The owners of the Old Parsonage house in West Tisbury have requested permission from the town historic district commission to demolish the 17th century home that sits on State Road overlooking Parsonage Pond.
Tara Whiting and her brother, Daniel, have begun preliminary talks with the commission to tear down the house — and if they proceed with the application they are expected to request a certificate of hardship based on the age and condition of the home. Although historical records are not precise, the original part of the house is thought to date to the 1600s and was built by Josiah Standish, the son of Myles Standish, a passenger on the Mayflower and military advisor to Plymouth Colony. The house was used as a parsonage for the West Tisbury Congregational Church for a long period from the 1700s into the 1800s. Ms. Whiting’s great-great-grandfather, Henry Whiting, bought the property in 1865, combining two farms to create a sheep farm. Several additions were built onto the house through the middle and late 1800s. Ms. Whiting took over the property in 1998 and has run a bed and breakfast there since.
Ms. Whiting is the West Tisbury town clerk.
The house lies in the West Tisbury historic district which runs roughly from Music street out along Panhandle Road and also includes a small section of the West Tisbury-Edgartown Road as well as the village center. The district includes about 100 properties in town.
The historic district commission met with Ms. Whiting and made a site visit to the property late last month. The commission will meet on Monday to consider the preliminary request. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Howes House.
According to minutes from the commission’s Jan. 24 meeting with Ms. Whiting, the siblings feel the house is in such a state of disrepair that demolishing the house and building a new home would be the best solution.
The town historic district bylaw does not prohibit tear-downs and does have a provision for hardship. The bylaw requires the hardship to be unique to the property.
“The applicant assumes that because the homestead is older than any other structure in the district (Josie Bruno’s house on Old County Road is in that era as well) and is in such severe disrepair there is a hardship,” the minutes from the Jan. 24 meeting state. “Their contractor estimated $1.75 million to restore [the house] and did not recommend it.”
Historic commission members discussed whether the original 1660s portion was more historic than the 1865 additions, and questioned if the original Cape could be demolished and replaced by a replica. Commission members also asked if the applicant could build a new home somewhere else on the lot.
“It’s still pretty preliminary, we’re exploring different options,” historic commission chairman Sean Conley said earlier this week.
He and other commission members visited the site last weekend. “We’re all hoping it doesn’t come to an application to demolish. I think there are a lot of different options,” Mr. Conley said.
“It’s a beautiful house,” he added. “It would be a loss to everyone.”
A pamphlet of historical notes from the Congregational Church makes several references to the house. One note says: “There is considerable confusion regarding the parsonage property. It was both rented out and used as a parsonage, a pasture and a meadow sold, even reference to the sale of the parsonage itself was made . . . Finally in 1825 it was voted to see if the town owned the parsonage anyway. Whatever they learned, the parsonage continued to be used as such for another 150 years.”
Commission member Nancy Dole sent an e-mail to the Massachusetts Historical Commission members to generate ideas from the broader community, a suggestion made at the Jan. 24 meeting, to see if any town had dealt with a similar situation.
Ms. Whiting also emphasized this week that the talks are in the very early stages. “[At the next meeting] we’ll suss out anything that can or will happen,” she said, declining further comment.
This article appears in February 4, 2011.
Let it be known publicly that our immediate family was neither informed, consulted or involved in this decision by Tara and Daniel. It’s sad day for us as their next door neighbors, their Aunt and Uncle and strong believers that our role in living on the Whiting Farm is one of stewardship. This reflects a clear disconnect with the values of the other descendants of Everett Davis Whiting, their grandfather.
The house has survived over 300 years of ownership, love and sorrow. It’s incomprehensible that this house should be looked at as a tear down rather than as an irreplaceable and priceless piece of our family’s and Island’s history.
Lynne and Allen Whiting
I can not imagine that anyone, especially a family member and neighbor, could possibly question Tara and Daniels love of that house and the Whiting property. They did not make this decision lightly, but as a last resort. Tara has been living in that house, struggling to maintain it as best as she could. I am sure that Everett’s wish would not be for his grandchildren to live in uninhabitable conditions. Knowing Tara and Daniel as I do, I find it hard to believe that the family members were not informed and consulted.
This has been a long, heartfelt process for Tara and Daniel and at this point to be questioned about their stewardship, especially by a family member, is despicable.
On Feb 4, 2011, at 2:13 PM, dan whiting wrote:
Lynne is correct; I never called and notified her personally.
I did speak to several family members about the house, mostly from the standpoint of “what work has been done in the past?” and “what options would you suggest in helping me to save the property?”. My father Danny Whiting was most helpful and we had several conversations. I also want to thank Sue Whiting and Flip Harrington for their advice and support. Between the three of them, they have decades of experience in dealing with old houses and how to help keep them standing.
I received lots of help from my family and others in the Martha’s Vineyard Community and beyond. They were able to put me in touch with contractors and builders, some of whom offered their advice free of charge.
Regrettably, they have been unanimous in declaring the structure as too far gone to be salvageable for anything less than almost 2 million dollars. They were also clear in explaining to me that almost nothing is salvageable anyway; the entire building would almost certainly need to be replaced. That was the hardest news we heard. The detailed list of things that need fixing is long and comprehensive. No one “system” can be isolated. The contractors we spoke to felt it could not be fixed one room at a time.
All the electrical wiring needs replacing. Much of it is behind old horsehair plaster walls. They are so old that the plaster disintegrates when you try to cut it to get to the wires. So most of the walls will crumble if you try to fix the electrical work. All the plumbing is exposed to cold temperatures and routinely freezes each winter. Much of the duct work for heating is uninsulated. The chimneys are all compromised and unusable. The roof is badly deteriorated.
