From a Christmas post card.
Courtesy of Dede Sawyer BaileyAddress: Burned February 6, 1978
Old Address: Easy Street
Other names: Jute King home, Helms home
Year built: c. 1900
Other information: Built by B. A. Muncil and owned by John and Marian Helms.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, February 3, 1978
Fire destroys Gabriels Home
GABRIELS — Pine Haven, the large, two-story home here of John and Marion Helms, was burned to the ground last night. The Helms also lost their 1977 Dodge Aspen, which was in the two-car garage that was part of the house, and all of their possessions, which are said to have included some antiques.
The Helms home, next to the Red Mill Resturant, was engulfed in flames when the Bloomingdale Fire Department reached it. The fire call came in at about 1 a.m., and 25 firemen responded, taking two trucks. They returned to the station at about 4:30.
The firemen said they were told that Mr. Helms had discovered fire in the electric system in the basement and had put it out with an extinguisher. However, the fire flared up again and the firemen say they were told that Mr. Helms returned to the basement and found it full of smoke.
One of the Helm's neighbors, Molly Hyde, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise correspondent, said she woke about 1:30 a.m. and found her electric power was off, and then noticed the sky and snow around her house appeared to be orange colored.
She ran to a window facing the Helms home and saw flames towering over the huge pine trees on the property, but could not see the house for the fire.
The wind was low, sending the flames directly upward, but nevertheless, cinders rained on her property, she said.
In about 20 minutes the flames died down, and Mrs. Hyde saw the second story cave in. The only thing Mrs. Hyde could see this morning was “the beautiful, huge fireplace,” left standing.
It was 30 degrees below zero at the time, and firemen reportedly had some trouble with a valve freezing.
Pine Haven was one of the older homes in Gabriels, built in the first years of this century, along with other homes in Gabriels, by B.A. Muncil. It is mentioned in “Brighton Story” a history of the town-by Geraldine Collins.
The Helms have many relatives in the area, including daughters, and it is believed that they are staying with one of them.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, February 6, 1978
Helms home
A beautiful old landmark at the top of Easy Street will be missed by local residents and summer folk alike. The home of John and Marion Helms burned to the ground test Thursday night on one of the coldest nights so far this winter. Bloomingdale firemen were fast to the scene but the building was engulfed entirely in flame even before next door neighbor Harold Martin could get there.
The house was among the many in the Paul Smiths area constructed from about 1890 to 1910 by B. A. Muncil. In the book, The Brighton Story, by Brighton town historian Geraldine Collins, she wrote that Jute King lived there in the early 1900s and ran a meat market from a building behind his home. According to a May 18, 1913, article Mrs. Collins found in the Saranac Lake Enterprise, "Jute Q. King completed a very fine country home of fourteen rooms with hot water heat ,and a cobblestone fireplace." Today all that remains is the fireplace.
The house, known as Pine Haven, had been used as tourist accommodations for many years by the Helms and previous owners.
The Helms are presently staying with Mrs. Helm's brother, Herb Fountain, until they move into the camp belonging to their son-in-law Dick Trudeau in Saranac Lake.
