A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.

The Opera House was built in 1894 by Columbus L. Pettengill, an area lumberman.  The second floor of the building, then known as Pettengill Hall, was a place where people gathered for functions from vaudeville, revivals, town meetings and church services, high school plays and high school graduation ceremonies!  It was also home to a general and clothing store in the bottom floor and a barber shop!  

In around 1907, a large back section was added to be a residential quarters and to add more business space and was attached directly to the original building.  It was just two stories tall initially but within a couple years, an additional 2 stories were added, making the addition a 4 story structure.  The basement housed a 2 lane bowling alley, the first floor was a feed and grain store which also featured other farming necessities.  The second and third floors were the house which had 7 bedrooms.  One on the second floor and 6 on the third.

In the 1920's, the second floor of the main building was converted to a movie house and silent films began to play.  Folks came from all over to check out what was, at the time, a state-of-the-art center with many new offerings that no one had ever before experienced!  Someone would sit at the piano in front of the stage a play music that coincided with the films to show excitement and engage with the audience as at the time, films were silent with no dubbed audio of their own.

 Agnes lived in the main residence and invested a lot of money into the building during her time of ownership.  Her dream to reopen the theatre was never met but she was a vital part of the building's continued life.  She had all the windows replaced, enclosed porches built all the way around the building which helped keep the weather away.  She had the building completely insulated and vinyl siding and trim installed throughout!  She also had the old knob and tube wiring removed and new modern circuit breakers and wiring installed throughout.  

Agnes was an elderly lady by this time and she became unable to live alone here and eventually went into a nursing home. The building was sold a time or two more after her departure.  Each person having some kind of plan to do something great with the place, but no one ever was able to get anything off the ground. The last person to own the building before we purchased it, owned it for around 15 years, of which all of those, the place sat vacant.

  We, The Hartin Family, a local family, born and raised right in the area, purchased The Opera House in December 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.  With so much uncertain at the time, we felt that a risk was worth taking to pursue a dream!  Having lived in the area all our lives, the building was a familiar sight to us and we had always had a deep curiosity as to what the place contained beyond it's doors!  

Having been long closed before either of us had even been born, the place was a locked secret that we were going to finally have the opportunity to discover!!   We didn't really have any immediate goals for the place beyond making it our home because I owned my own HVAC company and didn't really have the time to look at any other business ventures.  

We spent the first several months just cleaning the place up and emptying out all the items that had been stored for years and had accumulated here.  Nothing of any real value was left behind after the previous sales.  Most artifacts and items of historic interest had long been sold.  After cleanup, it was time to make some repairs and updates to the house.  Painting and refinishing walls and trim and redoing heating and plumbing work was all necessary if we were going to live here.  

The boiler and water system in the residential part of the building wasn't properly drained so pipes had burst all over from the cold unheated winters that had passed.

 By now we are in 2022 and we are starting to really feel things come together with the place.  Two rental units doing quite well and lots of guest interactions led us to talking about what more we could do here.  After lots of conversations and brainstorming we decided to start investing in the old storefront in the main building.  We were going to fix it up with the idea of setting it up like a rental venue for parties and gatherings and look to rent the space out to the public.  

We painted the trim, fixed the walls and shelving as needed, added a restroom and sinks and a counter area behind a bar.  We added wall sconces and a new tin ceiling with pendant lighting.  The place was really starting to shine!   Once the room was completed, we invited some area friends over to gather and share the space.   After a couple gatherings, it became evident that the best use of the space was going to be a neighborhood pub lounge, which also really seemed as if it would compliment the already existing rental rooms where we could host our guests also! 

We started making contacts and plans, got in touch with the town and planning board and code office and started building a business model and applying for all the needed licenses and inspections.  Within about 6 months we were fully cleared to open!  April 1st, 2023 was our first day as The Opera House Lounge!  The first real business to operate in this building in over 30 years!! 

After the lounge opened, I continued to operate my HVAC company until around October 2023 when I decided it was time to sell the business and fully invest my time here at The Opera House!  Between the lounge and inn rooms, I had myself a full time job!! We have dreams of opening the theatre someday and feel strongly that if anyone could accomplish that here, it would be us!!  We are driven by an unexplainable passion for this place and wont rest until the best of the building is seen!