King Arthur Flour Company Sign

The King Arthur Flour Company, has a sign in their retail store at their headquarters in Norwich, Vermont, made of wood salvaged from the old house on the original Jameson Homestead, in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, when that house was dismantled in 2012.

King Arthur Flour Company is a small but widely distributed premium flour and baking goods company. It was founded in 1790 in Boston and is now located in Norwich, Vermont, not far from Dunbarton. It is highly respected amongst artisan bakers and the world wide culinary community. Their renowned bakery classes are almost always sold out - usually way in advance. Like many food companies in Vermont, King Arthur Flour is an employee owned company with a soul and a committed connection to the customers they serve.

The materials for this sign came from the house on the old Jameson Homestead on South Stark Highway, in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, known locally as Flinlock Farm. That house was originally built in the early 1750's by Hugh Jameson and was occupied continually by Jameson descendents until about 1900. The property fell on bad times during the financial crisis of 2008. The bank foreclosed and the property was abandoned in 2009. By late in 2010 the old Jameson homestead was in shambles. Although much of the original part of the house was still structurally sound, the parts that were added on were literally crumbling. The house and the barn had been badly vandalized and the lot was all overgrown with weeds, tall grass, unkempt trees and shrubs, etc. An effort by several Jameson family descendants around the country were able to find the bank that owned the property and get it secured and placed with a realtor so it could be sold. The property was bought in the early spring of 2011 and the new owners renovated the barn as their place to live. The entire old house was dismantled and removed in 2012.[1]

The original 1750 part of the house was discovered during the demolition of the newer and much larger structure. The new owners donated this to the Dunbarton Historical Society who collected and hauled everything away with the intent of reconstructing it in it's original mid 1700s state and include it as part of an historic area in town, set aside as a kind of "old village." This area, just north of the town center, already houses an old blacksmith shop, a cobblers shed and the old school house. This project is planned out over a three year period and will hopefully be completed by the fall of 2015. More information, photos and progress reports can be found on the Dunbarton Historical Society's Facebook page here. Other parts of the old structure were also saved, including materials that were used to construct a garden shed still on the old homestead property.

In addition, David Fern, of Keeper Barns, the contractor involved with the demolition of the old house, provided the materials that became part of the sign in the retail store section of King Arthur Flour Company. in Norwich, Vermont, see photo above. The sign itself was made by Wood & Wood, of Waitsfiled, Vermont and installed at King Arthur in 2013. Some say it is the best looking feature in the store. Kudos to everyone involved in using reclaimed materials from the old Jameson house in Dunbarton, New Hampshire and especially the King Arthur Flour Company for displaying it so prominently and with a respectful, informative plaque, naming it's old Jameson house sources.