Hooper Family Marblehead

Nathaniel Hooper House // c.1801

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Local historians believe a house was on the site in Marblehead, Massachusetts before the American Revolution. A portion of that house may remain on the interior but the exterior was extensively remodeled or newly built in the Federal period to what we see today as the Nathaniel Hooper House. Nathaniel Hooper was a member of the established Hooper Family of Marblehead and son of Robert “King” Hooper. He had this Federal style mansion built around the turn of the 19th century. The massive home features a deep portico supported by wooden Doric columns and pilasters with an entablature containing dentils and modillions. The entry porch shelters a Federal style door surround composed of a wide elliptical fanlight and wide, half-length sidelights ornamented by a strip of alternating circles and lozenges in their centers. This is a gem of a house!

Cross-Kimball House // 1804

Buildings of New England5 Comments

In 1803, sea-captain John J. Cross (1768-1804) began building a large Federal style house on land he purchased from his success on the open sea, largely working for the Hoopers. Sadly, before the home was finished, Captain Cross and all his men aboard his ship, the “Traveller” died at sea. The home, which was to be finished by the time of his return was left abandoned when news got back to the shore of the ship’s loss. His wife and three children were devastated and likely sold the property not long after. The property was owned later by Edmund Kimball, a sea-merchant who married into the Hooper Family. Kimball did well for himself and eventually owned multiple vessels. After his first wife, Mary Hooper Kimball died bearing him six children, Edmund remarried to Lydia Mugford Russell. The family home across from the town’s common has been very well preserved since and is an excellent example of a vernacular three-story Federal home on the North Shore.