Category: Federal

Emily Dickinson Homestead (1813)

by Dan//Amherst, Federal, Houses

The Emily Dickinson Homestead in Amherst was built in 1813 for Samuel Fowler Dickinson, a lawyer and a principal founder of Amherst College, and his wife Lucretia Gunn Dickinson. Pledging his personal property in support of educational endeavors eventually left Samuel Fowler Dickinson bankrupt. In 1833 he sold the house and later moved to Ohio. David Mack, owner of a general store, purchased the house, but Dickinson’s son, Edward, purchased half the house and lived there until 1840 with his wife, Emily Norcross Dickinson, and their children. After living in another house on Pleasant Street (no longer standing), Edward Dickinson purchased the entire Homestead and moved back in with his family in 1855. He soon made improvements, building a rear addition, a veranda on the west side and a conservatory. He also added the distinctive cupola to the roof. Edward also built a house, the Evergreens, next door for his son, William Austin Dickinson, in 1856. His unmarried daughters, Emily and Lavinia, lived in the house after the deaths of their parents. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), who had been born in the house, had her most productive period as a poet there between 1858 and 1865. After Lavinia’s death in 1899, the house passed to her niece, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, who leased it to tenants. From 1916 to 1965, the Homestead was owned by the Parke family, who then sold it to Amherst College. Opened for tours, the Homstead later joined with the Evergreens to form the Emily Dickinson Museum in 2003. The Emily Dickinson Homestead was painted in its original late-nineteenth-century colors in 2004.

Peirce-Nichols House (1792)

by Dan//Federal, Houses, Salem

Another renowned three-story residence in Salem is the Peirce-Nichols House, a transitional Georgian/Federal structure at 80 Federal Street. The work of Samuel McIntire, the house was constructed in the Georgian style in 1792, with McIntire also remodeling several interior rooms in the Federal style in 1801. It was built for Jerathmiel Peirce, partner of Aaron Waite in the merchant firm of Peirce and Waite, owners of the East Indiaman Friendship. Behind the house and its stables, a terraced lawn extends back to a small arbor. The property originally extended to the North River, where Capt. Peirce docked his ships. The 1801 remodeling of the house was occasioned by the marriage of Sarah Peirce to George Nichols. At that time, McIntire also crafted the front fence, which has decorative urns. The house passed to John H. Johonnot in 1827, but it was inherited by George Nichols in 1840. The Essex Institute (now the Peabody Essex Museum) purchased the house by subscription in 1917.

Andrew-Safford House (1818)

by Dan//Federal, Houses, Salem

Impressively sited on the west side of Salem Common (though often obscured by tour buses!) is the Andrew-Safford House, built in 1818-1819. Regarded as one of New England’s great Federal-era houses, it was built for John Andrew, a wealthy merchant of Russian furs. In the 1860s, the house was owned by the Smith and Creamer families and in 1871 was purchased by John Osborne Safford, a leather merchant. His family gave the home to Essex Institute, now the Peabody Essex Museum, in 1947. Since the picture above obscures the house’s striking Federal entryway, click below to see an image of it… Continue reading “Andrew-Safford House (1818)”

Cooley-Eveleth House (1827)

by Dan//Federal, Houses, Longmeadow

After his first home in Longmeadow burned, Calvin Cooley built a new brick house on the same site, 418 Longmeadow Street, in 1827. Calvin Cooley’s eldest son, James, became a lawyer and in 1826 was sent by Henry Clay, president John Quincy Adams’ Secretary of State, to Lima, Peru as charge d’affaires, where he died several months later. Another son, Alford Cooley, married Caroline Bliss Saxton Cooley in 1833. Their daughter, Caroline L. Cooley Eveleth, later lived in the house with her husband. The Cooley-Eveleth House has a rear wing added in the 1930s.

Lewis Hayden House (1833)

by Dan//Boston, Federal, Houses

Lewis Hayden escaped from slavery in Kentucky in 1844 on the Underground Railroad and later settled in Boston, where he owned a used clothing store and became a leading abolitionist. He moved into his house, built in 1833 at 66 Philips Street (then called Southac Street) on Boston’s Beacon Hill, in 1849. With the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, Hayden and his wife Harriet hid fugitive slaves in their home. In 1853, abolitionist Francis Jackson purchased the house, which Hayden occupied as a tenant, to help protect him from harassment for his Underground Railroad activities. Jackson’s estate sold the house to Hayden’s wife in 1865. This important house is a stop on the Black Heritage Trail.

Assembly House, Salem (1782)

by Dan//Federal, Houses, Salem

In 1782, Salem Federalists erected the Assembly House, also known as the Cotting-Smith Assembly House, at 138 Federal Street to serve as a gathering place for social and cultural events. Lafayette and Washington were both entertained there in the 1780s. The original building was most likely quite plain, but it was significantly altered around 1798 by Samuel McIntire, who added elaborate Federal style ornamentation to the front facade. By that time, the building had ceased to be used as an assembly place and was converted into a residence. Jonathan Waldo, an original funder of the Assembly House, had become sole owner in 1796 and sold it to Samuel Putnam, a local judge, two years later. Around that time, Waldo and his partners, William Stearns and Col. William Pickering, built the Stearns Block on Washington Street, which included their own new assembly space called Washington Hall, intended to supercede the Assembly House. In 1919, the Old Assembly House was acquired by Joseph Newton Smith, whose daughter, Mary Silver Smith, gave the house to the Essex Institute, now the Peabody Essex Museum, in 1965. Continue reading “Assembly House, Salem (1782)”

Glover-Cook-Chapman House (1799)

by Dan//Federal, Houses, Salem

The Glover-Cook-Chapman House, at 101-103 Federal Street in Salem, had many owners over the years. It was built in 1799 or earlier and its first owner was Ichabod Glover. This could be the same Ichabod Glover and house referred to in the following entry, dated April 29, 1802, from the Diary of William Bentley,

Curious incident happened yesterday. As a Company were attending a vendue of the goods of Ichabod Glover, lately deceased, in the chamber of the dwelling house of the deceased which was partly new, but not finished, the floor gave way, & the whole company of forty persons with the furniture & articles for sale fell down together. No person was killed, several were wounded, many bruised & all frightened. The House is in Federal street.

The house was later owned by merchant Samuel Cook, cabinetmaker John Jewett, and next by schoolteacher Rebecca Thayer and printer John Chapman, a publisher of the Salem Register. From 1874, it was home to Benjamin Shreve and his heirs.