Georgian

Danforth-Sexton House // c.1723

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Dating to about 1723, the Danforth-Sexton House on Concord Road in Billerica, Massachusetts, is one of the town’s finest Colonial-era homes and excellently preserved as the home to the Billerica Historical Society. The original owner, Jacob Danforth (1698-1754), was a blacksmith and lived here with his wife, Rebeckah, until his death in 1754. The property was inherited by their son, David, who would sell the house to Rev. Henry Cummings, the fourth pastor of the First Church of Billerica. A series of doctors owned the house in the early 19th century, one of whom likely added the small addition to the side of the main house, which possibly housed a small doctor’s office. The final private owners were William Sexton and his wife, Clara Sexton, who would eventually bequeath the home to the Billerica Historical Society. The house and the now attached barn operate as a house museum with collections documenting the history of the community.

Captain Benjamin Smith House – Vineyard Gazette Building // c.1760

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The Captain Benjamin Smith House on South Summer Street in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, was constructed c.1760 and retains its historical and architectural integrity. Capt. Benjamin Smith (1740-1821) was a military captain who commanded a company of militia on Martha’s Vineyard during the Revolutionary War, after, he served as a County Sheriff and Town Clerk. Captain Smith and his wife, Love (Coffin) Smith, had nine children in this home; with two of their sons becoming sea captains. The property remained a single-family residence until it was purchased in 1938 by the Vineyard Gazette, the first newspaper to be published in Dukes County, beginning in 1846. When the newspaper purchased the building, it constructed a rear addition, seeking to preserve the old home but expand the footprint to increase its operations with editor offices located in the main house and assembling and printing machinery in the addition. The Smith House-Vineyard Gazette Building was later acquired by the Vineyard Trust in 2010 who preserve the building and continue to rent the space to the Gazette. The pre-Revolutionary residence features a five-bay facade, shingle siding,  and lovely historic double-hung windows. 

Collins-Schofield House // c.1750

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One of the older Colonial-era homes in Martha’s Vineyard, is this 2 1/2-story, side-gable, half-house clad in wood shingles on South Water Street in Edgartown. Deed research has not been undertaken, but a 1858 map shows the property owned by the estate of Palfrey Collins (1777-1857), who worked as a ship rigger, mariner, and day laborer on a nearby wharf, primarily on vessels preparing for whaling voyages from Edgartown. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the property was owned by sea captain, Ira V. Schofield (1837-1918). The residence retains its Colonial charm, including the (possibly original) eight-over-twelve and twelve-over-twelve sash windows, and door surround with transom over the paneled door.

Coffin-Dunham House // c.1682

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John Coffin (1647-1711) was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and later moved to Nantucket with his father finding work as a blacksmith. John moved to Edgartown (Martha’s Vineyard) in 1682, continuing his profession there as the island’s premier blacksmith. Soon after arriving, John Coffin and his wife, Deborah, built a small residence and blacksmith shop, here on South Water Street, which later became this stunning property with later additions and alterations. The construction of the original section is said to be built of timber infilled with brick, a luxury but also a necessity to protect John Coffin’s house in case of a fire from his attached blacksmith shop. The business did well and John and Deborah moved to a new residence on North Water Street by the turn of the 18th century. This property overlooking the harbor was later occupied and expanded by various artisans, including Elijah Dunham, a shoemaker, in 1792. It was likely under Dunham’s ownership that the house was expanded to its present two-story form with telescoping ells. More recently, the Coffin-Dunham House, one of the oldest extant buildings on the island, was thoughtfully renovated by Patrick Ahearn Architects.


Lewis-Zukowski Farm // 1781

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Located on a back road in Suffield, Connecticut, the Lewis-Zukowski Farmhouse stands as one of the oldest and largest brick homes found in this part of the state. The Federal period farmhouse was built in 1781 for Hezekiah Lewis, he was a farmer of modest prosperity. The farm was owned by subsequent owners until 1905, when it was purchased by Michael Zukowski, who was born in Poland around 1867. He arrived in Suffield with his family in 1888 and found a job working on a tobacco farm for $8 a month. He married in 1898 and became a naturalized citizen in 1900. By 1905, he had saved enough money to purchase this farm property for $2,800. He grew tobacco on his farm and raised his family, who retained the property throughout the 20th century. The rural farmhouse is architecturally significant as well as historically significant for its connections with the local tobacco industry and immigration that helped the community thrive in the 20th century.

