This Greek Revival home in Reading, Vermont was built around 1853 for Levi Fay Hartshorn, and is an excellent example of a vernacular Greek Revival house in Central Vermont. Levi F. Hartshorn moved to Reading, Vermont and opened up a store, also built this home for his family. It appears that Mr. Hartshorn gifted the village one of his shops to be used as a local library, before the present building was constructed.
Off the beaten path (like much of the town of Wilmot, NH, you can find this stunning old New England meeting house. Erected in 1829, the North Wilmot Church stands as the oldest extant church in the small town. Five denominations—Congregational, Christian Baptist, Freewill Baptist, Universalist, and Methodist, together collaborated to build this structure then known as the North Union Meeting House. Each denomination held services at the church, as they were all too small separately to warrant their own buildings. Decades after it was built, it was determined that the church should be moved down the hill. In 1846, the church was lifted and placed on rollers (logs), and with the help of oxen, rolled down the hill. It is said that the builder of the church, Josiah Stearns, rode in the belfry. The Different congregations later built churches elsewhere and the building was under-utilized, and it was converted to a meeting space, but allowed a congregation to use the structure. In 1983, with the agreement of remaining North Wilmot Congregational Church members, the North Wilmot Union Meeting House Society was established to maintain the structure and arrange for services in July and August.
On the backroads of the rural town of Wilmot, NH, I stumbled upon this perfect Greek Revival cottage tucked away on a dirt road. The home was built in 1840 by Col. Samuel Thompson, likely operated as a farm. The property was purchased by the Tewksbury Family decades later, who likely gave the home its name “Breezy Cottage”, after an older colonial home nearby, and subsequently the name of the street in which it is sited. The Greek Revival home is symmetrical with a wide, gabled roof and upper floors overhanging the recessed front porch. The home features bold corner and entry pilasters.
Driving through the quaint village of Wilmot Center in New Hampshire, I had to pull over to snap a photo of this little library building. When I got home, I learned that the building was constructed in 1854 not as a library, but as a schoolhouse! The vernacular Greek Revival school served as one of many district schoolhouses in the region, dispersed around small towns to be within walking distance of the sparsely developed parts of the state. With population growth in the 20th century and the proliferation of the personal automobile, these small regional schools became obsolete. Many of these buildings were converted to other civic uses or as personal residences, but most were demolished. The Wilmot Public Library located in the former schoolhouse in 1972 and is now connected to the town offices next door.
On September 15, 1847, a ship carrying 66 men and women and children docked at Long Wharf in Boston. This group of ex-slaves, led by Rev. Peter Randolph, emancipated by their former slave master Carter H. Edlow from the Brandon Plantation in Prince Georges County, Virginia. Members of the Boston Anti-Slavery Society, led by William Lloyd Garrison met the newcomers and made them welcome by securing lodging and work for self-support. The group settled in the South End on Ottaway Court not far from the Holy Cross Cathedral. The group first joined the Twelfth Baptist Church of Boston before establishing their own congregation. They eventually occupied this church in 1887, the building was designed by architect Nathaniel Bradlee in 1860, which was built for what was then the Third Presbyterian Church of Boston. The church has remained here for nearly 150 years, seeing the rapid change in the neighborhood. The church building accommodated meetings including the Professional Black Women’s Business Club, which bolstered Black women in business, many members owned stores in the South End. Many members left the area amid growing gentrification in the 1980s and 1990s, and from that, the aging population remaining made keeping the doors open difficult. Sadly, the church relocated out of the building in 2020 and appears to have sold the building, leaving its future uncertain.
Lewis Hayden was born into slavery in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1811, as one of a family of 25. Hayden was first owned by a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Adam Rankin. He sold off Lewis’ brothers and sisters in preparation for moving to Pennsylvania, and he traded 10-year-old Hayden for two carriage horses to a man who traveled the state selling clocks. In the mid-1830s, Hayden married Esther Harvey, also a slave. She and their son were sold to U.S. Senator Henry Clay, who sold them both to the Deep South, and Hayden never saw them again. By 1842, Hayden married a second time, to Harriet Bell, who was also enslaved, and he cared for her son Joseph as his stepson. After this marriage, Hayden began making plans to escape to the North, as he feared his second family might be split up like the first. In 1844, he and his family escaped with assistance of abolitionists all the way to Canada. From Canada, the Haydens moved in 1845 to Detroit in the free state of Michigan, and the next year, they moved to Boston, at the center of anti-slavery activity with the city’s strong abolitionist base. In Boston, Hayden became a lecturer and ran a clothing shop, acquiring enough money to live in this large home in Beacon Hill. The Haydens routinely cared for fugitive slaves at their home, which served as a boarding house. Guests included Ellen and William Craft, who escaped from slavery in 1848. Hayden prevented slave catchers from taking the Crafts by threatening to blow up his home with gunpowder if they tried to reclaim the pair. Hayden died in 1889, outliving the abolishment of slavery. Harriet died in 1894 and left $5,000, the entirety of their estate, to the Harvard University for scholarships for African American medical students. It was believed to have been the first, and perhaps only, endowment to a university by a former slave. Their former home remains a stop on Boston’s Black Heritage Trail.
