Historic Buildings of Massachusetts

Frary House (1760) and Barnard Tavern (1795)

by Dan/February 26, 2009September 17, 2016/Colonial, Deerfield, Houses, Taverns

In 1890, Miss Charlotte Alice Baker purchased a colonial home in Deerfield and, assisted by the architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, restored it in 1892 in one of the earliest efforts at historic preservation in Western Massachusetts. Baker also furnished the home in line with the ideas of the Colonial Revival and Arts and Crafts movements. At the time, the house was believed to have been built by the original Deerfield settler, Samson Frary, who owned the lot and built a house on it sometime after 1683. Frary was killed during the famous 1704 French and Indian Raid on Deerfield. C. Alice Baker, who was a descendant of Samson Frary, did research on the Deerfield captives and wrote a book called True Stories of New England Captives Carried to Canada During the Old French and Indian Wars (1897). She also wrote A Summer in the Azores (1882). Baker’s lifelong companion, Miss Susan Lane, died in 1893 and Miss Baker died in 1909.

The Frary House, now believed to have been built sometime in the late 1750s, is currently owned by Historic Deerfield. The Barnard Tavern is an addition to the Frary House, constructed in 1795. The home had been sold from the Frary to the Barnard families in 1752. With a large second-floor meeting room, the tavern was one of the centers of village life. At the Tavern’s bar, in 1775, Col. Benedict Arnold closed a contract to supply the expedition against Fort Ticonderoga. Recent research, though, suggests that the building may not have served the full functions of a tavern. Archeological work is also planned for the site.

US Post Office, Deerfield (1912)

by Dan/February 25, 2009February 25, 2009/Colonial Revival, Deerfield, Public Buildings

Built in 1912, the United States Post Office in Deerfield was remodeled in 1952 to look like Deerfield’s third meeting house, which was in use from 1696 to 1728. It originally stood on Deerfield’s town common. An original picture of the meeting house is on the upper right corner of a drawing of town, Delineated Deerfield, by Dudley Woodbridge, a physician from Mystic, Connecticut who kept a 5-page journal of his 1728 journey from Cambridge to Sunderland.

North Hadley Congregational Church (1834)

by Dan/February 20, 2009/Churches, Greek Revival, Hadley

The Religious Society of North Hadley was organized in 1831, having separated from the First Congregational Church of Hadley. The meeting house was built and dedicated in 1834 and the steeple was added in 1854.

Narbonne House (1675)

by Dan/February 19, 2009September 17, 2016/Colonial, Houses, Salem

The Narbonne House, on Essex Street in Salem, is part of the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. It was built in 1675 by Thomas Ives, a butcher (or “slaughterer”). The oldest section of the house has a prominent peaked roof. Later owners added to the building, with part of the lean-to and the gambrel-roofed ell probably being constructed when Capt. John Hodges owned the house in the third quarter of the eighteenth century. In 1780, the house was purchased by Jonathan Andrew. His granddaughter, Sarah Narbonne, was born inside and lived there until her death, at age 101, in 1895. Her daughter Mary lived there until her death in 1905. The Park Service acquired the historic structure in 1963. Instead of being restored to a particular period, the Narbonne House is kept unfurnished as an architectural study house. There is a video of a talk outsidethe Narbonne House: Continue reading “Narbonne House (1675)”

Samuel Stedman House (1826)

by Dan/February 18, 2009September 17, 2016/Cambridge, Federal, Houses

According to the blue historic marker on the side of the Stedman House, on South Street in Cambridge, the home was erected in 1826 over the ice cellar of Samuel Stedman. The sign explains that the ice, collected from ponds, was then shipped via Manning‘s Wharf.