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Historic house could get another life This dilapidated but picturesque historic house on Highway 62 is on its way to restoration as a children's museum -- provided its new owner, the Eagle Point Historical Society, can find the means to move it. Eagle Point group wants to restore home for children's museum By Paul Fattig of the Mail Tribune EAGLE POINT -- The historic Wood house, moved from its original location half a century ago to make way for Highway 62, is about to hit the road again. The Eagle Point Historical Society has been given the 1870 house and plans to move it downtown, where it will be turned into a children's museum. The long vacant, dilapidated house, which has attracted photographers and painters for decades, is on the east side of Highway 62 about a mile north of Linn Road. Barbara Hegne "For 10 years, I've been trying to get this house so we could preserve it," said Barbara Hegne, curator of the Eagle Point Museum and a local historian. "We've finally done it. Our plans are to make a children's museum at a site as near as possible to our museum." California residents James and Antonia Folan, owners of the property on which the house sits, on Dec. 1 gave the society the deed to the house. The document provides an easement on the property to allow the house to be removed to a site where it can be restored. The old house is worth about $1,100, according to current property tax files. But its value as a part of history is priceless, Hegne said. "There is so much history here," she said. "If that house could talk, it could tell a lot of stories about local history." The group hopes a local property owner will donate a small parcel to provide a permanent resting place for the house, built by Civil War veteran Marvin Sylvester Wood. A descendant of pioneer James Mathews, who named Eagle Point for the eagles that nested in the bluffs overlooking the community, Hegne also is linked to the Wood family. Her great-great-great-grandmother was a sister to Marvin Wood's mother-in-law. "That's one reason why I've tried so hard to get this house -- it goes back to my family," she said. "But everybody in Eagle Point feels like they are part of this house." Quality Fence Co. of Central Point has donated a chain-link fence to protect the house until it is moved. The fence was erected last week. Age, weather and vandals have taken their toll on the old structure, Hegne said. "People have been taking pieces of the house -- they've even been up on the roof removing shingles," she said. "They kicked in a door not too long ago. We had to do something to protect it." Vandals attempted to burn the old dwelling last Halloween, she added. "The house has really disintegrated in the last year and a half," she said of weather-related damage. "The porch has fallen in." Yet architects consulted by the society have indicated the structure could probably be moved, providing it is properly braced and reinforced, Hegne said. The wrap-around porch and wings would also have to be removed. "We hope to get money through grants to move it," she said. "We have a lot of volunteers, but we will need a structural engineer who knows how to move something like this." The house originally stood a few hundred feet to the west where Highway 62 traffic now rumbles past. The last member of the family to occupy the house was Walter Wood, one of three children of Marvin and Susan Wood. Born in the house in 1882, he lived there until he died in 1974 at age 93. "When they were building the road (Highway 62) in 1947 they wanted to condemn the house and tear it down," Hegne said. "He had a fit about that. So the state moved it over here and dug a well for him." After his death, ownership of the house passed to his housekeeper, who later sold it to the current property owners. Whether the house is moved in sections or completely dismantled and restored, the goal is to retain its unique appearance, including the center dormer on the second floor, Hegne said. Hegne has no doubt that the goal can be achieved by the 300-member society whose volunteer efforts support the museum. The museum is financed by a Jackson County historical society levy. As evidence of the members' achievements, Hegne noted they already have moved the historic Long Mountain School, circa 1925, and the old Antelope Covered Bridge to the town's historic district. "We've got a lot of people wanting to help preserve it," she said. "They take a lot of pride in their community and its history." The society has launched a fund-raising effort by selling year 2000 calendars with a photograph of the old house on the cover. The calendars sell for $7.50 each. Donations can also be made to This Old House account at the Western Bank in Eagle Point. For more information, contact Hegne at the museum at 826-4166. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA