The first owner of this Bed & Breakfast recounts the history of the Mead House. "While we have not begun in earnest the full historical trace of this house, we do know it was built in 1882 by Dr. Primrose. His daughter married Dr. Hyde, a physician in his practice, and to most residents of Nelsonville this has long been known as the Hyde house. Eventually the home changed hands several times and fell in to a state of considerable disrepair.
During the gallery hop in Nelsonville on Final Friday of June 2006, our friend brought us to this house and suggested it would be a great “project” for us. We had little time to think about it, as we learned the house was being put up by the bank for a foreclosure sale on July 5th. In those six days we must have changed our minds a dozen times on whether or not to undertake the effort to restore the Hyde house. As it turns out, no one bid on the house at the Sheriff sale, and we purchased the house from the realtor who got the listing the day after the foreclosure sale.
So why the Mead House?? At about the same time we viewed the house for the first time, we were receiving a small inheritance from Dr. and Mrs. Robert Mead, an aunt and uncle who had passed away the previous year. Our uncle was a renowned scholar in Latin American studies and was chairman of the Modern Language Department at the University of Connecticut. Our aunt on the other hand was a free-spirited artist, a potter, with considerable notoriety in New England. And so these two close family members, with a unique commitment to arts, scholarship and small communities left a part of what they had to us.
While it is impossible for guests to know or appreciate these two great people, we felt that we could honor their memories by taking that inheritance and putting it in to this house. They would be thrilled to know that their legacy has gone to a small community with an eye towards the arts and in an area where two significant employers are institutions of higher education.
The restoration is now complete. The process took nearly two years. We started by hauling out the trash, the dirt and the stench!. It took several months for most of the odor to dissipate. We tore down a carriage house that leaned a bit too far, making its preservation impossible. The house now has all new plumbing, electric, and HVAC. The pocket doors were here when we unlocked the house, and much of the house has been preserved, including the floors, staircase, windows, and plaster walls. The only real alteration was done at the end of the upstairs hallway to accommodate the two large bathrooms you will see up there.
Would we do it again? Most likely, and as our friends like to say, they are thrilled it wasn't them. They got to live vicariously through our experiences....and it was a lot cheaper!!! But now we are excited about opening up this beautiful victorian house as a bed and breakfast facility, and hope it contributes to the continued growth of the arts community and the city of Nelsonville."
The second owner appreciates all that has been accomplished here, and intends to carry on the tradition!
From Sheriff Sale to B & B