Alexander King House // 1764

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Located on Suffield’s idyllic Main Street, the Alexander King House stands as a well-preserved example of a Georgian home in Connecticut. Alexander King (1737-1802) is a prominent figure in Suffield’s history. He was a graduate of Yale, and later practiced medicine in town, as well as serving as Selectman and Town Clerk for almost thirty years. He was also a Justice of the Peace, Representative to the Assembly, participant in agitation against British colonialism, and delegate to the Connecticut Ratifying Convention of 1788, when the state ratified the U.S Constitution. The home is owned and maintained today by the Suffield Historical Society, who operate the home as a house museum with exhibits on the town’s rich history.

Phelps-Hatheway House // c.1762

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Set back from tree-lined Main Street in Suffield, Connecticut, the Phelps-Hatheway House stands as one of the largest, and best-preserved Colonial era homes in New England. The center-chimney residence was built by 1762 by Thomas “Shem” Burbank, where he and his wife, Anna Fitch Burbank, raised nine children. Due to the unstable national economy during and after the American Revolution, the family’s financial situation suffered and they would sell the residence in 1788 to Oliver Phelps. at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Phelps joined the Continental Army and fought in the Battle of Lexington. He served as Deputy Commissary under George Washington and following the War, he became a prominent businessman and was elected to the Massachusetts Senate in 1785 and served on the Governor’s council in 1786 (Suffield was still a part of Massachusetts at this point). In 1794, Phelps commissioned the addition of a substantial wing designed by Thomas Hayden of Windsor. Under the employ of Hayden, a young Asher Benjamin, later to become one of the most important architects of the Federal period, was one of the workers on the new wing and is believed to have carved the Ionic capitals of the wing’s entryway. Inside, the addition was decorated with imported Parisian wallpaper. When Phelps died, the house was owned by the Hatheway family for a century and is currently open as a house museum, the Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden, administered by Connecticut Landmarks.

Elihu Kent Jr. House // 1787

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In 1775, when news of the Battle of Lexington reached Suffield, Connecticut, Elihu Kent Sr. (1733-1814) at the age of 42, took command of a local militia of 59 men the next day. The militia, along with his son Elihu Kent Jr. (then 16 years old) and a person whom he enslaved, Titus Kent, marched to Springfield, before heading east to Boston. The troops would end up on Long Island and Elihu Kent Jr. was captured by British forces and confined for a long time as a prisoner of war in the old Rhinelander Sugar House in New York. After his return to Suffield, Elihu Kent Jr. had this Georgian home on Main Street built for his family, where he ran an inn and operated a farm.

Gay Manse // 1743

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Ebenezer Gay (1718-1796), the third minister of the First Congregational Church of Suffield, was born in 1718 in Dedham. His father was a farmer and his uncle was the famous minister, Ebenezer Gay of Hingham. Ebenezer graduated from Harvard in 1737, and held his first preaching job three years later. Reverend Gay became a candidate for a pastor in the Suffield Congregation, becoming ordained in 1742. That same year he married his wife, Hannah, and they had this stately Georgian home built adjacent to the town’s church. When he was not traveling to preach in other parishes and visiting family, Gay supervised work on his farm, keeping slaves as was customary for ministers, magistrates, and tavern-keepers. Reverend Ebenezer Gay enslaved at least two people who were later freed by his sons after his death. One of the enslaved was “Titus”, who later was known as “Old Ti“. Titus was freed from enslavement in 1812, but continued to work for Ebenezer Gay Jr., the reverend of the Congregational Church in town, where he worked as a Sexton, janitor, and bell-ringer until his death in 1837. Ebenezer Gay Jr. also ran a school in one room of this home with a library in another. The gambrel roof Georgian mansion features a stunning Connecticut Valley doorway with swan’s neck pediment.

