FOR YEARS CAROLYN FONTAINE had been reading and saving old-house magazines because she was determined to, some day, renovate the kitchen of her ca. 1750 Cape Cod-style house in Plympton, Massachusetts. When she retired, it was time. In her magazine stack she found contact information for Richard Mecke, whose company Historic Homes, Inc., located in Salisbury, New Hampshire, has tackled more than 500 old houses in 40 years, including the Fairbanks House in Dedham, Mass., generally regarded as the oldest dwelling in the country
“For historic houses, we do every everything,” says Mecke, whose career began when he worked for a Native American stonemason in Plymouth, Mass., and subsequently developed skills as a stonemason, carpenter, and house inspector. “Mostly, I like the pre-Revolutionary houses, and some Federals as well. I’m…
