141 MAPLE TREE HILL ROAD Boxwood Glen

ca. 1740 (1976 #55)

The property at 141 Maple Tree Hill Road is reputed to have been a dairy farm, with apple orchards, a cider mill, and possibly a sawmill prior to the 1930s. Originally sited on eighty-eight acres, the house is said to date back to the 1740s. In 1869, it was owned by G. T. Stoddard.

Records show that Justin LaBorde and his wife Claire purchased the farm from Charles B. Johnson and Mary A. Hendryx in the early 1900s, living there with their five children. The LaBordes were immigrants from the Alsace Lorraine region of France.

In 1937, the farm was sold to Dr. Raphael Kurzrok, who renovated the home but preserved much of its design by keeping the 12-over-12 windows. He also saved the wide-plank chestnut flooring and the original colonial fireplace with a baking oven on the left side. The house has a center chimney, with five fireplaces spanning two floors, along with another fire- place in the basement. The original summer kitchen was converted into the main living room and an en- closed porch was added to the rear of the house.

Dr. Kurzrok expanded the dairy farm and the orchards, adding several other structures including horse barns which have since been converted into homes. He and his wife were avid gardeners, planting signature trees and the “boxwood secret garden” from which the house takes its name. After Dr. Kurzrok’s death in 1963, the property was subdivided.

Since purchasing Boxwood Glen in 2006, Ron and Judy Benson have continued to restore and to research the house.