holly rolled her eyes. ``Can you imagine covering this beautiful wood? I think of all the people who have lived here and have gone up and down the stairs - a mother carrying her baby to bed, a couple coming down in the morning, a child sliding off the banister.''
As interest in the history of the house grew, Holly and a friend, Laura Snell, researched old deeds, wills and court documents for more information.
The first reference to the land in the Northwest River area appears in a deed in 1647, and a James Warden purchased the plantation in 1723. The house and land passed through generations of Wardens until 1916 when this part of the farm was sold to A.W. Cornick Co. In 1924 Julian Cutrell bought the land. In almost 270 years, the Beatsons are only the third family to own the property.
The dining room has become the warm heart of the house. A long golden pine harvest table and accompanying benches rest on a colorful Oriental carpet.
A rocker and a yellow gingham wing-back chair face the fireplace. Pictures of hunt scenes and farm life, old mirrors, candles, a wooden ice-cream bucket, clusters of magnolia leaves and a walnut sideboard would make an earlier resident feel at home.
The floors have been sanded and buffed. Braided rugs, scatter rugs and rag rugs in greens, browns and country reds add splatters of soft color to the dark floors.
They decided to leave red paint on the kitchen and family room floors. ``Just for fun,'' said Holly. ``It's kind of a happy surprise when you walk into those rooms.''
Aaron and Holly put up a blue, milk painted door to a small closet tucked in under the steps. She bought the door for 25 cents from a local farmer. It had once been an entry door to a slave cabin.
It was a cold winter. Wind whipped through the walls and down the chimneys of the old house. Once the family returned from a late-night wrestling match to find water frozen in the bathtub.
The next morning Brian called Holly from work. ``Try to find the hearth and fireplace, and I'll bring gas logs home tonight,'' he told her.
Over the years, the fireplaces had been walled over. Holly and Micah took sledge hammers and knocked out the solid plaster and removed the dark paneling to open up the 150-year-old brick fireplace and hearth.
The windows have been a time-consuming project. It took Holly about 40 painstaking hours of labor, an hour here and an hour there, to clean one 15-pane window. She used a toothbrush to scrub out stained caulking and years of grime. The work has to be done very gently and carefully to keep from shattering the fragile glass. She still has 12 windows left to clean.
Tongue-and-groove flooring secured by hand-forged nails were removed from an upstairs room for plumbing for a second bathroom. Each board was carefully numbered so it could be put back in its original position. The first bathroom was installed in 1969.
In August a representative from the National Historical Society examined the house and barns. Turning back a section of aluminum siding, he discovered solid cypress. Someday, the Beatsons say, the original cypress exterior will be restored.
The representative also confirmed that one of the barns was built with 17th century material. An old carriage step nailed to the barn wall now serves as a hook for a water hose.
The barns have yielded some finds besides the usual abandoned farm equipment. Buckets, bins and troughs now hold magazines, skateboards and even geraniums. The Beatsons were delighted when they discovered the original mantels stored in the back of the barn. Refinishing and restoring them to their rightful place is another pending project.
Under a pile of trash, they found a stack of heart-of-pine lumber. The trees had been harvested from the back woods and taken to a local sawmill to be cut and dressed. ``Someone's plans never got finished,'' Holly surmised.
On one of the overhead beams, they discovered a dusty 1930s Smith-Douglass Fertilizer Co. notebook. ``It was like the farmer came in from the fields and put his notebook down and forgot about it,'' said Holly.
One journal note records that 277 bags of peas were sold. Another noted that James Cuffee worked one week clearing a ditch and earned $2.50.
Everyone is happy now. Hope has her pony and Harriet and Lucy, her lambs, which were named after slaves that once lived there. She also has rabbits and an iguana named Carl Perry, after a Great Bridge wrestler.
``When I first saw the house I thought it was a rickety mess,'' said Hunter. ``I didn't think our friends would want to come out here.''
Now friends of all ages look forward to invitations to the Beatsons' home, which they call Cedar Hall.
In early summer, the barn was cleaned and fresh straw was spread around. Lanterns were hung and sawhorse picnic tables were laden with food. There was dancing, football, horseshoes and pony rides. One of the special guests was Elbert Cutrell, now in his 80s, who had lived in the house when he was 7 years old. Cutrell and two elderly friends settled under the trees, picked up their banjos and the sound of bluegrass music filled the air. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
A golden pine harvest table and benches rest on a colorful Oriental
carpet in the Beatson's dining room.[color cover photo]
Parts of Holly and Brian Beatson's farm house were built in the
early 1700s.[color cover photo]
The Beatsons' home, which they call Cedar Hall, dates to the early
1700s.
Little Babe, a bay pony, lives in the barn, which was built with
17th century materials.
Morning light catches a kerosene lantern on the golden pine harvest
table in the dining room. The old house in Hickory has a long
history of additions and renovations, so the Beatsons are not the
first to take it on as a project. The family room and the attic
alcove were built in the early 1700s. About 100 years later the
dining room was added.
In the barn, the Beatsons found a farmer's dusty 1930s notebooks.
by CNB