Tag: Museum

Sheldon-Hawks House (1754)

by Dan//Colonial, Deerfield, Houses

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The John Sheldon House, also known as the Sheldon-Hawks House, on the Street in Deerfield, was built perhaps as early as 1743, but more likely in the period from 1754-1757. Built by John Sheldon, the grandson of Ensign John Sheldon. it was occupied by three generations of the Sheldons, a farming family. In 1802, a single-story ell was added to the rear. The house was the birthplace of George Sheldon, an early preservationist, who wrote A History of Deerfield and founded the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Society. George Sheldon inherited the house in 1860 and in 1871, his daughter, Susan Arabella, moved in with her husband, Edward A. Hawks. After Edward’s death in 1925, it was inherited by their daughter, Susan Belle Hawks, who ran The Old Homestead Antiques Shop from her home. It was acquired in 1946 by Henry and Helen Flynt, the founders Historic Deerfield, and is open for self-guided tours.

Faneuil Hall (1742)

by Dan//Boston, Colonial, Public Buildings

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Peter Faneuil was a Boston merchant whose parents were Huguenots. In 1740, he proposed donating a market building to the town, with a marketplace below and a public meeting hall above. The original Faneuil Hall, completed in 1742, was designed by the Scottish artist John Smibert. After the building suffered in a fire in 1761, it was rebuilt the following year. The building now entered the period when it would become known as “The Cradle of Liberty.” James Otis dedicated the meeting room to the “Cause of Liberty” and it was here that the many important gatherings protesting British taxes on the colonies were held, under the leadership of such patriots as Samuel Adams and John Hancock. After the Boston Tea Party, the British closed the building to public meetings and it was used to garrison soldiers.

After the Revolutionary War, Faneuil Hall was rebuilt and enlarged in 1806 by Charles Bulfinch, who retained its colonial style, but increased its width, added a third floor and enclosed the ground floor’s open market arcades. He also added galleries to the meeting hall, which, as Peter Faneuil had requested, has continued to be used for public forums. Over the years it has heard abolitionists, suffragists and political candidates. The third floor, now a museum, is the armory of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, the oldest military organization in the United States which has had its headquarters in Faneuil Hall since 1746. Faneuil Hall also has a distinctive copper gilt Grasshopper weather vane, made by the artisan Shem Drowne. It was stolen, but found a few days later in 1974. In 1898-1899, the building was rebuilt using noncombustible materials. Faneuil Hall, together with the neighboring Quincy Market, is now part of the Faneuil Hall Marketplace. It is also on Boston’s Freedom Trail.

Old State House (1713)

by Dan//Boston, Colonial, Public Buildings

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Since the 1630s, what would become the site of the Old State House in Boston was where the Puritans’ stocks and whipping posts were located and where the town’s earliest market was held. A wood Town House was built there in 1657, which had an open air market on the ground floor and a meeting place above. After this structure burned down in 1711, a new brick one was built in 1713, although the interior was gutted by fire in 1747 and had to be restored afterwards. This historic structure at the head of State Street, which became the seat of British Royal government in Massachusetts, was the site of many significant events: James Otis‘ speech against the writs of assistance in 1761; the March 5, 1770 Boston Massacre, which occurred just in front of the building; the first reading for Bostonians of the Declaration of Independence by Col. Thomas Crafts from the east balcony on July 18, 1776 (at which time the people torn down from the building the original royal lion and unicorn to be consigned to a bonfire); and the 1789 visit of President George Washington. After the Revolutionary War, it continued to serve as the State House until 1798, when it was given to the town in exchange for a new State House site on Beacon Hill. In 1830, it was altered by architect Isaiah Rogers in the Classical Revival style to serve as a City Hall until 1841. After that, it began a long decline. Housing offices and shops, the exterior was covered with advertisements. There were thoughts of demolishing it to widen the street and Chicagoans even offered to move it to Illinois! In 1882, it was eventually restored (with replicas of the old lion and unicorn) and rededicated as a museum, run by the Bostonian Society. A more recent restoration was completed by Goody, Clancy & Associates in 1991. The building is part of the Boston Freedom Trail. See below for more pictures of the Old State House:

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Nathaniel Hawthorne Birthplace (1730)

by Dan//Colonial, Houses, Salem

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The house in which the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, was born on July 4, 1804 and lived in until he was age 4 is located in Salem. It was originally on Union Street, but in 1958 it was moved to a site adjacent to the House of the Seven Gables, the building that would inspire Hawthorne to write the novel of the same name. The house was built between 1730 and 1745 for Joshua Pickman, a Boston mariner. It was bought by Hawthorne’s grandfather, the famous shipmaster Captain Daniel Hawthorne, in 1772. As part of the House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association property, the house is now a museum open to visitors.

55-57 Mount Vernon Street, Boston (1804)

by Dan//Boston, Federal, Greek Revival, Houses

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Left: 59 Mt. Vernon St.; Center: 57 Mt. Vernon St.;
Right: Nichols House Museum (55 Mt. Vernon St.);

Jonathan Mason, one of the Mount Vernon Proprietors (the group of real estate speculators who developed Boston’s Beacon Hill), commissioned the architect Charles Bulfinch to design a row of four houses (51-57 Mt. Vernon St.) for his daughters. Originally constructed in 1804, Nos. 55 & 57 both had side entrances on their west elevations, facing Mason’s mansion, which is no longer standing. In 1837, No. 59 (designed by Edward Shaw) was built to the west, blocking the entrance to No. 57, which was consequently moved to its current location on the front facade, facing Mt. Vernon St. Nos. 55-57 have had some notable residents.

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Josiah Dwight House (1725)

by Dan//Colonial, Deerfield, Houses

Originally built on Main Street in Springfield between 1722 and 1733 by David Ingersoll, the Dwight House was bought in 1743 by Josiah Dwight, who added a Connecticut River Valley Broken Scroll doorway, window pediments and a gambrel roof in the 1750s. Used as a rooming house in the later nineteenth century, the building was moved to Howard Street in 1884. In the early twentieth century, its original doorway pediment was purchased by Henry du Pont for his Long Island summer house (it was later moved to Winterthur). In 1950, when the house was facing demolition, it was purchased by Henry and Helen Flint for Historic Deerfield and stored until a location on the Street in Deerfield could be found. The Italianate-style Josiah Fogg House of 1868 was then demolished to make room for a restored Dwight House, complete with a reproduction of the original doorway pediment. Opened to the public in 1954, the Dwight House was originally interpreted as a the home of a doctor (complete with doctor’s office). It now presents the two contrasting interior decorative styles of Boston and the Connecticut River Valley on either side of the house. Continue reading “Josiah Dwight House (1725)”

Orchard House (1675)

by Dan//Colonial, Concord, Houses

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Orchard House is a home that many visitors feel they know before they even visit it. In 1857-8, Bronson Alcott, the Transcendentalist reformer and educator, purchased and combined two early eighteenth century houses, adding the smaller of the two to the rear of the main house and making many alterations to his new home. He named it “Orchard House” due to the property’s 12 acres of apple orchards. Alcott and his family made Orchard House their permanent home from 1858 to 1877. The house owes its greatest fame to fact that it was here, in 1868, that Bronson’s daughter, Louisa May Alcott, wrote the classic Little Women, loosely based on her own family. The house is now a museum, where visitors can learn about Alcott and see the room where Louisa wrote the famous book.