PRESQUE ISLE — The head of a local historical society said Monday that he cannot believe someone stole valuable multicolored antique peonies from a 1917-era home the organization preserves.
Craig Green, president of the Presque Isle Historical Society, said the 100-year-old double peonies are valued at between $500 and $1,000 because of their age.
Local police said Monday that they still have no suspects in the case involving eight to 10 of the flowers that were dug up outside the historic Vera Estey House on Third Street sometime in the last two weeks ago.
The theft was not noticed until July 3, as the house is not open regularly and only offers one-hour tours six times each year, according to Green.
The investigation remains ongoing, but there are no leads, according to Presque Isle Police Sgt. Eric Erickson.
The home and its contents from the early to mid-1900s are preserved to give visitors a chance to experience what life was like during that era, according to the historical society’s website. Vera Estey willed the home to the Presque Isle Historical Society with an endowment fund to help with upkeep and ongoing preservation projects at the site.
The property contains a small period perennial garden.
Green said Monday that a theft has never occurred at the house before, although a troubling incident that does give him pause now had occurred there last fall.
“We had a gentleman working for us and while he was doing so, he saw a woman trying to dig up some tulips from our garden,” he said. “He stopped her and sent her on her way. I am wondering now if it was the same person.”
Presque Isle police Detective Bill Scull, who is investigating the case, said the flowers were dug out of the ground instead of pulled from it. He said he was not sure if someone could know the age or value of the flowers just by looking at them.
Green said the theft was especially disheartening because the facility was in the process of redeveloping the grounds in order to host garden weddings there. They had brought in fresh loam last summer to better landscape the area and planned to add benches to make it a nicer place to sit.
“Now, all of the double peonies are gone,” he said. “There is one single peony left. Those were some of Vera Estey’s original flowers, the ones that she used to make a living by selling them at the fresh flower market in Boston. To have some of our nicest, showiest flowers stolen is a big deal.”
Green also said now that someone has dug up the antique peonies and disturbed the roots, it is unlikely they will bloom again for years once replanted.
“It could take years for them to reproduce again,” he said. “I had an experience where it took 10 years for peonies to bloom again after the roots were disturbed. If we got them back and replanted them, we might not even be able to get them to bloom again next year.”
