This historic 18th-century farmhouse comes with its own silver spoon — a 1790 British piece of silverware found under the original stone steps leading down to the cellar.
And now you can own it. The Federal-style home at 241 Mountainside Road in Mendham, NJ, is on the market for $799,000.
Known as Bloomery House, it was built around 1790, the year that George Washington gave his first State of the Union address.
The four-bedroom, 2½-bath home is 2,943 square feet and sits on 1 acre.
Back in those days, the residence was a farm and milling operation. It was also ahead of its time, with high ceilings and an open, center-hall floor plan. Back then, the area was known for its iron forges, blacksmiths, sawmills, gristmills and farms.
A bloomery is a type of furnace once used for smelting iron, and the remains of an iron smelting operation is nearby in the India Brook Natural Area. The house was apparently built by boat builders and furniture makers, brokers say, as it was rare to have high ceilings back then.
The home, renovated in 2017, features two interior parlors and a main living room that was more commonly found in manor homes than farmhouses.
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The fireplace mantels, closets and baseboards are early colonial design — as are the doors, casings and brass hardware, and everything was made by hand. Even the woods used have a much tighter grain than pine and oak available today or even 150 years ago, brokers say. The timber used is twice as heavy, much denser, and can endure warpage that modern wood just can’t withstand.
The casements, doors and paneling are made of solid oak, mahogany, sycamore and long-leaf pine lumber, which came from 200-year-old trees in 1790.
Other design details include 18-inch-wide exterior columns, a large double fireplace — one of five fireplaces — and double doors in the front rooms, along with lime plaster walls.
While the kitchen boasts new Viking appliances, it also features an 1897 Shaws ceramic farm sink, as well as a walk-in chef’s pantry.
There’s also a first-floor home office and library with built-in bookcases, and four bedrooms plus two full-baths on the second floor, with access to a walk-up attic.
The listing brokers are Denise Flanagan and Margaret “Margy” Defazio of Coldwell Banker.
