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Issue #
Concord, New Hampshire
July 17, 2005
Bath resident hopes to save mansion from wrecking ball.
By Lorna Colquhoun Sunday News Correspondent
Bath
When Moses Payson rode into town in the waning days of the 1700s, he had a horse, a dollar and a couple of law books, according to legend.
Over the next few decades, Payson, a Dartmouth College Class of 1793 graduate, would establish a successful law practice, buy and sell hundreds of acres of land in Bath and neighboring Lyman, incorporate the first bank in the North Country, become a selectman and legislator and work tirelessly to lead this little town on the banks of the Ammonoosuc River into prominence of its day.
He also built himself a mansion made of brick, reputedly in the style of the Sears mansion in Boston. According to James Garvin, the state’s architectural historian, the Payson mansion is the only example of a federal-style dwelling in the state, which has a façade marked by curved bays on each side of the central stairway.
“The Payson mansion is the grandest example of an important collection of brick dwellings that stand or once stood in Bath’s Lower and Upper Villages,” Garvin said in a letter to Diamond in April. “ These buildings reveal sophisticated architectural planning, a mastery of materials and a high level of craftsmanship. They constitute a unique local architectural tradition.”
The Payson mansion was a home that stood against the ages, but not fire.
Two years ago, the mansion burned and two years later, a wrecking ball was aimed at the scorches remains.
Charlie Diamond, a resident for 30 years or so, could not stand to see that happen and within a day, put up the money to buy it and has now set about restoring it into a property that will inspire and educate generations to come.
“What history does is inspire us,” Diamond said.
Payson, he said, brought to Bath “a level of prominence” and in its day, boasted 22 lawyers, six doctors and one of the highest per-capita incomes in the state. Indeed, ride through Bath two centuries later and the remains of those days can be seen in stately mansions in the historic district, as well as the sturdy farms.
Diamond is now setting about to, not only return the Payson mansion to its former glory, but to make it work for visitors and residents alike.
He has formed the Harriman Falls Centre and Museum and donated the mansion to it. Once the restoration is complete, the first project to find a home there will be the North Country Life Enrichment Center, which he envisions as a self-supporting adult center that will encourage senior citizens in the area to use their experience, ideas and know-how to develop their businesses.
Diamond says the program will be called Senior Achievement, based on the Junior Achievement program.
“They’ll be given appropriate mentoring to be productive and be an economic power.” He said.
Diamond brought the mansion in November and has, within the past month, received the necessary permits from the Bath Board of Selectmen to begin the restoration process. Among the first steps will be to stabilize what’s already a solid building and cover it – for most of the roof was lost in the fire.
With approvals in hand to begin the restoration process, Diamond is now setting about the challenging task of finding grants and funding to pay for the restoration.
A web site has been developed – www.mosespaysonmansion.org - that contains historical information, as well as progress reports.
Diamond says he is committed to bringing the mansion back to life and in way that future generations can appreciate and benefit.
“If the mansion were to be taken down, it can’t be reconstructed,” he said.
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