Walking the warren of tight streets and hidden alleys of Marblehead, Massachusetts, you are taken back centuries to a simple time, and of a town that has largely maintained its pre-automobile urban fabric. Many pre-Revolution homes still stand in town and have survived cycles of the coastal town’s prosperity and economic hardship, and the increased pressure of gentrification in more recent years! The Simon Bradstreet House sits right in the village and is a well-preserved Georgian-period home. The house was built in 1723 (earlier reports said in 1738) and it was later owned by Rev. Simon Bradstreet (1709-1771), who arrived to Marblehead to serve as the second minister of the Second Congregational Church a year prior. Reverend Bradstreet was the great-grandson of the last Bay Colony Governor of the same name. Chance Bradstreet, an enslaved African that was a subject of the “within these walls” exhibit at the National Museum of American History was born in this home in 1762. He was later sold to Abraham Dodge of Ipswich by Isaac Story, the third minister of the Second Congregational Church. Stories like this are necessary for us to remember that slavery was a huge part of New England’s economy historically.
Buildings of New England 
Research by Robert Booth of Marblehead has indicated that this house was actually built in 1723. That is important because it set the tone for Marblehead as its house-wright arrived in town ( from the Boston area, I think) — and its quality no doubt secured its builder’s contract for also serving as the contractor for Marblehead’s new and architecturally important new (now “Old”) Town House in 1727 (completed 1729). That research is also from Robert Booth.
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Oh wow! thank you for this. I will make the edit.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Bradstreet_House
This is a good source of information on this house if interested.
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Oh wow, that helps! Thank you
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Many Marblehead homes have white signs with their original date of construction or ownership, plus original owner, based on research by Robert Booth between 1976 and now.
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Simon Bradstreet Robie was born in this house. He was the son of Thomas Robie and Mary Bradstreet, and went to Halifax with his parents at the beginning of the American Revolution. He studied law and was called to the Nova Scotia bar in the early 1790s. Robie street in Halifax is named after him.
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