Silas King House (1780)
At 150 Main Street in Westfield is a colonial house, built c. 1780 for Silas King by his father Aaron, who lived across the street. In 1780, Silas King married Sally Eager Noble. Continue reading “Silas King House (1780)”
At 150 Main Street in Westfield is a colonial house, built c. 1780 for Silas King by his father Aaron, who lived across the street. In 1780, Silas King married Sally Eager Noble. Continue reading “Silas King House (1780)”
The Pickman-Loring-Emmerton House, at 328 Essex Street in Salem, was built in 1818 as a Federal style house. In the mid-nineteenth century, it was the residence of George B. Loring (1817-1891), who served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1877-1881), as United States Commissioner of Agriculture (1881-1885) and as Minister to Portugal (1889-1890). The house was later owned by George R. Emmerton, a merchant and president of the Merchant’s National Bank. In 1885, he hired architect Arthur Little to expand and remodel the house in the Colonial Revival style. Emmerton was the father of Caroline O. Emmerton, the philanthropist and preservationist who established the House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association.
Built c. 1757, the Thomas Smith House stands at 251 North West Street in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam. Thomas Smith was born in Suffield (now in Connecticut, but then in Massachusetts) in 1725, married Esther Ball in 1755, and died in 1814. The house, previously known as the Matthew Noble House (Noble, one of Agawam’s earliest settlers, first owned the land on which the house was built), was purchased by the Agawam Historical Association in 2002. Remarkable for the fact that it has not been significantly altered since it built, the Association has restored (pdf) the the house with funding from the Agawam Community Preservation Act. It is now a living history house museum.
The Charles H. Odell House is a Queen Anne residence at 24 ½ Winter Street in Salem. This Charles H. Odell, described as an auctioneer and real estate insurance agent, may or may not be the same Capt. Charles H. Odell who was Collector at the Salem Custom House (1873-1875) and later Mayor of Beverly in 1896.
Thought to have been built sometime between 1744 and 1748, the Cabot-Endicott-Low House, at 365 Essex Street in Salem, is an important example of a high-style gambrel roof Georgian colonial residence. The house was built for Joseph Cabot, a merchant, and remained in his family until purchased by William C. Endicott in 1870. Endicott was a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1873-1882) and Secretary of War under Grover Cleveland (1885-1889). His daughter, Mary, married British prime minister Joseph Chamberlain in 1888. Endicott‘s friend, merchant and silversmith Daniel Low, owned the house from 1894 to 1919. Continue reading “Cabot-Endicott-Low House (1744)”
The Forrester-Peabody House, on Washington Square North, bordering Salem Common, is an ornate Federal mansion built in 1818-1819 for John Forrester, son of the merchant, Simon Forrester. The Mason-Roberts-Colby House is believed to have originally stood on the site until it was moved to Federal Street by a team of sixty oxen. In 1834, the Forrester House was purchased by Col. George Peabody, son of Capt. Joseph Peabody, who added a one-story ballroom wing. Peabody lived in the house until 1892 and the building later housed the Salem Club, a men’s social organization, and then the Bertram Home for Aged Men, which had been founded by the wealthy merchant and philanthropist, Captain John Bertram, in 1877. The building, also known as the Bertram House, was restored in 1989 and reopened in 1990 as an assisted living facility for both men and women.
The Thomas Bliss II House in Longmeadow was built around 1717. In 1758, the house was converted into a tavern by Nathaniel Ely and served in that capacity until 1833. The house originally stood across Longmeadow Green from its current location. It was moved in 1855 to make way for the construction of Nathaniel Ely’s new mansion. Later in the nineteenth century, the house was lived in by Dr. Lester Noble, a dentist. He had a very interesting career, playing an important role in the famous Parkman Murder Trial. As described in “Our county and its people”: A history of Hampden County, Vol. I (1902), edited by Alfred Minott Copeland: Continue reading “Thomas Bliss II House (1717)”