A historic mansion in Montgomery County is back on the market for free but the only catch is if you buy it, you’ll have to move it. The Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society has been trying to save the nearly 200-year-old home that was reportedly part of the Underground Railroad. NBC10’s Karen Hua explains.
Seventeen rooms, eight fireplaces and about 5,000 square feet of nearly two centuries of history could be yours for free -- if you can figure out a way to move it.
For weeks now, the Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society has been raising the alarm on social media about the need to move the Hood Mansion from its current location near the Philadelphia Premium Outlets in Limerick, Pennsylvania.
It won't cost anything to purchase, however, there is an expensive catch to saving it.
"The Historic Hood Mansion, built in 1834 by John McClellan Hood in Limerick, PA is being offered for FREE to anyone who can move her to a new location," the preservation society said on Facebook. "Otherwise, she will be reduced to a pile of rubble by the developer."
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The home was built in 1834 by John McClellan Hood as a summer home for him, his wife and their 13 children "to escape the diseases that swept through Philadelphia in the early to mid 1800s during the summer months," the preservation society said.
The home is about as "solid" as they come and has remained largely unchanged over the years, the preservation society said.
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"Chestnut floors, oak beams, solid brownstone construction," a social media post said. "You’ll be hard pressed to find another home built as well as this is."
The house was reportedly used as a stop on the Underground Railroad for slaves heading north, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
"The Hood family was huge supporters of civil rights for people of all color," Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society founder Tyler Schumacher told NBC10.
The house remained in the Hood family until the 1980s, when it was sold at auction to a developer.
Since then there were plans to incorporate the house into a golf course and a plan to raze the property so Boyd Gaming could "erect a large casino on the property," the preservation society said.
None of those plans came to fruition as a series of caretakers lived in the home up until 2008, the preservation society said. Starting in 2016, vandals started to break windows, steal items and graffiti walls.
Dating back to 2017, the Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society has worked to save the property. However, it took until the property was to a Brooklyn, New York, developer who plans to build a warehouse facility on the site that they got the movement to move the mansion going.
"EPPS has reached an agreement with the current owner that the mansion can be moved off the property, for free, in a timely fashion," the preservation society said.
"This new developer will likely demolish it and replace it with a retaining pond" unless something is done Schumacher said.
Preservationists have other ideas.
"It would become a beautiful events venue or, you know, a portion of maybe a small house museum aspect of some type," Schumacher said.
The Inquirer spoke to a moving estimator who estimated it would cost between $700,000 to $1 million to move the house.
Who might be able to pull off such a complicated and expensive move?
"The ideal candidate would be somebody who has some deep pockets that is interested and really wants to see the legacy of the Hood family and the Hood Mansion live on," Schumacher said. "And, is passionate about historic buildings and the value that this building has to our country."
Interested in moving the mansion? You can reach out to president@easternpapreservation.org.
Stay tuned to find out if the Hood Mansion can be saved.
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