The house at 19 Circle Street in Marblehead, built before 1808 and perhaps as early as 1758, is famous for being the home of Benjamin “Flood” Ireson, subject of the 1857 poem, “Skipper Ireson’s Ride,” by John Greenleaf Whittier. Captain Ireson, of the fishing vessel Betty, had supposedly refused to assist the sinking schooner Active during a gale in 1808. In retribution, a group of sailors and boys had tarred and feathered him. Whittier later heard the story, by which time the name of the captain had been corrupted to “Floyd Ireson” and he elaborated the story so that the tarring and feathering was perpetrated by the women of Marblehead. In his book, The History and Traditions of Marblehead (1881), author Samuel Roads defended Ireson, who had actually been innocent of the crime for which he was tarred and feathered. Whittier sent a letter to Roads expressing that he was pleased the true facts had come out, but the poem’s success perpetuated the Whittier version in the public imagination. The Ireson House would remain a notable Marblehead landmark and be the subject of postcards well into the twentieth century.