The Real Estate
Vaughn and Marian Monroe
purchased the Concord, New Hampshire farm from John D. and Sarah B.
Kennedy, husband and wife, on May 26, 1950 for a sum of $9,000.
Ten years later, on June
16, 1960, Vaughn and Marian Monroe sold the farm for $12,000 to Alfred
S. and Trudy A. Gielar.
Fifty-three years later
(2013), the property (now 115 acres) was assessed at $899,300. At the
rate of inflation, the $12,000 sale price in 1960 would equate to
$96,110 in 2014 or a cumulative rate of inflation of 700%. The present
market price of the farm is almost ten times greater than the 1960
sale price adjusted to today's dollars!
Orin Dutton purchased the
property in 1984 for an undisclosed sum. Thirty years later, the farm
is on the market again.
The Real Estate sheet
reads like this:
This charming antique
Cape built in 1812 sits on 115 acres. This is your chance to own
your private piece of paradise. (This property has it all) 5 Bedrms,
2.5 Baths, Living Rm, Dining Rm, Office, Den, soft wood floors,
3-Season Porch, 2 Car Attached Garage, Guest Cottage or In-Law,
Master Bedrm has M. Bath, Woodstove & Walk-in closet. EQUESTRIAN
FACILITY 30 X 20 Nine-stall Barn, Shed, Pond, Brook, Fields,
Pasture. GORGEOUS VIEWS. DEVELOPERS TAKE NOTICE **CONCEPTUAL 4 LOTS
SUBDIVISION OFF ROAD FRONTAGE** POSSIBILITY OF LARGER SUBDIVISION
Location, location,
location . . . Just up the road from Boston and West Newton,
Massachusetts.
Yet tucked away in the
forests and rolling hills just south of the White Mountains.
More History
The following is from a
historical piece entitled Recollections of West Concord,
copyright 1976, generated for the country's Bicentennial:
The Augustine Carter
Homestead
Augustine Carter, a
grandson of Squire Carter, acquired property of his own on West
Parish Road, after living for many years in the old family
homestead. The property, located almost at the end of West Parish
Road near the Carter Brook, had two notable previous owners - Henry
Martin who was famous for his land sales, and the Dow family.
Ebenezer Dow, the family patriarch, had an impressive military
career. He fought with the Rangers in several major battles -
Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Louisburg, and the surrender of Quebec. He
fought in the Revolutionary battles at Lexington and Bunker Hill,
and was part of Arnold's trek again to Quebec.
The Carter homestead,
now owned by John and Georgia Pendleton, still stands to the south
of the road and the east of the brook (sometimes called Mill Brook).
In this century it has been owned by the parents of Vaughn Monroe, a
noted singer of the American band period. The Dow homestead stood
north of the road and west of the brook.
This simple New England
cape sits some 200 feet southerly of West Parish Road opposite the
old mill site now owned by the White Mountain Coon Hunters
Association. The Amsden History of Concord refers to it as
the "Augustine Carter Homestead." In fact, Augustine Carter was its
owner from the time he acquired it, together with 128 acres, for
$3,850 in 1869 until his death in 1906. However, in all likelihood
Carter was not its original owner.
Twenty years earlier, in
1849, Timothy Colby who then lived in Hopkinton, conveyed a one-half
interest in the same property to his son, William Davis Colby for
"love and affection." The deed recites the property as being "the
same on which said William Davis Colby now lives." William acquired
the other one-half interest upon his father's death in 1866. The
1858 Merrimack County map shows William D. Colby as its owner.
The history of the
homestead prior to 1849 is not as clear as its subsequent history.
We know that Timothy Colby acquired the 128-acre tract from Henry
Martin, together with a 21 acre lot on the Hopkinton line, in 1845
for $2,015. We also know that the home appears to have been
constructed during the Federal period, which is generally considered
to have ended in 1825, and that "word of mouth" puts its
construction in 1812. However, we have no other evidence that the
home existing prior to 1849.
Martin acquired 61 acres
of the 128-acre tract from moody Dow for $700 in 1822. This deed
makes no reference to any buildings on the property (which is not
entirely unusual in those times). This 61-acre parcel was probably
part of the Ebenezer Dow homestead consisting of the 80-acre lot
(No. 69) laid out to the original right of David Dodge and a rather
large home, the cellar hole and foundation of which still remain
just north of West Parish Road, west of Mill Brook. Although
Ebenezer, who was a veteran of the Revolutionary War lived there
with his son Moody until the former's death in 1817, the conveyance
of the homestead occurred in 1794 (sic). Moody's subsequent
decision to join the Shaker colony in Canterbury no doubt
contributed to his decision to convey the 61-acre parcel to Martin.
The search for the deed
conveying the balance of the 128-acre parcel to Martin has been more
challenging and has involved the Merrimack County Registry of Deeds
back to its starting point in 1823 and the Rockingham County
Registry of Deeds (Concord was a part of Rockingham County prior to
1823) back to 1790, with no conclusive results. The search
continues, and at this point we still lack conclusive evidence of
the date when the Augustine Carter homestead was built.
Submitted by: Richard & Patricia
Longtin
