Opera North Gains a “Clearer View” of Blow-Me-Down Farm Rehabilitation

Opera North is moving forward with work to preserve and rehabilitate the historic Blow-Me-Down Farm in Cornish, under the direction of architect Andrew Garthwaite and contractor Ingram Construction. In 2017, Opera North and the National Park Service forged an agreement that gave Opera North the responsibility for stabilizing and repairing the Charles Beaman farmhouse on the 46-acre property. The farmhouse, some of which dates to the late 1700s, is being adapted for use as a base for Opera North at Blow-Me-Down Farm, adjacent to the Saint Gaudens National Historic Park.

The first phase of Garthwaite’s work, which was delayed by the Federal budgetary shutdown and then the COVID-19 pandemic, is now addressing issues related to the current condition of the building and the preservation of the historic site. The initial work makes the building safer to use, more weather resistant and more attractive to the public. Among the projects: repairing the timber sills and re-grading the area around the building to improve surface drainage, repairing the porches and providing ADA access at the south porch, and repairing the framing, trim, siding, windows and flashing, as needed.

The most visible work now complete is the repair and reglazing of half of the original 96 windows, consistent with preservation standards from the Secretary of the Interior. The next steps will be to complete the window restoration, paint the exterior and to conduct a review of the electrical service and system safety. Phase Two will include a new roof, new plumbing, limited interior repair on the first floor and of the eight bedrooms and chimney repair.

Blow-Me-Down Farm was the historic home of Charles C. Beaman, a New York City lawyer who was responsible for bringing Augustus Saint-Gaudens and many others to Cornish, New Hampshire, indirectly establishing what would become known as the “Cornish Colony.” The Cornish Colony was comprised of an extraordinary group of visual artists, writers, architects, landscape designers, musicians, art patrons and public figures who lived and worked in Cornish and nearby Plainfield from 1885 until 1935. The group included such notable people as Maxfield Parrish, Stephen Parrish, Ethel Barrymore, Percy Mackaye, Ellen Shipman, Paul Manship, Thomas and Maria Dewing, Charles Adams Platt, and novelist Winston Churchill. 

Today, Opera North seeks to revitalize the extraordinary spirit of creativity that defined the Cornish Colony through a partnership with the National Park Service to develop the Farm into a campus for the performing and visual arts and the site of a new summer arts festival. This summer, it will present three productions (physically distanced) at Blow-Me-Down Farm from July 16 —August 1. The season includes Havana Nights, the company’s signature opera-circus mashup directed by Mark Lonergan, director of the Big Apple Circus, and set to pulsating Latin rhythms; Extraordinary Women, a celebration of Baroque opera heroines; and La Bohème, Giacomo Puccini’s exquisite opera of love and loss, with some of the most beautiful music ever written for the stage.

For more information, visit www.operanorth.org.