Two old farmhouses will share a new home

The Burnham parcel will be the new home for Kate's Homemade Butter, which has been operating in an Old Orchard Beach neighborhood since its 1981 inception. 

By Glenn Jordan gjordan@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer 

http://www.pressherald.com/news/two-old-farmhouses-will-share-a-new-home_2011-09-15.html
 

The Burnham House on Route 111 in ArundelPhotos by Gabe Souza/Staff Photographer 

 

The Burnham farmhouse on Route 111
in Arundel, built in 1795, is one of two farmhouses that are being raised from their foundations and moved by the Arundel Historical Society. 

The old white farmhouse in Arundel catches Carol Eddy's eye every time she takes Route 111 from her home in Springvale to visit family in Old Orchard Beach. When she sees the date above its front door -- 1795 -- she considers the history of an edifice erected in the aftermath of the American Revolution that remains standing today, albeit 6 feet higher than it did last month.

The Burnham farmhouse has been lifted onto wooden supports. Eddy could walk under it without bumping her head.

"I love that house," Eddy said, "and I would hate to see it go."

Fear not. After 216 years in the spot chosen by Nathaniel Currier to build a home that would stay in his family for two centuries, the Burnham farmhouse is being prepared to travel half a mile west. If all goes according to an ambitious Arundel Historical Society plan, workers will move another 18th-century farmhouse east the same distance to share a 3-acre parcel on the south side of Route 111 -- also known as the Alfred Road -- that will include a historic barn and a new structure to house the society, its artifacts and archives.

The Lunt farmhouse dates back to 1798. The new site, on the south side of Alfred Road near the intersection with Limerick Road, borders the Lunt family cemetery and is easily visible from the main road.

"We have had the two old farmhouses donated to the society," said Donna der Kinderen, who serves on the historical society's board of directors. "In both cases, they have to be moved because there's other things going on the property."

A private residence is planned for the Lunt parcel. The Burnham parcel will be the new home for Kate's Homemade Butter, which since its 1981 inception has been operating in an Old Orchard Beach neighborhood.

"We starting searching about five years ago for a new site," said Dan Patry, whose parents founded the company and named it after his cousin Kate, now 33. "The town of Arundel approached us and we found a nice parcel (of 40 acres). We've got plans to have dairy cows in there."

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