This 18th-century home in South Kingstown has original colonial woodwork, 7.63 acres of land, a detached in-law cottage, beautiful views of Potter’s Pond from its outdoor decks — and a whiff of scandal from the distant past.

The three-bedroom home at 2236 Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry Highway, also known as Route 1, is being sold by owner, Roy Dubs, one of the co-founders of Ocean State Job Lot, who is now retired. The asking price is $1.75 million.

Dubs said the house was built in 1740 by John Potter, who became notorious as a pre-revolutionary counterfeiter. According to the book Counterfeiting in Colonial America, by Kenneth Scott, originally published in 1957 and reissued in paperback in 2000, Potter and a gang of associates printed and distributed spurious 20-shilling notes in colonial Rhode Island. Scott wrote that Potter pleaded no contest to five indictments in 1742. Rather than stand in the pillory and have his ears cropped, Potter agreed to pay a 10,000 pound fine, using gold dust as payment. How Potter came by that amount of gold dust, Scott wrote, is a mystery.

“He was a rogue,” Dubs said.

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The house is listed in the South Kingstown survey published by the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission in 1984, where the date of construction for the house is listed as circa 1730s. According to the commission, the house became dilapidated during the early 20th century and was restored after 1945, a project that involved some structural changes. The survey noted the home’s “outstanding site” on Potter’s Pond and fine 18th-century woodwork, some original to the Potter house and some taken from a house in Newport..

Dubs said he bought the house as an investment five years ago. “I love the house, I love the history.… It’s just a magnificent place.” Dubs, who owns other property in South County, said he’s selling because he wants to simplify his life a little. Dubs said he is now renting the house to friends.

The home is reached by a long driveway off Route 1, between the Matunuck and East Matunuck exits. A wide hallway runs the length of the home, with raised wooden paneling along the walls and a fireplace surrounded by original Delft tiles. The house has seven working fireplaces, including a tiny “footman’s fireplace” located in a closet-like space between two of the large rooms on the first floor, designed to keep one of the servants warm. There’s a fireplace in the basement that Dubs believes was originally used for cooking.

The first floor includes two big rooms, with fireplaces and wood paneling. Right now, one of the rooms is being used as a meditation area; another, with the walls painted a deep green, is a library/office. Details in the latter room include an alcove in the wall, designed for shelving, with a hand-carved scallop-shell motif at the top. Floors are made of wide pine boards, with the original square-headed nails that were forged during the colonial period.

At the rear of the house is a deck overlooking a tract of grassy land, part of the property that goes all the way to the north shore of Potter’s Pond. Dubs cut a walking path through the grass that leads to a dock that juts out into the pond.

A portion of the first floor in the Potter House has been updated, notably an eat-in kitchen, with gleaming appliances and granite counter tops. Going into the kitchen from the rest of the house is like walking from one century to another. Besides the kitchen, the renovated area also a bathroom and small bedroom, which still retains one of the old chandeliers. A separate deck overlooking the pond — Dubs calls it “the breakfast deck” — can be reached through a set of doors in the kitchen.

The second floor of the house consists of two adjacent bedrooms, with massive wooden beams overhead. Unlike many colonial houses, the upstairs bedrooms include some built-in closet space. At each end of the upstairs corridor are small bathrooms both of which are in need of some renovation. The wide stairway between the first and second floors is notable for the elaborate carved posts supporting the railing.

The property also has a separate two-car garage and a detached in-law cottage, which also has its own deck. The cottage includes a first-floor living room, a “half kitchen” (refrigerator and sink but no stove) and a loft bedroom reached via ladder.

Dubs said he had just finished installing a new roof on the house and is in the process of replacing the cedar shingles on the exterior walls.

The John Potter House, an 18th-century colonial at 2236 Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry Highway, South Kingstown, is for sale at $1.75 million. The house has three bedrooms and 2,805 feet of living space, plus one bedroom and 600 feet of living space in an adjacent in-law cottage. There are 7.63 acres of land, views of Potter’s Pond and a dock. Taxes were $16,989 last year. It has oil heat. The listing agent is W. Michael McKenna, of White Rose Real Estate, (401) 480-2949, m2ck@verizon.net.How to submit a House of the Week

A different House of the Week appears each Saturday in the projoHomes section of The Providence Journal. The feature tells the story of the house and the people who have lived in it. If you would like us to consider a house for sale as a subject of this news feature, send a photo, information about the house and why it is of interest, to Christine Dunn or Andy Smith,

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