18th century lives on in beehive oven, handcut molding

(Globe Staff Photo / Pat Greenhouse)

414 Center St.
Easton
Price $629,000
Style Antique Colonial
Built 1780
Square feet 3,338
Rooms 12
Bedrooms 5
Bathrooms 3.5
Sewer Septic

EASTON - Here's a small telling detail about this house: Above the brick fireplace with the beehive oven is a line of dentil molding, in which wooden block was cut and installed by hand. They don't make them like that anymore, but they did when this house was built sometime around 1780. Today, wearing a coat of white paint and dark shutters, the antique Colonial has been patiently updated while maintaining historic details, large and small. Parts of the house still have wide plank pine floors and windows are 12-over-12 panes with what is believed the original glass.

The first floor has an expansive great room (with the beehive oven) leading to a spacious dining room toned with Colonial blue crown molding and cream-colored walls. Adjacent is a classic study done in wood paneling, warmly topped by a handmade ceiling that the current owners nailed together in sections. The kitchen is post and beam with a cathedral ceiling and a high-gloss wood planking that is both comfy and functional, sitting atop mahogany and walnut floors. The interior would benefit from new paint and the electrical system still utilizes fuses. The third-floor attic is unfinished.

The second floor has five bedrooms, two of which have working fireplaces. One of the bathrooms has Vermont slate flooring. The 1.8-acre lot has a balance of treed shade and sports-ready open space, bounded by a classic New England stone fence. A renovated barn with galley kitchen can be an au pair or in-law suite. Listing broker Joyce Manning of Kinlin Grover GMAC in Falmouth has scheduled an open house for Nov. 2, from noon until 3 p.m.

JOHN R. ELLEMENT