Mather House Move Delayed Until Wednesday
 A house-moving crew from New Hampshire decided to delay the relocation of Mather House, left, until Wednesday because of the wet weather. |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Safety concerns brought on by the overnight mix of snow and rain in the region forced the postponement of a historic house move on Monday morning
The crew from Bow, N.H.'s, Geddes Building Mover Inc., will try again on Wednesday to relocate the 1840 Mather House from Williams College's campus to 63 North St.
Rick Geddes made the call just before 8 a.m. on Monday to postpone the move.
"It becomes a safety issue," Geddes said. "We don't need to have anybody get hurt because of this kind of weather.
"It's a tough job moving it on a good day. It's an unbearable job moving it on a day like this."
All the same road closures, detours and temporary power outages anticipated on Monday now move to Wednesday. Once again, Mather House is expected to make the turn from Stetson Court onto Main Street (Route 2) at about 8 a.m.
At about 7:45 on Monday morning, Geddes started notifying utility crews and town officials that the move was a no-go.
The move to land owned by Williamstown businessman Vincent Guntlow involves transporting two buildings: the larger, historic Mather House and a smaller structure on the same Stetson Court property. Geddes said the Mather House will be first in line for the move but the second to be loaded onto the recently poured foundation at 63 North St., on the corner of Lee Terrace.
The college is disposing of Mather House and plans the demolition of the Harper House (circa 1854) next door to make room for a new residence hall on Stetson Court.
Monday's move was hampered by wet ground, not wet pavement.
"When we get to the [Field Park rotary], we have to go over the grass section in order to get around that corner," Geddes said. "That's going to be a tough pull. And then getting onto the [63 North St.] site is going to be a tough pull.
"It's down a hill pulling uphill backwards. All you have to do is get stuck there, and then what do you do?"
With Monday night's low temperature forecast at 26 degrees and a high of 27 degrees predicted on Tuesday, Geddes expects the ground to be much firmer on Wednesday morning.
"Colder is better," he said. "It will harden everything right up.
"If we get 4 inches of frost, it will be wonderful."
Tags: big move, historical building,