One of the last remaining grand 19th-century lakeside mansions in the city of Burlington, Vermont, the Follett House stands as an excellent example of Greek Revival architecture and preservation. The Follett House was built in 1841 for Timothy Follett, a prosperous Burlington developer and former Chittenden County judge. Follett hired architect Ammi B. Young to design his estate. Young would go on to become the first Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department. As a federal architect, he was responsible for creating monumental civic buildings across the United States numerous custom houses, post offices, courthouses and hospitals, many in his favorite Greek Revival style. The house is oriented facing west toward Lake Champlain, with a terraced lawn extending towards the water. The main facade features monumental columns creating a greek temple front, supporting a pediment. The secondary entry is a more modest interpretation of the style with a smaller classical portico. After the home was built, Follett became president of the Rutland & Burlington Railroad, the first Railroad between Boston, MA and Burlington, VT, from 1845-1852. He lost the house, along with his personal fortune, when the railroad went bankrupt in 1852. The house was soon after bought by Henry R. Campbell, superintendent of the rival Central Vermont Railroad.
In the township of Washington, New Hampshire, about three miles from the Washington Town Green, stands a rural church building, a white wooden structure complimenting freshly fallen snow. This church is honored as the mother church of the first Seventh-Day Adventists. Its story started in 1842 by a local group of farmers calling themselves Christian Brethren, who dissented sharply from the strict Congregationalism of the Church in Washington Center. Many of the Christian Brethren became Adventists about the time this building was first used, and thereafter some of them began worshiping on the Seventh Day; and eventually the majority did so. In 1862 the official Seventh-day Adventist denomination was born at this place. Today, the building is a regular point of pilgrimage for members of the massive, international congregation.
Residents in the eastern portion of the rural town of Washington, NH found it very inconvenient to attend church at the center of town. In 1800, a group of residents on the east side of town banded together to create a new congregation, building a church perched on a low hill soon by 1826. The church was used for decades until it burned in 1844, it was replaced a year later, but that burned as well. Undeterred, the small congregation had yet another church built in 1877. The church remains in great condition, and is still active.
Located just off Main Street in Newport, NH, this stunning 1830s brick house shows an elegant blending of Federal and Greek Revival styles prominent at the time. The home was built for Joel Nettleton, a local hotel and stage coach owner, either by Nettleton himself, or by Samuel George, a local cabinetmaker and painter. The home is a great vernacular example of early-mid 19th century architecture in developing parts of inland New Hampshire and showcases a modest design, though with a use of brick showcasing some wealth. The town acquired the home in 2011 and it has since been occupied and preserved by the Newport Historical Society.
The Town of Stockbridge, MA was incorporated on June 22, 1739. After that time the town held meetings and conducted business in the First Congregational Meeting House until 1840 when this Greek Revival town hall building was erected on the church’s property as a gift. A stipulation was made that if the Town government constructed or moved to a new town hall building, the property ownership would revert to the Church. The town outgrew the building and constructed a new building toward the center of town, but named it Town Offices, a cheeky way to retain ownership of this building. Eventually, that building too was outgrown, and the town hired Pittsfield-based architect Harry E. Weeks to modify and enlarge the building in 1903, in the Neo-Classical style to compliment the original Greek detailing. As expected, the town moved again in the 2000s to a former school, on Main Street, but again retained the building.
Charles C. Perry (1795-1870) was a wealthy nineteenth-century shipowner and sea captain and a prominent figure within Southport’s community. After his father’s death in 1814, when Charles was just 25, he inherited a large sum of money from his father’s will and followed his footsteps as a career. Miah Perry’s will stipulated that in order to keep the family together, members were to reside at the family home for five years from his death if neither of the daughters married; “but in case they remain unmarried at the expiration of five years…my estate shall not be divided until eight years from my decease unless one of the said daughters should marry…partition may be immediately thereafter made.” Talk about pressure to get married!
It is unclear if any daughters got married before, (Julia, one daughter died in 1821 at 22 years old). That same year, Charles Perry seemingly got his part of the inheritance and acquired the land upon which this house stands. He was then twenty-six years old and unmarried. He appears to have built it later as a blending of the Federal and Greek Revival styles, perfectly complimenting each other.
One of the nicest examples of residential Greek Revival architecture I have ever seen is the Austin Perry House (c.1830) in the Southport area of Fairfield, CT. Austin Perry (1798-1864) was a member of a prominent merchant family, holding businesses in Fredericksburg, Virginia, before returning to Southport to manage a general store. He retired in his forties and resided at this home until his death. His home is a balanced, symmetrical design with massive Corinthian columns surmounted by a carved anthemion motif ornamenting the gable pediment.
This Greek Revival home built c.1826, is perfectly articulated in the classical temple form. It was built for Paschal Sheffield, a well-respected member of the Southport community throughout the nineteenth century. His father was a privateer during the Revolutionary War, and moved to Southport to settle and enter in the mercantile trade business. Paschal appears to have been involved in business and local politics until his death. After his death, the home was marketed as a tear down for a new summer resort, but it was retained by future owners.
I have a thing for temple-front Greek Revival homes, and this is no exception. This marvelous home was built in 1832 for Francis Dimon Perry (1809-1884), who inherited some of his father’s wealth and became President of Southport National Bank in town. He was a devoted member of Trinity Church throughout his life. Upon Mrs. Perry‘s death in 1893, couple left their residence to the Trinity Church to be used as the parish rectory.
