Save Historic Middlebury Seeks Members and Donations

Save Historic Middlebury, a subcommittee of the Middlebury Historical Society, is fully formed and its first order of business is to secure the town-owned Nichols House, Town Historian Robert Rafford told Patch.

The Nichols House on Nichols Road is a structure with a lengthy past and an unknown future. 

The house was the homestead of Augustus Peck during the 1700s and 1800s, according to Rafford. Peck was a Revolutionary War soldier who served under General George Washington.

Augustus and Elizabeth Peck had a daughter, Hannah, who was married to William Curtiss. Hannah and William also lived on the property. The Curtiss family was descended from the same Curtiss family that founded Woodbury and Stratford, Rafford said.

Rafford sought to protect the house from razing and pleaded his case at the . The board sent the matter to the Land Preservation and Open Space Acquisition Committee.

That committee, gave the Middlebury Historical Society three months to draft a plan and present it before its members.

Since that meeting, the historical society has been busy. Up to $2,000 has been pledged by the Middlebury Historical Society for immediate use by Save Historic Middlebury, according to the August 16 meeting minutes.

Save Historic Middlebury is pursuing an application for the house to be named on the state’s Register of Historic Places. If that occurs, grant funds are available, the minutes state.

The house must be boarded up and electricity turned on in order to be secured with an alarm system, according to the minutes. The road must also be closed to traffic.

Scott Peterson, president of the Middlebury Land Trust, is a supporter of saving the house and already raised $500 toward an alarm system, the minutes state.

The historical society is seeking new members. People who join Save Historic Middlebury will also be members of the historical society. Funds donated to the historical society are tax deductible.

Those in attendance at the historical society meetings discussed ideas for the future of the house: Purchasing the house or acquiring a long-term lease from the town to use the house as a residence or museum; develop the property with the Army Corp of Engineers or National Park Service; enter into joint ownership with other organizations in town; or use it as a ranger station or residence.

The next Save Historic Middlebury meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, August 23, at the Middlebury Historical Society, near the Middlebury Green on Library Road.