Photos: An Altamont home that predates the Civil War
Since buying it 13 years ago, Lori and Bill Cain have worked steadily on their home.
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
This screened-in porch was added by a previous owner. It lies just beyond a separate mudroom.
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
An existing spring-fed pond at the back of the property has lily pads and carp. The Cains installed the fountain.
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
The Cains tiled the second-floor bath; previously, the floor had been linoleum.
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
The square-shaped staircase with its dramatic lyre-shaped newel post at the bottom was what sold Lori Cain on the house.
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
In the Cains’ living room are two archways, not original to the home but presumably from the Victorian period. Columns that once stood in the center hallway now serve as pedestals for bird figures that Lori Cain bought over the years. The hallway columns were an addition made by a previous owner and removed by the Cains. Lori Cain says that although the archways are not original, she would never take them down, because they lend formality to the living room.
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
Lori Cain bought the house largely, she says, because of the square-shaped center staircase and, especially, the dramatic lyre-shaped newel post at the bottom. The staircase is “old, old, probably at least the 1860s,” she says.
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
Lori and Bill Cain met while students at Siena College many years ago, raised two children a few streets away on Armstrong Circle, and then bought their home at 780 Route 146 in 2006. Over the past 13 years, they have restored the historic home, undoing choices by previous owners that did not seem in keeping with its age.
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
The Cain home at 780 Route 146 just outside the village of Altamont sits on two-and-a-quarter acres and dates from probably the early 19th Century. The land once was home to a Crounse Hotel, and the home served as a separate dining-room building. Dormers were added later, Lori Cain believes, and the porch was put on by builder Troy Miller about a decade ago.