It’s a firehouse — yet not — and it’s for sale in the middle of New Hampshire forest
There are a lot of things one expects to see when hiking through a heavily wooded area: a lone cabin, a babbling brook, perhaps a hungry bear or a disgruntled raccoon.
But a firehouse? That’s not something you’d see every day in the middle of a forest. Yet ...
While it’s technically a “firehouse replica” of Boston’s Engine 21 firehouse, this two-bedroom, two-bath home has landed on the real estate market in Thornton, New Hampshire, for $599,000.
According to Realtor.com, the home was built in 2004 by John Cullen, a firefighter enthusiast as well as a reporter for The Boston Globe.
“The owner of the home had a passion for firefighters and essentially built a museum here,” listing agent Susan Hammond told Realtor.com. “Unfortunately, he passed away in 2018, and the family is selling all of the memorabilia separately. He didn’t run the home as a business — he just wanted to build a replica of a firehouse.”
The 3,137-square-foot home has a lot to offer:
Short distance from the Welch Dickie trailhead
1,622-square-foot garage space
Ample family room
Open floor plan
Oversized bedrooms
Unfinished basement
Recessed lightning
Skylights
And, yes, there is a firehouse pole.
“We have had a lot of interest from firefighters, but I think some were just interested in seeing all of the memorabilia,” Hammond told Realtor. “The opportunities here are really endless.”
If the new owner isn’t into the firehouse theme, they can use the large space to store an “RV, car collection, boats, snowmobiles, or just a home for your many toys,” the listing says.
The original Engine 21 was “built to resemble a Spanish Mission” in 1869, but the replacement building that stands today in Boston was built in 1926, Boston Fire History said.
“Engine 21 responds to approximately 3,600 incidents per year,” Boston Fire History reports. “It has a wide response area, from City Point in South Boston to Franklin Park in Roxbury. BFD members assigned to Engine 21 rarely leave the company, due to the high response rate and the amount fire duty they perform.”
Thornton is about 120 miles northwest of Boston.
This story was originally published December 13, 2021 at 1:35 PM with the headline "It’s a firehouse — yet not — and it’s for sale in the middle of New Hampshire forest."