Sagging Harlow House will miss tourist season

For the first time in 80 years, the historic Harlow House in Plymouth will be closed this summer.

The building, built in 1677, is in danger of collapsing from water damage, according to an architectural study. The Plymouth Antiquarian Society says this will be the first time since the group acquired the building at 119 Sandwich St. in 1924 that it will not be open during peak tourist season.

Antiquarian Society director Donna Curtin said the foundation of the 1677 Harlow Old Fort House, as it is formally known, has been significantly weakened, with structural beams absorbing moisture from the soggy ground surrounding it.

''It's very devastating news. It's bad for Plymouth. But it doesn't mean we can't save the building," Curtin said.

The society said that when the house was built 327 years ago the site was marshy. A 1701 map indicates that the site was a ''watering place," Curtin said. Real estate historian William Davis wrote in the 1882 ''Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth" that a deep watering hole for cattle once existed on the southern border of the property.

Curtin blamed ''an unexplained resurgence of water" in the last few years for the damage.

The house, which is just south of the town center, was built by William Harlow, a sergeant in the Plymouth Colony militia, after the King Philip's War (1675-76).

Curtin said it has been reported that Harlow was given permission to use some timbers from the colony's old fort and meeting house. While the society does not know which beams may have come from the older building, some of them ''feel like granite," she said.

A spring runs underground through the site, draining into the stream that empties into the harbor at nearby Stephens Field. Water reaching the house may also be groundwater, Curtin said. A puddle forms in the back yard during rainy season, she noted.

The society has been aware of some movement in the building in recent years, Curtin said, and has monitored the problem. Volunteers noticed a widening gap in a spliced beam, and the recent study by Durland & Van Voohis Architects of New Bedford concluded the movement is more significant that the society thought.

The Antiquarian Society is now awaiting the architects' plans for repairs. The building's rubble foundation -- made of mortared stone and some later patching -- might be partly dismantled and reassembled in a way that replaces damaged areas and provides added support. Another possibility is the construction of a secondary foundation. No cost estimates have been made.

Other problems, as well as artifacts, could be uncovered during the work, Curtin said. An archeological dig was conducted at the house by 17th-century archeology specialist James Deetz in the 1960s. Pieces of china and pipe stems used in Colonial times were discovered during that project, Curtin said.

An authentic Colonial house, the Harlow House is more rustic than the town's other historic houses, Curtin said, and its furnishings -- such as an oversized mortar and pestle -- are not easily damaged. For that reason the Antiquarian Society has used the house for its children's programs, including weekly summer camp sessions in which children learn about life in the latter part of the 17th century, and the annual Corn Planting play (a reenactment of how the Pilgrims learned to plant corn) that has taken place since 1920. Those activities will be canceled this year.

In their place, the society will launch a new summer program at an 18th-century house at 48 Summer St. The group's History and Architecture Through Time series will focus on the town's evolution after the Pilgrim era. Students will learn about the life of typical residents during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries.

Outdoor events, such as the traditional Pilgrim Breakfast in early July, will still take place at the Harlow House.

The Antiquarian Society is also in the second year of a major restoration project at its 1809 Hedge House, with the Water Street museum expected to reopen by the end of next summer.

Robert Knox can be reached at rc.knox@verizon.net.