There is black mold that has grown in the walls throughout the house, including Tara’s bedroom and prolonged exposure is unsafe.
And then there is simply the fact that the structural beams holding the house are over 350 years old, and the termites have honeycombed all through the wood. Structurally, it may soon be near collapse.
My family also helped significantly in helping me learn some of the town politics, and the proper way to go about asking for help from the Land Bank and other entities.
I contacted various historical societies at the State and Federal level.
Without a formal application for grant money, they would only speak off the record, but I came away feeling that the money required to restore the property would not be forth-coming.
Of all the people whom I have spoken to about this, in and out of my family, I want to thank them for their help these past years I have worked on this issue. If not for their support, I might have given this up as a lost cause a long time ago.
My grandfather Everett Whiting is unavailable for comment. But I can make a few comments as to the quality of Tara Whiting’s “stewardship”. Tara has lived at the house for over a decade since my father handed it over to us.
Tara elected to leave college to come live on the Vineyard to take care of the house. She ran a bed and breakast for some time to try to generate enough income to do some piece-meal fixes to the house. Over the years, she has been able to do some fixing on the property, usually at night, because she typically works two to three jobs.
Over the course of a winter she burns out a new hairdryer as she sits up at night trying to keep the frozen pipes from bursting. In a house that was built to hold an extended family of 5, she lives in one room, so she can seal off the house in winter to save elctricity and heating oil because the house is not insulated. Curtains ruffle in the draft as the cold air blows through the house.
In winter She can only sleep for 4 hours at a time at night because she has to get up to refill the woodstove. She sleeps, gets up at 1am to feed the woodstove, and then goes back to bed.
She’ll be up at 6 to go feed the horses and the chickens, because that is what she feels she must do as a good care-taker of the farm.
She fills buckets with hot water to bring out to the horses and chickens so it will thaw the ice that has formed overnight.
In another month, she’ll be out before dawn with her uncle Allen to help the mother sheep to safely deliver their new lambs. She’ll probably end up bottle feeding at least one.
In the spring, she helps with the bird count. She clears fallen branches. She rescues a sheep that gets its head stuck in a fence. She fixes split rail fences down near the pond.
In summer she picks up hay bales and volunteers at the Fair. She drives a float for her neice and nephew in the Fourth of July Parade. In the fall, she splits wood for the long winter ahead.
This is all while working those two to three jobs and caring for the animals on the farm.
Tara Whiting is perhaps more dedicated to this house and to the town of West Tisbury than anyone I have known. She works tirelessly to maintain the house and the farm to the best of her abilities. I can’t let accusations about Tara Whiting’s dedication and self-sacrifice go unchallenged.
daniel whiting
Lynne, how sad Everett and Jane Whiting would be at the mean spiritedness of your letter. I know and have been a part of some of the conversations my two hardworking children have had with there father, Danny Whiting, and his brother Allen regarding this matter. How cruel of you to infer that Tara has been anything other then an exemplary steward. I know how proud Everett Whiting would be of his sober, responsible grandchildren, Daniel and Tara Whiting, who epitomize the values Everett held dear. My children were the apple of his eye, and he loved watching them grow up in his back yard. It is a very sad day when one sets out to hurt others; that is not the spirit of Everett Whiting.
Bobbie Lima
Goodness, sounds like farm life in the 1700’s. I’d never survive it. Although I wish to preserve old Island history, human quality of life now counts more. Is there no way for the town or Island to support this wonderful farming tradition, in it’s rightful place? A Working farm musuem? With a modern home for the custodians? Now that would be something, and perhaps attract tourist attention, even from off Island. This history, specifically Island in it’s nature will not survive much longer without support, be it house or farm.
I was upset when i read this story. First let me say I respect and cherish as friends all the Whiting family. This is a horrible plan in fact I find it hard that a “Whiting” would advance such a proposal. Have they no sense of history and the valuable part of the community this is? I don’t see a hardship says Daniel says “since my father handed it over to us” This is a bad plan and I trust the Historic District prevents this from happening!!!
It is very sad an old home has to be torn down. But as my late Father always told us ” Everything has a beginning and everything has an end”. Its sad that the farm couldnt support it self to be able to make all the updates a home needs thru the years. If it is as bad shape as the professinals say it is there is only two options. Tear it down and save some parts for the new home, or sell it to someone who wants to see it saved and has the Two Million to fix it.
In times liek these, with all the money troubles we have I would have a hard time accepting a “grant” to fix up an old private home, while other things more important go undone.
“Lynne, how sad Everett and Jane Whiting would be at the mean spiritedness of your letter.”
No Bobbie, the truth is that Everett and Jane would be sad, but not for Lynne’s letter, but for the nasty, selfish, public bickering that has taken place in these responses! It is disgraceful. Shame on this family for such outrageous behavior!
I am sad for all sides here. (I find Ellie Carbon Parece’s comment particularly inappropriate. Stay out of someone else’s family squabbles.)
Having recently renovated an old house (not as old as yours, though) – including new electrical, plumbing, roof, beams – including main roof beam, ductwork and foundation – I know that new construction is still always more expensive than renovating. It’s hard to find a contractor that loves old houses, though – I was lucky. Most just want to do new construction, because it’s easier to do and easier to cost out.
I agree with John Alley, it’s a shame to see this property go – it’s such a key piece of West Tisbury history. However, it’s also unfair to expect one family to bear the financial burden of keeping it up. If it can be contributed to a community park – or purchased by the community, for renovation – fine. Otherwise – well, it’s their house. Sad, though.
I loved the Island better, before it became such a cesspool of money.