DEAR – Not far from this small town in Latah County, in a clearing of white pines about 200 yards from the highway, stands a house that doesn’t belong here.
It was built in 1783 by a young Revolutionary War veteran. It was built before Deary was a city, before Idaho was a state, before this piece of land was even part of the United States.
This is the Augustus Peck House, and it has a fascinating history, from its birth coinciding with the country’s beginnings to its current life as an Airbnb rental.
The house is a relative newcomer to Idaho. It was built in Middlebury, Connecticut by Augustus Peck after his service in the Continental Army under the command of General George Washington. Peck enlisted at the age of 16 and rose to the rank of captain by the time the British were defeated seven years later, when he set about building his house.
More than 200 years later, Peck’s house was vacant and falling into disrepair. When a Middlebury area fire department began planning to burn down the house for a training exercise, a call was made for a restorer to save the period house – and that’s when that Kevin Durkin stepped in.
Durkin, 69, has spent the past quarter century saving such structures, focusing on historic American buildings in the Northeast, where he grew up. His company, Restoration Living, often moves buildings to new locations across the country or even elsewhere in the world, usually with the goal of turning them into homes.
“We do these projects all over the world, from here to China,” he said in a recent interview with the Tribune. “I’ve done about 400 projects in most states.”
Durkin and his company are based in Waco, Texas, but his daughter, Rebeccah Salmeri, has lived in Deary for about a decade. Durkin has done a few projects in the Deary area, and he decided it was the right place for the Peck House when the project started to come to fruition in 2020.
Around the same time, Durkin had become involved with the Magnolia Network – a television station run by celebrity renovation couple Chip and Joanna Gaines – and thought the effort to move the Peck House to Idaho would be an ideal subject. for an episode of the series. “Restoration Road”, which is hosted by Clint Harp.
So when workers began to painstakingly disassemble the house in Connecticut, then truck it out and reassemble it in Idaho, the TV cameras were rolling.
The episode shows the care Durkin’s crew took to salvage as much of the old structure as possible. Packing the hearth and chimney was particularly laborious, with workers numbering the bricks in Connecticut so they could be reassembled in Idaho.
The house was reassembled on a lot just off Idaho Highway 3, about 1 mile south of Deary. Parts of the house were repurposed when it arrived in its new location and new materials were used, but much of it is original from the 1780s.
“The Peck House was a tremendous labor of love. It was a lot of fun,” Durkin said. “In fact, in the midst of all this, I found out that Augustus Peck was a relative of my mother. She had Pecks in her family. He was a first cousin in our line.
The home measures 1,660 square feet and features two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a six-person bedroom. It costs $200 per night to rent, and the listing can be found atbit.ly/3WsvaAv.
The main room is centered around the fireplace, and the low ceiling the room had in Connecticut is gone, with only period beams now in place above. People in the upstairs bedroom can now view the room below.
The quirkiest feature of the house is the brick oven near the kitchen, where guests can bake their own pizzas. In the time of Augustus Peck, the oven was used to bake bread.
In the episode “Restoration Road”, the comment is made that this must be the oldest house in Idaho, as it was built over 100 years before Idaho became a state.
But Durkin said he later heard from someone who moved a 1750s house from Massachusetts to the Sandpoint area.
Durkin’s daughter runs the Peck House, and it’s not the only restaurant hire he’s been involved with in the Deary area. Others that can be found on Airbnb are a 1909 train carriage, the Deary Train Depot, a Great Northern Railroad caboose, and a farmhouse in Kendrick. There is also an 1830s barn which has been set up near the Peck House.
The majority of Durkin’s relocated vintage structures have been barns, which he typically converts into residences. He moved old American barns to Japan, China, New Zealand and other unlikely places.
“People love Americana, they love American history,” he said. “They love it so much they want it. And it’s cheaper to ship (a vintage structure) from Texas to Shanghai, China than it is to truck it from Texas to New York. economics of modern container shipping.
Moving these history-rich buildings to other locations exposes them to people who would otherwise not have the chance to see them.
“We really wanted (the Peck House) there because of that,” Durkin said. “Instead of having people travel to New England, they can have it there.
“You can build a new barn or a new frame house, but there’s something about the character when you look up and say, ‘My God, that Revolutionary War soldier lived here. And he sat down in front of the same fireplace that I’m sitting in front of now. The pull for it is powerful. People love that.
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