POULSBO — Just as every person has a unique story of their own, Poulsbo resident Meg Burkett believes the same is true of historic buildings.
On May 19 Burkett will open her home off of Sawdust Hill Road from 1-4 p.m. hoping long-time residents will share their memories of the Kvinsland family, who built the place in 1907.
“We would like anyone who has something to share about the house or has a favorite memory to place it in our memory book,” Burkett said.
Even though she knows the basic history about the house, Burkett said she would love to learn more about the people and day-to-day life surrounding the homestead, which has been restored to its near original condition.
“It had some ‘60s renovations and some ‘80s remodeling, but the basic structure remains intact,” she said.
In her effort to return the house to the way it was when Holgar and Rosgchild (Faggerly) Kvinsland built it, Burkett said all of the floors have been refurbished along with the countertops and walls.
“(Rosgchild) preferred to be called Rose,” Burkett said. “Her family lived across the street, and her two brothers also lived in the area.”
With nine children, many of the Kvinslands remain in Kitsap. They proved to be a valuable source of information, Burkett said.
In its heyday, the farm had eight or nine milk cows and a coop full of chickens, which helped support the family while Holgar Kvinsland worked as a commercial fisherman in Alaska, she said.
“The house was always equipped with running water and it had an electricity producing machine,” she said.
At the time, each house was required to purchase an electric stove from the power company in order to receive electricity, Burkett said. But just because the stove was there didn’t mean it got much use.
“(Rose) liked to cook with the wood stove,” Burkett said.
As time has passed, so have the memories of many of the home’s original residents, she said.
“We’re hoping to preserve as many of those as we can,” Burkett said.
Those memories could help garner the house registry on the national list of historic properties, she said.
“We have an application to have it evaluated as a national historic site,” Burkett said. “There’s not many of these left.”
