Category: Marblehead

Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead (1911)

by Dan//Churches, Colonial Revival, Marblehead

In 1716, parishioners of Marblehead’s Congregational Church who favored the liberal minister, Rev. Edward Holyoke, broke away to form the town’s Second Congregational Church. A church was soon built on New Meetinghouse Lane, now called Mugford Street. The church embraced Unitarianism in 1820, under the leadership of Rev. John Bartlett. A new church was built in 1831-1832, but it was destroyed in a fire in 1910. The current gambrel-roofed Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead was built in 1911 and was expanded to the rear in the 1960s, after the ancient graves immediately behind the church had been moved to new locations in the old graveyard.

Mugford Building (1880)

by Dan//Commercial, Marblehead, Organizations, Queen Anne

Captain James Mugford of the Continental Navy is a Marblehead hero of the American Revolution. The Mugford Association, named in honor of Capt. Mugford, built the prominent Mugford Building, on Washington Street in Marblehead, in 1880. The Association met in a hall on the second story, while the lower level of the building was used for commercial space. The Association disbanded in 1943 and the building has since had other owners. This Marblehead landmark continues to house retail shops.

Capt. Evans House (1730)

by Dan//Colonial, Houses, Marblehead

On State Street in Marblehead is a house built around 1730 for Samuel Nichols of Reading, a bricklayer. The house was later owned by Capt. Samuel Hooper, a ship-master and merchant. The house is traditionally called the Capt. Evans House, for Capt. Ebenezer Giles Evans, a noted Sea Captain. According to Old Marblehead Sea Captains and the Ships in Which They Sailed (1915), “Capt. Evans was lost in the “Corinna” on his passage from Cape Haytien to Boston in 1825.”

Isaac Mansfield House (1721)

by Dan//Colonial, Houses, Marblehead

Isaac Mansfield was a joiner who built his home in Marblehead in 1721. He may be the same person as Capt. Isaac Mansfield (born 1695 and died 1760) [there was also an Isaac Mansfield, Esq., born in 1722, and another Capt. Isaac Mansfield, born in 1750]. The house was rebuilt in 1810 by housewrights John & Eben Harris. Built on Mechanic Street, which was then a cow path leading to Brimblecomb Hill, the house is now the Brimblecomb Hill Bed & Breakfast.

Old North Congregational Church, Marblehead (1825)

by Dan//Churches, Federal, Marblehead

Marblehead’s first meeting house was built in 1648, when the town was still part of Salem. In 1684, the church in Marblehead became separate from the First Church in Salem. In 1695, the original wood meeting house on Old Burial Hill was replaced by a new building on Franklin Street. A lot was purchased on Washington Street in 1821 and the current stone church building was constructed in 1824-1825. It is known as Old North Congregational Church because a separate second congregation was later formed to the south. The church originally had brown ashlar walls on all four sides, but the granite front facade was added later. The church has a golden cod weather vane. In 1969, the church’s silver, including a baptismal bowl made by Paul Revere, was stolen and eventually returned upon payment of ransom money.

William Goodwin House (1808)

by Dan//Federal, Houses, Marblehead

The William Goodwin House, a Federal-style residence built in 1808, is located at the intersection of Pearl and Washington streets in Marblehead. William Goodwin was a carpenter and the house was divided among his heirs after his death, remaining in the family for a century. For many years, the house’s first floor was used as a store. In more recent times, the house was renovated and made into a two family house.

Old Brick Path (1729)

by Dan//Colonial, Houses, Marblehead

The Old Brick Path is the traditional name of an historic eighteenth-century house in Marblehead, which for many years in modern times contained a gift shop called the Brick Path. Built in 1729, it is one of the few brick colonial houses in town. It was the home and shop of Thomas Robie, a loyalist merchant, who held secret Tory meetings there during the Revolution. Robie was eventually forced to flee with his family to Nova Scotia in 1777. As explained by Samuel Roads, Jr. in his History and Traditions of Marblehead (1880):

In later years the house became the residence of Major Joseph W. Green, who for nearly thirty years was one of the most enterprising merchants in the town. A few years after the close of the War of 1812, he engaged in business with Benjamin Porter, under the firm name of Porter & Green. In a short time this firm employed fourteen vessels in the fishing trade, besides brigs and packets which were sent to New York and the West Indies. Their wharves and ware-rooms were filled with every commodity used in fitting out vessels for sea, and it is said that at one time they furnished seventy-five vessels with stores, anchors, cables, wood, and supplies of every kind necessary for a long voyage to the Banks. Through the influence of Major Green, the Grand Bank was established, and he was its first president