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The new owners of the former Bonds Hardware, Jim and Marie Lindsey, stand in front of the grand barn, built in 1905. |
By Paula Roberts
The former Bond Brothers Hardware building, located on Route 32 in Jefferson, was sold on March 30 to a Massachusetts couple. The property was purchased by James (Jim) and
Marie Lindsey, summer residents who own a house on South Clary Road.
The Lindsey’s became interested in the property when it went on the market three years ago. Marie fell in love with the old barn at first glance. For the past two
years, Marie has checked the Internet every single day to see if the barn was still for sale.
Marie, an event planner in Boston, hopes to use the barn for events. She loves the old architecture of the building and does not plan to change it. The Lindseys plan
on removing the shelves, built to store wood for the hardware business, to restore the barn to its original grandeur.
Other than cleaning it and maybe installing some lights, they plan on keeping it original.
“The barn is perfect for events. I like old barn weddings,” Marie Lindsey said.
Jim Lindsey said the couple would like to start using the barn for community events this summer, for things like fairs and farmer markets “to introduce the barn to
the community.”
The Lindsey’s are moving forward slowly on a three phase project for the property.
“My wife is an event planner,” Jim Lindsey said. “She does weddings, funerals, reunions, birthday parties, and showers. She has all the equipment, the tables, the
chairs, decorations, plates, glasses, silverware the works. We are hoping to hold special events here.”
While the barn will be left original, the other three rooms located in the ell, will receive significant changes. The first room (entering the main door for Bonds
Hardware where cash register used to be) will be used as a dining room.
The room to the right, where nails, screws and bolts were located, will be turned into a commercial kitchen.
The back room, located down a short ramp, where the paint department used to be, will be turned into a function room. The function room will open up onto a grass
lawn in the back, which can be used for functions as well.
“Hopefully it is a way to generate some revenue into the area and provide employment,” Jim Lindsey said.
Jim said the couple has to install a new septic system and drill a new well, as well as landscape the property. The couple hopes to get most of the work done this
year and to be operational next spring.
Although Jim hopes to be open in the year, realistically he expects it to take five years to complete all the changes they have planned for the five acre property.
At 70, Jim Lindsey said is still working, but hopes to retire this summer or next spring and devote all his energy to the project. Marie Lindsey plans to continue
her work as an event planner in the Boston area.
One idea the couple is toying with is to start a rent a restaurant program, where a young and upcoming chef can rent the commercial kitchen, and serve friends and
relatives to try his cooking. This is so he can “prove himself. This way they can try out your food. It gives them (chef) a chance without the huge capital investment of opening
a restaurant,” Jim said.
“It is not my intentions to have it (restaurant) open seven days a week,” Jim said. The Lindsey’s will apply for a liquor license for the facility, but stated
clearly they have no plans to open a bar on site.
“It is not going to be a bar,” Jim Lindsey said.
The couple is currently working with CEI. “They bring a lot of ideas, a lot of experience and a lot of energy,” said Lincoln County Economic Development office
spokesperosn Maryellen Barnes.
The business is run under 132 Barn Realty Trust LLC. The Lindsey’s have not yet come up with a name for their new business, and are open to suggestions for names and
business ideas for the property. They can be reached at (207) 446-0967.
History of the property
The former Bonds Hardware barn was part of the Dr. Fred Jackson estate. Former owner Sheridan Bond has said all the materials that went into building the barn came from
Jefferson, including the granite.
The following are excerpts of the history of the Dr. Fred Jackson estate, written by Jackson’s daughter Marilyn Jackson True. The history was provided by Jefferson
historians Ralph and Priscilla Bond.
Dr. Fred W. Jackson, was born in 1858 to Jefferson residents Joseph and Arletta Flagg Jackson, was the third of nine children. He graduated from Long Island College
Hospital and became a wealthy surgeon in Weston, Mass. He married a wealthy widow Hannah Haskins Coburn, who had three children. Dr. Jackson retired in his 40s and moved back to
Jefferson with his family in 1899- 1900.
He began to purchase a large amount of land (some accounts say 1,000 acres) near the Davis Stream bridge, which extended up to what is now the Eames Road, near the
former Rosa Sinclair farm.
Dr. Jackson built his house (known locally as the Jackson mansion and now owned by the Rodrique family) between 1903-’05 at the then grand cost of $50,000. The three
and half story colonial revival style house had grand gardens and pathways.
Ranaldo Carey of Massachusetts began to build the house, but did not finish it. One account has Carey getting sick and another has him being fired by Dr. Jackson.
Dr. Jackson approached Rufus Colby of Coopers Mills and asked him to finish the house. Rufus agreed and built the house with help from sons Cleveland and Avery. The
granite for the 12 foot high foundations was done by Briggs Jones, and was hauled by oxen from a quarry located off of Bunker Hill Road.
It took 50 cords of wood to heat the mansion via a furnace and 16 fireplaces.
In January 1905 plans were drawn up by L.G. Paul of Gardiner, for a huge barn, that eventually became Bonds Hardware.
Colby and sons began building the barn across the road from the house the following summer. The 100 foot long by 24 foot wide barn and wing was built at a cost of
$30,000.
The main barn is the second largest barn in Jefferson. The largest was the former Johnson barn, located on Bunker Hill Road, near the Newcastle town line. With the
attached ell, the Jackson barn is the largest in square footage in Jefferson.
The wing of the barn held sheep, and the main barn cattle, horses and hay. The basement housed pigs. The basement of the barn was made of granite blocks done by
Briggs Jones.
Shortly after the barn was built, Dr. Jackson tried raising angora goats for an experiment, which was unsuccessful, and Jackson returned to raising sheep in 1907.
Jackson also experimented in growing different crops.
Later Dr. Jackson had a caretaker’s house built by Colby and his sons, next to the barn. Some early known caretakers were Sheridan Hodgkins (grandfather of Bryon
Hodgkins, Martha Tompkins, and Irvin Bond), Harry Morrill and Harold Dow.
Dr. Jackson died while walking from the barn to the house in 1926. In 1939, his widow Hannah gave the caretaker house to caretaker Harold Dow, who had a dairy farm
on the property.
According to Ralph Bond, Clifton Bond rented the barn for a time for his ceramic business. Sometime in the 1960s the barn was purchased by Irving Bond and Bond
Brothers Hardware was opened, and operated in the barn until 2012.
