The historic Governor Levi Woodbury house at 1 Main Street in Francestown was destroyed in a five-alarm fire during Sunday’s heavy snowfall.
No major injuries were reported in the fire.
Francestown Fire Chief Larry Kullgren said the home, built in 1787, was a total loss.
“We first received an alarm call at 1:03 p.m. on Sunday, and we were on the scene in five minutes. We worked on fire suppression for over 12 hours. Francestown was assisted by multiple towns around the region, and we were on the scene until 2:30 in the morning,” Kullgren said.
Peterborough Ambulance transported one Francestown firefighter to Monadnock Community Hospital as a precautionary measure.
“The firefighter was not feeling well after being at the scene, and he was evaluated and kept overnight,” Kullgren said.
According to Kullgren, a heating unit in the basement may have been the cause of the fire.
Fire departments from Francestown, Greenfield, New Boston, Antrim, Bennington, Hancock, Lyndeborough, Peterborough, Temple, Hillsborough, Henniker, Mont Vernon, Dublin, Deering, Goffstown and the Concord area responded to the scene.
The Goffstown, Mont Vernon, Weare, and Greenfield fire departments sent tankers to the scene, and both Peterborough and Hillsborough sent ladder trucks. The Bradford Fire Department sent a mobile cascade unit, which provides breathing equipment for firefighters and first responders.
Kullgren said the homeowners, Bob and Judy Bitterli, and another family member, quickly left the property after becoming aware of the fire.
“The owners were home at the time. They were able to safely remove themselves and their dog from the home,” Kullgren said.
Kullgren said when he arrived at the scene, he could see flames and heavy smoke pouring from two windows in the front of the home and quickly upgraded the fire to multiple alarm.
“With the extreme temperatures and the heavy fire load and the fact that it was actively snowing, the road conditions deteriorated rapidly, and we also had two motor vehicle accidents within 20 minutes of responding to the fire,” Kullgren said. “We had a driver slide into a ditch, and we had a collision.”
Neither car accident caused injuries.
Kullgren confirmed that the presence of lithium batteries in the basement was a factor in fire suppression but was not linked to the origin of the fire.
Main Street in Francestown, including the intersection of state routes 136 and 47, was closed for several hours as crews from 16 towns battled the fire. Sgt. Mike Eneguess of the Greenfield Police Department directed traffic, and skiers returning from Crotched Ski and Ride late in the day were diverted around the center of town.
The Bitterlis, who operate Bob’s Chocolate Café out of the property’s barn, were able to shelter in the cafe. The cafe also provided respite to firefighters, who worked in single-digit temperatures and heavy snowfall throughout the day.
The historic barn, which is not attached to the house, was unharmed.
The Bitterlis bought the Levi Woodbury estate home in 2022 and did extensive repairs and renovations on the home as well as to the barn. The family opened Bob’s Chocolate Cafe in 2024.
The house, which had been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2007, was the birthplace of Levi Woodbury, who served as Governor of NH from 1823-1824 and as a U.S. Senator from 1825-1831 under President Andrew Jackson. The house remained in the Woodbury family until the 1960s.