Pottsville Republican from Pottsville, Pennsylvania • 31

tt Restorer Of Mansions At Work There a. ilJiamsJbMrfi: In Pine (brrove By IONE GEIER Most Americans choose to forget that the history of this country can be told in terms of its houses. Every day, using "progress" as their excuse, they allow historic homes to become victims of bulldozers and demolition experts. Margery Wheeler Mattox, Pine Grove is an exception to the "tear down the old so that something new can be built" ailment that afflicts so many Americans. In keeping with her belief that "it's" important to preserve the past so thaf future generations can see what people once had," she's restored old houses in New Smithville, outside of Allentown, and Aspers, near Gettysburg.

Her most recent restoration a 22-room mansion named Nutting Hall that was built between 1823 and 1825, is located on Tul-pehocken Street in Pine Grove. By the time that Mrs. Mattox and her husband, Bud, a soil conservationist for the federal government, bought Nutting Hall in 1974, it had been divided into seven apartments. "The original hardware and shutters were still there but the whole house had been cut into little cubicles," Mrs. Mattox recalled.

"Pipes from the upstairs units ran down into the foyer and kitchen fireplace, the interior paint was peeling, there were as many as six layers of wallpaper on some walls and everywhere there were partitions and more partitions." A Five-Foot Stone Mason Her husband tore but the partitions before leaving on a job assignment in New Mexico. However, Mrs. Mattox did most of the other renovations herself as she had on the houses in New Smithville and Aspers. Scarcely five feet tall and weighing only a little more than a hundred pounds, she nevertheless managed to cart rocks, con struct stone walls, crawl around rooftops and putty windows. "My neighbors must have thought I was Crazy," she admitted.

"I'd get up at six in the, morning and work until nine at night, scraping and varnishing floors, putting up wallpaper and climbing up and down ladders as many as 50 times a day to plaster and paint." Her first attempt at plastering fell far short of success. In fact, it fell, period. It was at the New Smithville house," she said. "I kept trying to fill deep holes in the ceiling with great gobs of plaster that dropped down almost as soon as I got them up. My brother, who was watching me, finally stopped laughing long enough to point out that plaster has to be applied in layers." Her brother is Richard Wheeler, Pine Grove, a critically acclaimed author whose latest work, "Voices of the Civil War," has been chosen as an alternate selection of the Book of the JVIonth Glub.

Inside Looking Out At Memories "The fact that my brother and mother live in the Pine Grove area was one of the reasons for buying Nutting Hall," Mrs. Mattox said. "But I'd seen and loved the house as a little girl." Mrs. Mattox was born in Reading and brought up in Laureldale, but she and her family frequently visited relatives in Pine Grove. "I can remember standing and watching Decoration Day parades from the corner diagonally opposite Nutting Hall," she reminisced.

"I'd stare at the house from across the street and wonder what it would be like to live there. Now, when I sit at one of the windows, I think back to those days and find it difficult to believe that I'm inside looking out." However, it's a rare day that Mrs. Mattox has time for sitting and thinking.She makes her own clothes, crochets, braids rugs and repairs antique china. She's also working on several bicentennial projects. "I view every project as a challenge," she said.

"When we bought Nutting Hall in January of 1974, 1 was determined to restore it within a year and by the following Christmas it was just about finished. There was a great deal of work involved but I loved every minute of it." Love and Elbow Grease Today, Nutting Hall (named after James L. Nutting who lived there from 1840 until 1880) presents a glowing example of what can be done with a lot of love and even larger quantities of elbow grease. Each room is as alive, as fresh as the day the house was built. The Mattoxes use 12 of the 22 rooms.

"Twelve rooms isn't too many after having lived in a tiny 18-foot trailer for five years while my husband was going to school," Mrs, Mattox" pointed out. "There was so little space that I used to do my oil painting at the kitchen sink and if Bud wanted a drink of water I had to move all the painting paraphernalia to the floor." A talented artist, Mrs. Mattox lists portraits as her specialty. She's also painted murals depicting each of her restpred houses. "I tried to show the houses in their original state," she said.

"But since the murals were painted on plaster 1 had to leave them behind when we moved from New Smithville and Aspers." The move to Pine Grove is expected to be a permanent one. "I like the atmosphere," Mrs. Mattox declared. "There's so much history and so many mansions that the town has the potential of becoming another Williamsburg." With enough people like Mrs. Mattox, it just might happen.

i IBiBia: whom. -nr i inn i if i rr 1 1 tt i nr rum ti iTTr grrni jTinnriiir i mnr i irnan MiiMiirMWMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiMiwiiiiiiiiii wp I i 4 mm 1 fcv.i- fflil pgr i -siVn 'Jv fej fi i --iv- is Nl PJ a ft Margery Wheeler Mattox puts the finishing touches on a mural of Nutting Hall as it looked a century and a half ago. She painted directly onto the plaster, then nailed on a frame..