Editor's Note: This is the second in a three-part series about historic homes in Sprague.

Last month, I sat around an antique wooden table and chatted with three ladies who reminisced about growing up around the William Park House. They all lived close by and spent a lot of their time in the home.

The William Park House is one of three places in Sprague on the National Register of Historic Places. It sits on a three-acre corner lot off of Main Street in Hanover, the former mill village in town. Susan Stabach, one of the ladies who joined in on the conversation, spent a lot of time at the home as a child and was a close family friend of the Parks.

She described the outside of the house as being unique because it looks like an English Tudor, but it’s apparent when you walk into the house that it’s a Four-Square Craftsman Style home. During the house’s construction, people were just starting to build this particular style of home.

According to documentation provided by Mary Delaney, who is a member of the Sprague Historical Society, the Park House was built in 1913 by Peck McWilliams. It was meant to be a wedding gift from William’s father, Angus Park, for him and his new bride, Ruth H. Standish.

After graduating from high school, William joined his father in the textile business. By age 21, he was the assistant superintendent of the Airlie Mills in Hanover. William and Ruth were very involved in the community.

Ruth was a teacher before she married William. After she married, since back then married women couldn’t teach, she would still go to the schoolhouse so she could read books to the children.

Ruth was also a member of an organization named Fresh Air Children that provided free outings and vacations for children from low-income families.

We know the house by the name of Ruth’s husband William, but according to Joan Park Ryan and Merrill Park Keeley, sisters and grandchildren to William and Ruth Park, Ruth named the property Comely Bank because she thought it was “a handsome property, and because it’s on a bank.”

The house has been sold at least seven times since it was buildt in 1913. I spoke with the current owner, Betsy Lacy, who mentioned some unique features in the home.

Above one of the fireplaces, there’s a stone picture with horses, a carriage and angels that has been there since the house was built. Near the stairs, there’s a ‘stairs’ sign that glows green in the darkness. Detailed molding can be seen throughout.

Keeley and Ryan mentioned some interesting details, as well. The house was built with one of the first central vacs in the county. There is a hidden staircase that the girls remember hiding in and playing on at times. It had a door on either end and couldn’t be seen with the door closed.

There’s a huge room inside that was used as a ballroom at times and other times as a party room for the teenage girls in the neighborhood.

Driving up to the home, you will see the house and three out buildings. One building is a well house that stands separately from the other buildings. A cottage and garage stand side by side on the property.

There was once a greenhouse but the structure went down in the hurricane of 1938.

On the inside of the home, detailed molding can be seen throughout. A triple run staircase runs along the north wall of the central hall. Fifteen risers accommodate the height of the first floor.

Upstairs, there are four bedrooms and a sitting room.

Before putting my coffee cup in the sink and walking out the door, Stabach left me with a lovely childhood memory she had of the home.

“Oh, I remember sleeping over, and I remember ice cream and chocolate chip cookies and parties,” she said.

Throughout the years, several families have had the pleasure of enjoying the amazing details the Park House presents. The property has changed quite a bit since it was built, but the memories remain the same.

Kelly Congdon lives in Groton.