My brother Mike and his wife Jane bought this antique colonial house in Rowley, Mass., in 1978.

Mike and Jane, both public school teachers, worked hard to rebuild and restore the colonial home faithful to its early 1700s origins.

Mike and Jane became something akin to “gentleman farmers” on the property where they grew wonderful flower and vegetable gardens and raised three fine children.

When they first bought the house, a black Rover from the sixties sat rusting in the yard. Dreaming of getting my license at the time, I would sit in the driver’s seat and imagine taking girlfriends (nonexistent) on entertaining rides.

Recently, Ipswich, Mass. historian Gordon Harris published this account of Mike and Jane’s house on the Historic Ipswich website.

Among other things, the write-up reminded me of the Rowley house’s provenance with deed-holders named “Whitcom,” “Wicum” and “Wycom”—fodder for New England conversations with friend and former Providence Journal vp Robert Whitcomb, who sometimes reprints my columns on his New England Diary blog.