SHARON — It’s not uncommon, certainly in this area of lovely historic houses and lovely settings, to see a house in one spot and dream of moving it to another, more suitable location. For most people, this is an idle daydream. But John Baroody really did it, and he shared the tale on Jan. 12 at the Sharon Historical Society with an audience of more than 40 people.Baroody and his house are now in Sharon, but the house began its life in the early 1700s in Farmington, Conn. It’s a classic timberframe Colonial that, after more than two centuries, “had fallen on hard times.”Built as a single-family home, it had been turned into several apartments and was scheduled to be torn down to make way for commercial development.He said while the home looked “beat up from the outside, the bones were still in excellent condition.”Baroody and his wife, who were living in New York City at the time, had already found a site they loved in Sharon. It was an easy decision for them to rescue the building and move it.Baroody had moved historic houses before, and understood the building style. That helped make the process of deconstructing, moving and reassembling the parts fairly straightforward, he said.All the boards, timbers and every part of the house were marked and mapped out. All the pieces were loaded onto a 44-foot enclosed truck and delivered to the site in Sharon where a new foundation had been laid. Then the process of reassembling the home began.Baroody, who owns Sharon Mountain Properties, described it as “truly a labor of love.”The process of rebuilding the house was documented by Fine Homebuilding magazine in a three-part documentary, which Baroody showed at the Historical Society. He also brought samples of 18th-century building materials to share with audience members, who asked questions throughout the presentation.Many of them seemed surprised when Baroody said it took less than two days to put the building frame back together. The hardest work, he said, was done at the beginning of the job, as the house was disassembled and catalogued. “The ease of reassembling the frame,” he said, “was a testament to the work of the joiners and fitters who put the home together almost 300 years ago.” The high quality of the materials originally used also made the job easier. One new section was added to hold plumbing and venting mechanicals. This new area was designed to blend with the original building.When asked if the reassembled home met contemporary building codes, Baroody said, “These antique homes do not meet code.” But, he said, the building was exempt because it is a nationally registered historic home.The interior was also lovingly restored. Baroody researched period houses to make it as accurate as possible. He also tried to save and reuse as many of the original interior materials as possible. Three of the original rooms have fireplaces.For more information on the Sharon Historical Society and its programs, go to www.sharonhist.org or call 860-364-5688.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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