Forest

She removed the porte-cochere after it sustained damage in 1998, and she converted the carriage house into two apartments.

The current owners, Sandra Heaney and Clay Dingman, purchased the home 21 years ago, on May 20, 2002, and renamed it the Henry Whipple House in honor of its original owner.

In taking over the historic home, Sandra and Clay have done extensive renovation work, using materials and workmanship that are as close a match to the original as possible.

While the house has been remarkably well-preserved, Clay said they found that some of the structures had suffered from rot or other damage.

sive wood paneling and molding, and open-deck verandas on two sides.

There also was a porte-cochere and carriage house.

The family, which included daughters Fay and Margaret and son Ashley, moved into the house in May 1904.

Henry Whipple was a prominent member of the community. Historical records show that he was a descendant of Matthew Whipple who, with his brother, John, emigrated from Bocking, Essex, England, to Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1638. Among their descendants are United States presidents, social reformers, inventors, manufacturers, and explorers. William Whipple was among those signing the Declaration of Independence.

In addition to his duties as president of Dodge-Davis Woolen Mills — the major employer in the Newfound Lake Region — Henry Whipple served as president of the First National Bank of Bristol and was trustee of both the Bristol Savings Bank and the Minot-Sleeper Library.

Henry died in 1928, but Lilla continued to live there until her death on May 12, 1930, when daughter Margaret inherited the property.

Ownership has passed through several others since Margaret sold the property to Edward and Jeanne Bennett, owners of the Bristol Enterprise, on November 7, 1961. In addition to his duties as newspaper publisher, Bennett served as a state senator.

After just a year and a half, the Bennetts sold both the home and the newspaper to Lawrence and Marjorie Field on May 12, 1963. After Lawrence’s death, Marjorie and son Victor operated the newspaper, and Marjorie remained at the home until her death in 1984.

Nancy Spears, who converted the property into Victorian Bed and Breakfast, purchased it on May 14, 1984.

“We are doing some of the work on various parts of the house to try to resuscitate some structures that were failing or rotting away or just needed rehabilitation,” he said.

One characteristic of Queen Anne homes is the use of multiple colors, usually five or more. Sandra said it appears that the Whipple House had been painted a pale yellow and dark green, with black window frames.

“Paint colors were really hard to get; they’re expensive,” she explained. The standard colors of the day were red and white lead paint and yellow oxide. “Things like blue and any other colors were really hard to make, so they’re very expensive. That’s why you only see blue Federal houses; that was rich people, they were very, very pricey.”

In doing their restoration of the Whipple House, Clay and Sandra settled on the traditional five-color paint scheme.

The previous owners had done a good job of preserving the home’s characteristics, and Sandra said nothing was affected that could not be put back.

One of her “finds” was an over-man-

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