THE FAMILY PLACE

When it came time for a young Georgia couple to make an 1800s farmhouse their own, they took it apart piece by piece-then rebuilt it into a home ready to welcome the next generation

- CAMERON BEALL

"I'VE ALWAYS KNOWN WE WANTED TO DO SOMETHING WITH THE PLACE," SAYS JESS MCNEILL, who is the sixth generation to live in the Americus, Georgia, farmhouse first purchased by his ancestors in 1853. "When MeriBeth and I got married, we knew it was where we wanted to wind up, but we also knew that since it was almost 200 years old, [restoring] it was going to require a lot of effort."

Well before the couple was ready to tackle fixing it up, they unexpectedly crossed paths with architect Jim Strickland of Historical Concepts and shared with him their dreams for the old family place. "I'll never forget it," says MeriBeth. "He sketched it right there on a bar napkin and said, 'If you want six more generations to live here, we need to rebuild it. Keep the soul of the home, but rebuild a modern-day version." In 2016, just after the arrival of their first son, the McNeills decided it was time to revive the farmhouse. "I reached out to Jim, who already had plans drawn, and within a month we were disassembling it literally board by board," says Jess.

The team took great care to preserve everything they could-down to the fireplace mantels, studs, and floor joists. "We were able to repurpose almost every piece of wood and brick that we took out," says MeriBeth. “Just about anything that isn't painted is from the original structure."