This classic home was built by Frederick J. and Agnes Adams in the mid 1890's. Frederick was born in Parowan, Utah, in 1870 and came to Bluff as a child with his parents in 1882. He married Agnes Allan, from Fort Montezuma, in 1892 (Boos).
The house was originally built as a trading post, but after Agnes was left a widow and had a family to support, she couldn't handle all the outside work so she remodeled it. She had the top story constructed on the house and took in roomers and boarders in order to make a living. As in many other houses in Bluff at this time, Nick Lovace was the rock layer(Hatch).
There were eleven rooms in this big old house. The first floor plan of the Adams house consists of five rooms. The front door opens
into a large living room on the south side of the house. Behind it is a simple staircase to the second story and a small room, which was the pantry. There
are three rooms on the north side of the house. The room at the front of the house probably served as a bedroom. Behind it is a room that may have been a dining room,
and the third room the kitchen
(Adams House Historical site forms).The upper story had six bedrooms to serve as
boarding rooms.The Adams family used coal and wood to heat the house. They also had an artesian well
for water.
The house is in deteriorated condition. Most of the doors, windows, and original casings have been removed, and the first floor openings are boarded up. Until 1989 there was a large vertical crack in the exterior northeast corner of the house. In 1989 the owners of the house repaired the crack by dismantling the corner and rebuilding it, re-using the original sandstone blocks (Adams House Historical site forms).
The current owner is in the process of restoring this great house. It will stand as a reminder that even in hard times people do withstand.
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Page designed by Elizabeth Boot
San Juan High School