I like old houses. They don’t fit many of the standards of modern life, but they have strong personalities having been, after all, in one place for a long time. They reflect the landscapes of which they are a part and through their worn interiors, the people who lived within them. 

I was dismayed on Wednesday, December 18th, to be greeted by the demolished remains of an old house on Main Road in Tiverton. A large, white building surrounded by open fields, the “Lafayette House,” was a familiar, austere structure reminiscent of a Hopper painting. I learned that it was actually two houses built side by side, one erected in the mid-18th century, the other around 1810- hence the long, irregular facade. It was the site of General Lafayette’s camp in 1778 when 14,000 Continental Army troops massed in Tiverton before the Siege of Newport. Lafayette’s stateroom was on the second floor, in part of the building that may have been a “first period” house, meaning built in 1750 or earlier, probably by carpenter-shipwrights who cut trees for the structure from nearby Weetamoo Woods. Some of those trees, as summer beams and enormous 10-inch framing elements, must have been saplings when the Pilgrims first arrived in Plymouth. In the attic there were two rooms for farmhands, or possibly slaves, who anonymously worked the land. 

I know this because in July a Craigslist ad offered an old house in Tiverton for salvage. Intrigued, I looked into it further and discovered it was the Main Road property. Why was this historic structure being dismantled, and how was that even… allowable? A call and an email to the local historical society went unanswered. But it turns out that the town has no covenants or protections for such sites. There are few if any efforts to document or preserve them, no funds to purchase or protect them, and no tax relief for encumbered owners who can’t maintain them. In other words, facing stifling costs, impossible renovations and mounting safety concerns, the owner decided that one option remained: the house had to go.

A rapid effort began to save the building. A concerned and experienced preservationist was notified and the “newer” structure from 1810 was assessed as safe to dismantle. The older structure, having been uninhabited for almost forty years and open to the elements, was rotted and beyond repair. A plan was developed to move the 1810 house elsewhere in Tiverton near other old houses, as Doris Duke would have done. A crew was brought in to strip the plaster and lathe, exposing posts and beams and readying it for removal. An architect made drawings and a structural engineer determined that the frame would comply with building codes when re-erected. All of this was done out of pocket. 

Alas, it didn’t happen quickly enough… Although the salvage process was in motion, the owner abruptly decided to demolish the house. Perhaps that had been the intent all along? If so, why create false hopes and waste the care, time and money of others? In a single act, the tax problem was solved, the disinterested town sent a message (complete with the recently added holiday lights- Merry Christmas) and a complex history eradicated forever.

I’m sorry that this iconic old house no longer exists and that an attempt to save at least some of it failed. I will miss where it has existed for so long- it’s such an absence on Main Road- but I had hope that it would be partially re-erected elsewhere in town. The Lafayette House offered a glimpse of life from another time. Important things happened there that resonate beyond our community and helped to shape our entire country. 

But… given the circumstances and the general lack of action from all but a few citizens, I have to ask: Does it even matter? I’ll be more attuned to that now, around those few old houses that remain.

B.Hagan

Little Compton