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By Preston P. Forman, Standard-Times staff writer
DARTMOUTH -- It takes a small army to move a house. It takes nearly a legion to move two down one of the most congested areas of Southeastern Massachusetts.
Yesterday morning, a helmeted legion of more than 250 electric, cable, telephone, highway, police and fire personnel helped push two nearly 100-year-old houses off their foundations on a three-day journey to new locations.
The homes, making way for more development on Route 6, are the dreams of a family and a single man for a home of their own. Cathy and Stephen Pettey are moving their 12-room house to land they own in Westport. Marc Maynard is moving his house to land on Reed Road in Dartmouth.
At 9:21 a.m., the Pettey home, being moved by Gary Sylvester Building Movers and Excavators, began to crawl after Mr. Sylvester's son, Trevor, 9, gave the signature house sendoff: he gunned the engine of the massive truck and pulled the horn string.
As Commonwealth Electric Co. worker Marvin Graber held up electrical lines, the 85-ton house sitting on a web of steel girders began to move. With some applause from onlookers, the house made a great turn, crested over the median strip and righted itself back on the eastbound lane of Route 6.
The second house -- the one with the roof sitting on the trailer as if ripped off by King Kong -- nearly did not make the journey.
Within hours of the move, Mr. Maynard finally obtained the permits from the state to move the home.
Murphy's Law struck next. As the house was slowly edged off the foundation, the truck wheels sank into the mud. His mover, Carl Federico General Contractors, worked for nearly an hour, jacking up the house.
As the Petteys' house waited on Route 6, the state informed the contractor that it could wait no longer, said Sgt. Thomas Soares.
"This was a call from Boston. The state gave him to 11 a.m. to go or they were going to pull his permit," said Sgt. Soares. "He would have had to back it up and drop it."
At 10:40 a.m., the second house trundled onto the road, joining the Pettey home on the turtle-like move, west in the eastbound lane of Route 6, while Com/Electric, NYNEX and Continental Cablevision crews scrambled to lower wires to the ground or raise them over the houses.
Mr. Maynard, who spent months himself removing the roof so it could fit under wires, said even with the $10,000 cost for moving the house, it was worth it.
"I'm a single guy, trying to make a living, and just sick of renting. I wanted my own house," he said. "I got the house for a steal but I had to move it. If I had only known how difficult it was, maybe I wouldn't have done it."
The Pettey home cost more than $25,000 to move, partly because of the complexity and length of the move. Mrs. Pettey could hardly contain herself throughout the day and at one point called Mr. Sylvester, a second-generation house mover, "a moving savant."
"This is a wonderful old house that was worth moving. Why take a wrecking ball to something as beautiful as this?" she said. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience that we are putting the residents and businesses along Route 6 through, but this is something we could not pass up -- to have a home."
Com/Electric spokesman Peter Dimond said that aside from a few scattered power outages, there were no problems. The company moved more than two dozen lines.
The house-moving drew hundreds of onlookers, dozens toting video cameras.
"This is the biggest thing to happen around here in years," said Richard Purcell, who used to live here and was visiting from Yuma, Ariz.
"It certainly is a great show. A slow show, but a pretty good one nevertheless," said Thomas Peters of Dartmouth.
Even some workers jaded by other house moves said this one was exciting because it was so complicated.
"This is just going to be one long parade down Route 6. Gonna be fun," said Continental Cablevision's David Fortin. "Sure gets me out of what I'm doing for three days."
The homes are making way for a $4.5 million, two-story medical complex for Eye Health Vision Centers. The practice hopes to break ground just a few days after the houses are moved. Two other houses on the parcel were razed.
The houses make the second leg of their journey today from the former Mendell Electric Supply building on State Road. Police again warn that if you can avoid Route 6, do.
Traffic will be allowed to travel east and west but two-way traffic will be in effect in the eastbound lane. Certain side streets also will be shut down temporarily.
On Thursday, the houses will travel west in the eastbound lane of Route 6 to Route 177.
Moving will be canceled if the weather is not clear.
The foundation of the house belonging to Cathy and Stephen Pettey is in the foreground, top photo, on a lot on Route 6 in Dartmouth. Marc Maynard's house is in the background. Above, spectators line the route of the move. At left, a worker guides one of the houses down the street.
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