Orono Initiative

Summer 2005

Summer of 2004
   

December 2002:  
John and Margaret are 4 and 7.  

The current abode, built in 1829, modified extensively at the turn of the century and further modified at the height of the 1960's

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“Whether you love or merely tolerate your old house, it is well to approach the building with one truth firmly in mind. Human life is short. The life of a house is potentially limitless. Even in the youthful US, we have houses that have been sheltering families for three hundred years or more.

“Barring disaster or imprudent neglect, your house is destined to outlive you. You are but one in a long line of custodians of the property—a line that extends backward through the decades or centuries and forward to an indefinite future.

“That being the case, let the changes you make to your property be additive rather than subtractive in nature. If you need a new kitchen or bathroom or furnace, install it. But wherever possible, install it in such a way as to preserve original features or fabric . . . Try to make your work add to the legacy of the past so that you can pass a dwelling of even greater value and comfort to the future. Remember that the number of old houses is finite, and diminishes each year. It is a privilege and responsibility to own a piece of the past.”

From the inside flap of
A Building History of Northern New England
by James L. Garvin

 

View of our house from across the river -- the Stillwater river -- a branch of the Penobscot

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Before the present house we lived in a different location in Orono and prior to that in Fort Collins Colorado

 

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Mary Jane, John and Margaret, Summer 1999, Orono, ME  in front of our old house in Orono
and a sketch of a previous house in Fort Collins, Colorado

 More information

Sustainable transportation and old habits