Editor's Note: This is the first of a three-part series on historic Sprague buildings.

Tucked away off Potash Hill Road in Sprague sits the beautiful 228-year-old historic home known as Ashlawn, or the Joshua Perkins House, a home many residents admire as they pass by.

Ashlawn was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. In addition to Ashlawn, there are also two other places in Sprague that are on the national register. One is the Baltic Historic District, added to the register in 1987, and the William Park House, added in 2007.

Land records show that the once 1,000-acre property was accumulated in small increments from many landowners in Norwich by John and Joshua Perkins in the 1760s. The ell that the home is attached to predates the house itself and was built around 1740.

Joshua Perkins built the house in 1792. The name Ashlawn came about from the four large ash trees that used to stand on the lawn.

Upon driving up to the house, you will see the Georgian style home facing south with three chimneys and a storage shed. Since Ashlawn was once used as a dairy farm, a dairy barn used to sit on the property. The original barn was destroyed in the Great Hurricane of 1938.

Another barn was built in its place, but it burned down in the 1980s. There used to be a small building to the right of the home in the mid to late 1800s that’s no longer there. It can be seen in a picture taken of the house after it was purchased in the 1860s by William Breed, whose family still owns the property today.

The portion of the property being used as the dairy farm was sold off in the mid 1900s, and now the home sits on less than 30 acres.

When you enter the home, you’ll step into the large central hall and see a staircase against the left wall. Molding and paneling can be seen throughout.

From the second floor, a tiny winding staircase leads to a little attic filled with old spinning wheels.

Tara Rosiene, who lives in the home, is a direct descendent of William Breed. Several unique features she showed off during a tour were the large number of closets, the smoker oven in the attic, and the doorways inside three of the closets that open up to the other rooms in the house.

Back when the property was being used as a dairy farm, milk was processed in what is now the kitchen. What is now being used as the dining room was the room where food was often prepared in the 1700s.

During the time that Ashlawn was built, there were no funeral homes, so the southwest first floor room would be used for viewings and funerals. The room was built with more doors than usual, much like modern-day funeral homes, and has a parlor off to the side.

The home is being used today as a personal residence. Rosiene does beekeeping on the property and plans to expand the garden.

Throughout the years, Ashlawn has changed to suit the needs of its modern-day occupants, but the historical aspects of the house will always remain.

During isolation due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Rosiene has been going through old boxes and closets and admiring some of the history that seems to be imbedded in the walls of the place.

“I’m sifting through a living time capsule,” she said as she spoke of pictures and knickknacks that she’s come across, adding, “At least now there’s indoor plumbing.”

Kelly Congdon lives in Groton.