The Huntington House at Peters Four Corners

 November 18, 2014

I like to come through Peters Four Corners in Shaftsbury to see again the land and the houses.

 I come especially to see this, the Huntington House, upright, positive; that porch ready for a visit. The house doesn’t sit quietly like its neighbor across Tinkham Road but commands my attention.

The Corners is named for the Peters brothers, the roads for the Coulters, Myers and Tinkhams who had farms here. 

Before those families the Huntingtons were here.

Amos Huntington came with his family to Shaftsbury in 1779. During the Revolution he was imprisoned in New York City by the British after being captured at the Battle of Hubbardton. He probably built the cape which used to sit in a fold of the land on Coulter Road.   

The Huntington family genealogy says Amos ”devoted himself to the peaceful pursuits of husbandry,” that he was “emphatically a peacemaker”. His great-grandson, Myron Huntington, 1827-1880, is noted as having “owned and improved the old homestead”, this house that had been his grandfather’s.

 Myron married Mary Cross in 1850. They expanded the house with this tall 2 story front wing and a broad porch that suited the technology that was changing how people lived. Cast iron stoves could heat high ceilinged rooms much more easily than fireplaces. Coal heated more evenly than wood. Kerosene replaced candles. New devices were making household chores and farming easier, leaving time for that front porch. The railroads moved everything and people too. This house speaks to that upbeat spirit. It happily meshes both Greek Revival and Italianate styles. Its wide corner boards begin and end with moldings imitating Greek columns. The gable is finished as a Greek pediment. The Italianate double porch posts are tall and thin, delicate compared to the solid house behind them, but it all works.

Soon after the Civil War, Myron and Mary Huntington moved to Illinois with their 6 children. Other Huntingtons still lived in the area, but this house changed owners.

Peters Four Corners is named for Maurice Coulter Peters, 1905-1990, who lived here. His brother, Donny, lived in the cape on Coulter Road. Neither updated their properties. Donny’s house was beyond saving when he died. 

Maurice’s house lacked basic amenities. In 1990 it had a cistern and a light bulb. The next 2 owners have repaired and restored what the Huntingtons built, improving plumbing, heating, and electrical systems. They continue to work on siding, flashing, and roofing.

Meadow Valley Farm has brought the farm buildings back to life.

I, one who simply passes by, thank them all for their serious work and labors of love.

11/19/14: I have now learned that the house was owned by the Peters family before Maurice was born.  I have heard many stories some of which I include here.

I was told that Maurice's mother (the first wife) was a proper, hard working, farm wife who fed the men their dinner at noon and then changed into her afternoon attire so she could properly entertain her friends in her living room and on the front porch.
Donny's mother, the second wife, - as reported by those who saw her - was a beautifully dressed woman: furs, soft leather gloves, cashmere.
Maurice was married for about a year. The house west of this one was built for him and the new wife.
In his later years he would sometimes move down into the basement during winter cold spells. I am told  that he lived simply and felt no need to modernize.
I have also been told that the Colonial across the road was built by the Huntingtons. As I did not do a deed research for these houses I do not know. I relied on genealogy and maps.