Williston Saddle Shop // 1776

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Before the invention of the automobile, horseback was the most effective way to get around. In nearly every town in New England, a saddler would make harnesses, straps, and saddles from leather in small, vernacular shops like this structure in Suffield, Connecticut. The Williston Saddle Shop is said to have been built in 1776 by Consider Williston (1739-1794), who served as a Lieutenant in the American Revolution, and is sited on the town’s iconic Main Street, which is lined by stately homes, churches, and institutional buildings of all eras. The vernacular Williston Saddle Shop retains its unique character, even since it was converted to a private residence.

Bend O’ the Lane House // 1740

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Located at a bend in the road on Cedar Avenue (formerly Cedar Lane) in Swansea, Massachusetts, the appropriately named ‘Bend O’ the Lane’ house is a charming Georgian-era farmhouse. The house was built in 1740 by Harlow Luther, who farmed the land here with his family. By the 19th century, owners included Victor Gardner, of the Gardner Family that largely settled on Gardner’s Neck in Swansea, and later by Philander Wilbur, a prominent local farmer that raised cattle and sold milk to area residents. The vernacular, Georgian farmhouse is of a unique and unpretentious form that shows the evolution of construction over time as families grew.

Brown Homestead // c.1750

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This large, gambrel-roofed Georgian house is located on Pearce Road, a winding road that runs the waterfront of the Cole River that spans between Swansea, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The house was owned by Captain John Brown (1675-1752) of the wealthy trading and slave-holding Brown Family which the prestigious Ivy League Brown University is named after. While extensive deed research of this home is not known, the property was mentioned in John Brown’s will of 1752 so it dates to at least 1750. It is possible that the house was expanded in the second half of the 18th century to its current form. The property remained in the Brown Family until 1911, and has been lovingly preserved by its successive owners.

Darius Lothrop House // c.1830

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Located on North Main Street in Sharon, Massachusetts, the Darius Lothrop House stands as a unique late-Georgian style residence built of locally quarried stone. Darius Lothrop (1777-1841) is said to have built the large, two-story house in the 1830s and resided here until his death in 1841. The Lothrop House retains its large gambrel roof, center entry set within the stonework, splayed lintels over the first floor windows, and twin shed dormers.

Ebenezer Fisher House // c.1764

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This historic Georgian-era house at 677 South Street in Wrentham, Massachusetts, is one of the town’s most historic and unaltered dwellings. Dating to about 1764, the Georgian Cape farmhouse replaced an earlier house formerly owned by Dr. Cornelius Kollock, the town doctor and later purchased by Ebenezer Fisher. The home is said to have burned and was replaced by the present building around 1764. It is unclear if the original 17th century home was largely rebuilt or if the existing house now was built from the ground up. The home has historically (and even today) been known as the Wampum House, said to have been named after “Wrentham’s last Indian.” This claim highlights a common but harmful misconception that no Indigenous peoples survived colonization and its impacts in New England. However, the name Wampum’s Corner and the Wampum House remain. The house is today owned by the Wrentham Historical Commission, and operates as a historic house museum, though is suffering from some deferred maintenance. It would be important for the community to fully document the home’s history, namesake, and tell a more complete and accurate history of this historic house.

Samuel Hawes House // c.1742

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The Hawes’ in Wrentham, Massachusetts, were a prominent local family that largely settled in the western part of the town, building large farmhouses with properties bounded by rustic stone walls. This residence on Spring Street dates to the mid-18th century and was likely built for Samuel Hawes (1713-1795) around the time of his marriage to Priscilla Ruggles in 1741. After the death of both Samuel and Priscilla in 1795, the couple’s only son, David, bought out his two sisters value in the property and lived here with his family. The property was passed down through members of the Hawes Family until the 20th century, though later owners have still maintained and preserved this significant home for future generations.