Over the years, the cottage has received support from our community to make repairs happen. The building has had windows replaced, a new roof, several coats of paint, and more. It’s been a while since there have been any major improvements to the building and it shows! She needs your help!
The Butterfield Cottage in 1900 with Mrs. Butterfield (right) and Mrs. Knowles, the caretaker (left).
The cottage looked a bit different then.
In the early 1980s after changing hands multiple times, the building was set for demolition to make way for Heritage Square, just down the road from where we are now.
Helen Gaston, our Board President at the time, saw the potential the building had and pursued a rescue mission. With the help of donations from the community and some grants, the cottage was moved to museum grounds where it was renovated and eventually opened in 1991.
Community programs such as Tongue Point Job Corps have helped us reach our goals before, but we are still counting on help from our locals and visitors alike to meet our goals this time around.
Let’s talk about our plans.
Our current gutters are wood and were installed in 1990. They’ve held up fairly well, but we are going to replace them with a longer lasting material.
Some of the gutters are falling away from the facia.
Other parts of the gutter system are literally splitting at the seams.
Several of the windows have fairly significant water damage and will need to be replaced. Unfortunately, we won’t know the extent of the damage until the windows are pulled out, so there may be additional repairs involved.
Some of the first-floor windows were replaced in 2018, but there are several more windows to attend to.
The lattice on the front porch has almost all fallen off over the years. This leaves the underside of the building vulnerable to critters.
The photo below is a snippet of an old picture of the cottage which shows the original type of lattice it had. Since we are going through all the work, we felt it would be best to replace the lattice with a historically accurate style.
Much of the siding and wood material nearest the ground has rotted away or is squishy to the touch. Water is not an old home’s friend. A large portion of the siding will need to be replaced.