'Houses with History': Rustic, 19th century Barnstable House gets a facelift

Mike Lemieux, Rich Soares, and Jen MacDonald work together on renovating one of the oldest houses, that was built on a portside in West Barnstable
Mike Lemieux and Jennifer MacDonald in 'Houses with History' (Instagram)
Mike Lemieux and Jennifer MacDonald in 'Houses with History' (Instagram)

‘Houses with History’, the popular home renovation show on HGTV, takes us to West Barnstable. The Barnstable House is one of America's oldest, vintage houses, built at a time when the house's coast served as a port side for a successful trading market. 

On the episode that aired on October 27, History geek, Mike Lemieux, and professional carpenter, Rich Soares, looked at some of the oldest, vintage houses in Massachusetts, while they take a look at the properties and decide which house will be their next home renovation project.

RELATED ARTICLES

'Houses with History': Who is Mike Lemieux? History buff is crazy about old houses

'Help! I Wrecked My House' Season 2: Release date, spoilers, and all about HGTV show

'Houses with History' is an up-and-coming home renovation series, based out of Plymouth in Massachusetts. This house transformational series looks at houses and barns built by early Americans in the New World. For this, the producers research fascinating backstories of America's oldest houses. 

Mike and Rich finally take a call and decide on the Barnstable House, which is a little rustic cottage type of house, that was built in 1800. In 1630, West Barnstable was a popular port town for trading, and people would come here to sell fish oysters, and all kinds of agriculture. 

The Barnstable House is quite cozy and adorable at first glance. Mike points out that the builders put a lot of thought into it, as the roof was slanted; to have the snow slide off easily. Moreover, there was a perfectly built chimney, to keep the inside of the house warm enough for a fireplace. There was also a completely shattered wall on the inside, left for them to fix, it seemed like! 

A still from 'Houses with History' (HGTV)

Having said that, they noticed that the outside of the house needed some serious repair work since the cedar shingles were literally falling apart.

Mike and Rich talk to Jen about their plan, after which they get to work. The team decided to tear down and remove a wall in the kitchen so that there's more space for a nice bar area and will give the kitchen a dining space as well.  

A still from 'Houses with History' (HGTV)

Here's a clip from Jen's Instagram of the Barnstable House.



 

'Houses with History' airs every Wednesday, at 9 pm ET/PT on HGTV.

GET THE BIGGEST ENTERTAINMENT STORIES
STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX.

MORE STORIES

Dexter’s next target could be much younger than the serial killers he has faced before
2026-11-14T07:37:35.000Z
Showrunner reveals whether Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson will cross paths again in Season 28
2026-11-14T07:25:13.000Z
The latest episode of ‘Fire Country’ features Mason helping developers bring data centers into Edgewater
2026-11-14T06:34:18.000Z
The two returning dramas have new cases waiting for their main characters this Sunday
2026-11-14T05:54:18.000Z
Boone and Mickey's relationship gets complicated with Emmy's arrival in 'Sheriff Country'
2026-11-14T04:43:33.000Z
Benson reunites with the detective as the SVU squad investigates an assault involving a police officer
2026-11-14T04:25:17.000Z
Chris Colfer has opened up about a possible return to the world of 'Glee', sharing early ideas about Kurt Hummel's future
2026-11-14T03:27:07.000Z
With Season 8 set to premiere in 2027, the Netflix drama has already secured another chapter, with its first seven seasons already attracting more than 500 million views worldwide
2026-11-13T15:48:34.000Z
Ewan McGregor joins Claire Danes in the A24 thriller, which also stars Daveed Diggs and explores how a suspected hit-and-run threatens a marriage
2026-11-13T12:59:20.000Z
‘Happy’s Place’ Season 3 casts ‘Desperate Housewives’ star James Denton as Reba McEntire’s new love interest
2026-11-13T08:12:36.000Z