Historic Deerfield – Page 2 – Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Rev. Jonathan Ashley House (1734)

by Dan/November 22, 2008September 17, 2016/Colonial, Deerfield, Houses

Rev. Jonathan Ashley was the second minister in Deerfield, serving from 1712 to 1780. He married Dorothy Williams, the daughter of the Rev. William Williams of Hatfield. Given a home lot in town, he constructed his house around 1734. Originally having a center chimney, the house was modified by Ashley in the 1750s into a center hallway home with a distinctive Connecticut River Valley doorway. As one of the elite Valley citizens known as “River Gods,” Ashley installed fine paneling in his home and furnished it with high style furniture. By the twentieth century, the house had been moved back on the lot and replaced with a nineteenth century Italianate style house. The former “mansion house” was now used as a tobacco barn. It was restored (the current doorway is a reproduction) and moved back to a position in the Street by the founders of Historic Deerfield, Henry and Helen Flynt. In 1948, the house became their first restoration opened to the public. It currently houses an extensive collection of Connecticut River Valley antiques.

Wilson Printing Office (1816)

by Dan/November 21, 2008/Commercial, Deerfield, Federal

The Wilson Printing Office, in Old Deerfield, was originally built in 1816 by Col. John Wilson (1782-1869) on the lot of his father-in-law, Horatio Hoyt. In the building, he printed broadsides and reprints of popular works. Wilson also printed works by his brother-in-law, Rudolphus Dickinson, a minister and his partner at the press before 1820. In later years, the building would be moved five times within Deerfield until 1951, when Henry Flynt restored the building to its original site to become part of Historic Deerfield. In restoring the structure, Flynt referred to an 1820 sketch by Wilson’s daughter, Mary Hoyt Wilson (1809-1841).

Wells-Thorn House (1747)

by Dan/October 7, 2008September 17, 2016/Colonial, Deerfield, Houses

The Wells-Thorn House is one of the museum houses of Historic Deerfield. The oldest section of the house was built between 1717 and 1720 by Ebenezer Wells, a wealthy farmer. He lived in the house with his wife, Abigail Barnard wells, and two slaves, Lucy and Caesar. the building may have also have been used as a tavern from 1744-1749. This earlier section became an ell when a new section, now the main block of the house, was built in the Georgian style either between 1751 and 1757, or perhaps as early as 1747. Ebenezer Wells died in 1758 and the house passed through several different owners, eventually being purchased by Luanna Thorn in 1905. She and her husband, Dr. Edwin Thorn, were involved in the Deerfield Arts and Crafts Revival movement. Luanna ran her Deerfield Handicrafts Shop at the rear of the house. The home was acquired by Historic Deerfield in 1962. Inside, the house represents the decorative arts of different historical periods in each room. It also inspired the construction of a replica, the Benjamin Morrow House. Edit: Current research indicates that the entire house was built in 1755.

Sheldon-Hawks House (1754)

by Dan/October 7, 2008September 17, 2016/Colonial, Deerfield, Houses

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.

Josiah Dwight House (1725)

by Dan/April 28, 2008September 17, 2016/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)”