When Jerauld Adams bought the old Fabyan House on Greeley Hill Road in 2016, he got more than he bargained for — in the best possible way. Rolled-up architectural blueprints from 1916. A family photo album full of images no one had seen in decades. Fishing rods, golf clubs, and tennis rackets bearing the original owner’s branding iron. And, tucked in a closet behind what everyone assumed were spare wallpaper rolls, a pristine 1924 map of every radio station in the United States.
“It’s something nobody’s touched for 100 years,” Jerauld told hosts Charlie and Ken on a recent episode of Waterville Unwrapped. “And it’s pristine.”
Now Jerauld is opening the doors of Fabyan Cottage to the public — for one evening, cocktail in hand — as a fundraiser for the Waterville Valley Historical Society. The event, which he dreamed up and brought to Historical Society President Patty Furgal, is called “Cocktails and Closets,” and it’s scheduled for the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.
A Judge, a Gambrel, and a Valley Saved
The house was built in 1917 by Harry Fabyan, a Boston-area judge who had been summering in Waterville Valley for years before purchasing land on Greeley Hill — then known as Greeley Plateau — from Mrs. Elliott, who ran the hotel and controlled much of the valley’s land at the time. Fabyan and his wife Louise had no children, and their gambrel-style cottage, designed by a Boston architect and documented in a meticulous specification sheet that still matches the fixtures in the bathroom today, remained largely undisturbed as it passed to the Lorenz family in the 1950s.
“You can imagine having no children,” Jerauld said. “The thresholds are essentially brand new. Nobody’s been kicking the walls or pulling at the wallpaper.”
Fabyan’s footprint on Waterville Valley extended well beyond his property line. Jerauld describes how Fabyan helped form the Waterville Association — the group of cottage owners who pooled resources to purchase and operate the Waterville Inn during the Depression, effectively keeping the valley alive when no one else would take it on. Fabyan also made trips to Washington to help establish the boundaries of the surrounding National Forest, creating the unusual arrangement that defines Waterville to this day: a 500-acre township nestled within roughly 40,000 acres of protected federal land.
The House That Moved
When Jerauld acquired the property, it was sitting on pillars with no foundation and no heat — its front porch nearly touching Greeley Hill Road on a stretch that had never even been paved. Rather than tear it down or build around it, he hired a house mover. The entire structure — intact, closets and all — was lifted into the air on steel I-beams, slid 35 feet back from the road, and rotated 10 degrees to better face the mountain. A full basement was then dug beneath it, and the house was lowered onto a proper foundation.
“While it was up in the air, the mover was able to twist it — I don’t know, 10 degrees — so it would sort of face the mountain a little better,” Jerauld recalled.
That kind of patient, methodical stewardship is at the core of who Jerauld is. A civil and environmental engineer by training, he found his real calling in restoring old properties — starting with a house he bought at 19 as a sophomore at Clarkson University in upstate New York, and eventually expanding into 28-room mansions and mill buildings across Rhode Island, where he created niche spaces for artists and small businesses. When he finally came looking for a piece of Waterville Valley to call his own, he wasn’t interested in tearing anything down.
He wrote the Lorenz family a letter saying exactly that. They agreed to hold a portion of the mortgage.
What’s in the Closets
The “Cocktails and Closets” fundraiser will take guests through the house, the garage, and the nearly two-acre property. The three upstairs bedrooms are being staged around period themes — one, titled “Going to Bed,” will feature a chamber pot, an original pitcher and water bowl, and the kinds of furnishings that predate central heating. The garage will display Fabyan’s original tools: axes, pickaxes, and shovels. Outside on the front lawn, Jerauld plans to set up a Victrola — which he acquired specifically for the occasion — and play Fabyan’s collection of 78 rpm records, including Al Jolson sides and symphonic recordings.
The Historical Society has also crafted three specialty cocktails for the event: The Fabyan, The Lorenz, and The Adams (Jerauld’s is a gin and tonic).
And for those who want to take the history even further, the property is also rumored to contain the cellar hole of Nathaniel Greeley — believed to be the site of the first home ever built in the valley. Old reservoirs that once fed the cottages on Greeley Hill are also on the land, along with a spring-fed well that still flows into the pond at the sixth hole of the golf course.
A Steward of the Home
Jerauld’s dream, he said, is to eventually make Waterville Valley his full-time home — a place where, someday, grandchildren might visit. For now, he’s content to share what he’s found, one remarkable artifact at a time.
“It’s kind of a secret,” he said of Waterville Valley. “Sometimes you don’t want to share it. But you’re also proud to talk about the community, the people.”
All proceeds from “Cocktails and Closets” benefit the Waterville Valley Historical Society. To hear the full conversation — including the story of Jerauld’s first night sleeping on a 100-year-old mattress — listen to this episode of Waterville Unwrapped.