We recently had the chance to attend a family wedding in Maryland, and had the pleasure of staying in a colonial house that is nowadays available for rentals at about the same price as a hotel stay. The modern property has been changed and modified over the years, but many of the original elements remain and date back to about 1700, according to the caretaker.
It was definitely a very interesting stay, partly because some of the old architecture (particularly staircases) is a bit weird.
The house has been given modern amenities ranging from bathrooms and showers to TV and internet, but the caretakers have done their best to preserve much of the colonial elements and the house is on the national historic landmarks list for preservation. It sits on a larger sort of farm property that also includes expansive lawns and places to walk, including two small piers.
The most modern portion is the kitchen, which is expansion in the back of the house. The original exterior colonial doors are not typically in use, and the windows are generally not opened (except with the supervision of the caretakers) because they contain original hand blown glass and could be damaged if opened or closed improperly.
The lower rooms are connected by a long hallway, and the room closest to the kitchen is the older kitchen/dining area. It contains a large fireplace, with another large one (the original) down in the house's basement along with the furnace and such. On the left, you can see what I refer to as the right staircase that leads up to the second floor.
I admit we weren't sure how much of the antique style furniture in the house is necessarily original, and how much of it is modern designs based on period ones. The old kitchen includes this piece, which looks like a folding table that can be lowered and pegged in place. There is a portrait of George Washington over the fireplace and a pair of small compartments whose use we speculated about. They could have been used for some forms of cooking or even storage. The old fireplaces can be used for heating, but this is only with the caretaker's permission as the flues are normally closed.
Next down the hall is a library which has the "middle" staircase. Both of these staircases are built at an unusual angle and narrow, so it's important to be careful going up and down them. They also creak a lot.
ETA: Unicron, the photos are really huge and there's a lot of them, so I put them behind spoiler tags so people can view them at their leisure without the page taking forever to load.
It was definitely a very interesting stay, partly because some of the old architecture (particularly staircases) is a bit weird.
The house has been given modern amenities ranging from bathrooms and showers to TV and internet, but the caretakers have done their best to preserve much of the colonial elements and the house is on the national historic landmarks list for preservation. It sits on a larger sort of farm property that also includes expansive lawns and places to walk, including two small piers.
The most modern portion is the kitchen, which is expansion in the back of the house. The original exterior colonial doors are not typically in use, and the windows are generally not opened (except with the supervision of the caretakers) because they contain original hand blown glass and could be damaged if opened or closed improperly.
The lower rooms are connected by a long hallway, and the room closest to the kitchen is the older kitchen/dining area. It contains a large fireplace, with another large one (the original) down in the house's basement along with the furnace and such. On the left, you can see what I refer to as the right staircase that leads up to the second floor.
I admit we weren't sure how much of the antique style furniture in the house is necessarily original, and how much of it is modern designs based on period ones. The old kitchen includes this piece, which looks like a folding table that can be lowered and pegged in place. There is a portrait of George Washington over the fireplace and a pair of small compartments whose use we speculated about. They could have been used for some forms of cooking or even storage. The old fireplaces can be used for heating, but this is only with the caretaker's permission as the flues are normally closed.
Next down the hall is a library which has the "middle" staircase. Both of these staircases are built at an unusual angle and narrow, so it's important to be careful going up and down them. They also creak a lot.
ETA: Unicron, the photos are really huge and there's a lot of them, so I put them behind spoiler tags so people can view them at their leisure without the page taking forever to load.
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The dining room has a spinning wheel and some other cool elements.
The caretakers live next door and have horses (which we didn't actually see), roosters and hens (which we saw and heard the most) and a friendly black lab named Gus (who will often visit the house when it's occupied, out of curiosity and a desire for petting 
