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	Photo by Skip Lawrence Barbara and Clarence Horst live in this historic house in Jefferson with their five cats.

Barbara and her husband, Clarence, fell in love with what they thought was an 1850s house in Jefferson . In 2005, the couple moved in and began painstakingly restoring it.

In the meantime, Barbara did some research and learned the house was actually built around 1800. It now bears a Frederick County Landmarks Foundation historical designation.

"There was nothing wrong with this house when we bought it," she said. The previous owners did a little restoration, and decorated it in early Victorian. "They did not honor the age of it," she said.

The house had features that seemed older than early Victorian. The federal medallions on the fireplaces, the strap hinges on the doors and the symmetrical layout of the house indicated that it was older than 1850.

Barbara researched the deed and found the lot was conveyed in 1799 from Michael Runner to Jacob Parson for the sum of 50 pounds. No building was on the land at that time. Parson, his wife and her siblings inherited and sold a 200-acre farm in 1804. She also hunted through old newspaper articles and local records.

"I found a reference to a couple being married in Mr. Parson's tavern," Barbara said. That was a church record in January 1810.

In 1811, a notice in the Frederick Town Herald indicated that Jacob Parson wanted to sell his two-story brick house, which was "well calculated for a tavern." Tavern clues began appearing all over the place.

The house is located on Jefferson 's main street, which was once a thoroughfare from Frederick to Harpers Ferry.

The home has two front doors. The tavern was in the room entered from the right. The wall that divided the front room and a bathroom added much later contained hand-split lathe, which probably dated to 1812.

The baseboard to the wall was set at an angle, and was found inside the wall, constructed beneath a finished plaster ceiling. The wall did not extend up to the ceiling, indicating it could have served as the base of the bar. Behind the wall was a hatch, which led to the cellar. The bartender probably used this hatch for quick access to the liquor, probably stored in the cellar. The cellar is full-sized, and extends the length of the house.

There are five windows on the second story, which was common for taverns at the time. A row of paneled folding doors divides the front bedrooms, and the Horsts have left this intact. Many taverns had large front rooms, which served as ballrooms and sometimes as dorm rooms for travelers, who were usually men.

Dream come true

The couple had recently gotten married and were living in Clear Spring when they found the house. Barbara's dream was to someday own an old house. Clarence had arranged for his marriage proposal to her to take place in a candlelit room in a friend's old farmhouse.

The Jefferson house needed some TLC, but that didn't deter the couple from buying it. Barbara was prepared to remove wallpaper and strip old paint, and Clarence was prepared to do some of the carpentry work.

They hired professionals to replaster, refinish the floors and restore the fireplaces, but they did what work they could themselves, to save money.

Barbara's father also did some of the woodworking. He restored pieces of the bannister, matching it to the original, and restored the front doors. He found the initials JP, for Jacob Parson, carved into the front door. Both doors had part of the original wood removed for windows, but the Horsts wanted the doors to look original.

Large old brass locks with upside down latches adorn the doors. One is original; one was reproduced. Barbara's next task on the doors is to replace one of the transom windows.

The first room the couple restored was the kitchen, a small, square room that was done in white when they bought the house. They put in tall natural wood cabinets. Black granite gives a muted look to the countertop, and the oversized farmhouse sink is copper. The dishwasher is hidden behind cabinetry, and the refrigerator is tucked away in the adjacent laundry room. A pie safe adds extra storage space. The wide plank white oak floor was buried under two layers of flooring.

The couple then turned their attention to the front room next to the old tavern, which serves as the parlor. This room has one of the house's six fireplaces. Barbara loved the idea of owning a house with so many fireplaces. All the chimneys have been lined. The ones downstairs have been rebuilt to their original configurations. They had been closed off and the faces covered with concrete and painted on bricks.

The mantel of the parlor fireplace is full of details known as Adamesque designs. A small carved oval fan medallion is flanked by butterfly-style carving and reeding. The decorative work extends throughout the mantel. "You can see the details were hand-carved," Barbara said.

The parlor also has an elaborate cornice, chair rail, mopboard and paneled window surrounds. A cupboard with arched doors and keystone is on the left side of the fireplace. Other doorways also have carved detailing. The stairway has a paneled wall, which masks the main cellar staircase.

The home's other fireplace mantels also are federal style. Two second-story fireplace mantels also contain Adamesque designs.

Most of the original doors to the house were removed and stored in the barn out back. One had been stored inside an old wall the couple discovered when they redid the back porch. That door served as the inside door between the tavern and the rest of the house. "My husband took it apart and pegged it back together," Barbara said. The doors were painted, and some have the original paint.

The couple are restoring the downstairs and upstairs back porches. An original balustrade was found in the wall, and the couple had several replicas made for the downstairs porch. They also restored or replicated the windows throughout the house using original glass. These windows are spring-loaded, an old technology which holds them open without the need for rope pulleys, or sticks.

Barbara said she never even considered replacing the windows. "If you choose to be in an old house, there are some things you sacrifice," she said. "If you take care of old windows, they're just as good as new ones."

The steps show two centuries of wear, and the mop board has original black paint. That was traditional for the era, to prevent dirt from shoes from building up.

Furniture throughout the house is a mix of family pieces and 19th century items, many of which the couple bought from a consignment shop in downtown Frederick . An early 19th-century tall case clock from England looks at home in the parlor. The chandeliers the couple purchased also reflect the house's age. Several chandeliers hang beneath decorative plaster.

A laundry room connects the house to a summer kitchen, which the previous owners expanded and now contains a modern family room. Outside is a barn, probably built about 100 years ago. The half-acre property also had a chicken coop, corn crib, pig shed and open shed, all in disrepair. There was once a log stable mentioned in an 1812 deed, but no trace of it remains.

A sign hangs on the front of the house, that said "Kesler-McGill House, 1775-1812." Barbara painted it before she discovered the existence of Jacob Parson. She plans to repaint the sign.