What drew Alan Kaufman to this 18th-century home in Lyme, CT was not the fact that Andrew Jackson regularly stayed here when it was an inn some two centuries ago.
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
And it wasn't licentious tales of Hollywood types carousing around the pool after a theater actress bought it in the 1930s.
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
It was the gorgeous stone tavern in the daylight basement.
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
"It has exposed beams and an almost walk-in size fireplace," Kaufman said. "I entertain and do wine tastings down there, and when you open the huge double doors and come out of this tavern, there's a stone terrace where you can sit and hear Eightmile River across the road."
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Now on the market for $820,000, the home was built in 1749 as a tavern and inn for stagecoaches on their way to Salem, CT.
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
"It was a house ahead of its time," Kaufman said, noting that its open living-area floor plan does not appear to have changed much, and that the ceilings on the two main floors are higher than most colonial homes enjoy.
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
With more than 3,500 square feet, it has four bedrooms — two with attached bathrooms, two with fireplaces, and one with a dressing room — plus six working fireplaces.
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
One new addition is the light-filled kitchen, whose chestnut center island matches the exposed chestnut beams found in the home's other living spaces. (There's also a rare old chestnut tree on the property.) The kitchen opens onto a sun room with floor-to-ceiling windows and an informal dining area.
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
A formal dining room with a fireplace complements three living rooms that wrap around a center chimney. Kaufman, who turned two of those rooms into a library and media room, loves living in the "antique home."
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
"One of the charms of an 18th-century house is that everything is solid, and it has a certain innate charm to it," Kaufman said. "You feel good in it. It gives you a sense of real comfort."
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
Dennis Carbo / Courtesy of Zillow
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