House Museum

Barrett House // 1800

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The Barrett House (also known as Forest Hall) is a Federal style mansion located in New Ipswich, New Hampshire and one of the finest buildings in the entire state. The mansion was built around 1800 by Charles Barrett Sr. for his son Charles Jr. and daughter-in-law Martha Minot as a wedding gift. Its grand scale was encouraged by Martha’s father, who promised to furnish the house in as lavish a manner as Barrett Sr. could build it. The interiors are elegantly furnished, and numerous reception rooms were designed for entertaining in a cosmopolitan manner. An elaborate allée was later added to the landscape, with a flight of stone steps flanked by maples rising up the hillside behind the house and leading to an elegant summerhouse. After Charles and Martha died, the estate remained in the family. However, after the railroad bypassed New Ipswich, the town entered into a decline. Charles Barrett’s descendants stayed on, but today Forest Hall remains essentially a relic of the Federal era. After 1887, the family used the house only in the summer-time. It was donated to Historic New England in 1948. Historic New England has ever-since opened up the property to those who want to see one of the best examples of a rural, Federal style estate in New England and its well preserved interior and grounds.

Robert Frost Farm // c.1820

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Robert Frost, the famed American poet is best known for his realistic depictions of rural life in New England. Frequently honored during his lifetime, Frost is the only poet to receive four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry, and in 1961, he was named poet laureate of Vermont, one of his favorite places to write. Though his writing is often beautiful, Robert Frost did suffer tragedies. His beloved wife, Elinor, died in 1938, causing him to resign from a teaching position at Amherst College. In the fall of 1940, the Frost family experienced another tragedy when Robert’s only son Carol committed suicide at 38 years of age. Robert Frost, who suffered from depression himself, would buy this farm in rural Ripton, Vermont, that year. The farm was a respite to escape to nature and be free from painful memories of the past. Frost chose the site eight miles from Middlebury College, and two miles from the Broad Loaf Inn, where each summer the college sponsored the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the oldest and most prestigious writers conference in the country. The farm he purchased was established by and known as the Homer Noble Farm. The farmhouse seemingly dates to the early 19th century, and the property was added to by a cabin built for Mr. Frost to write and occupy when spending summers on the farm. The property would serve as his country retreat for summers away from his main residence in Cambridge, Massachusetts, until his death in 1963. The property is now owned by Middlebury College. The grounds are open to the public during daylight hours.

Thorndike-Conway House // 1769

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This homestead is one of the earliest homes in the Camden–Rockport area of Maine. Originally built inland from the harbors, the house was a one room cabin with an open sleeping loft above. Allegedly built in 1769 by Robert Thorndike (1734-1834) one of the earliest settlers of Rockport the house has served as a significant piece of the town’s history ever since. There were two additions to the house in 1806 and 1826. The first addition in 1806 consisted of the front door entry and the front parlor, a birthing room and a chamber and loft above. The 1826 addition in the back of the home provided a kitchen area that was later divided to provide a small parlor. In 1826, Frederic Conway bought the property from Robert Thorndike Jr., which remained in the family until 1916. The property is now owned by the Camden-Rockport Historical Society as a house museum and the organization is further documenting the history of this house and the two towns.

“The Old Castle” // c.1712

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Located in Pigeon Cove, the northern section of Rockport, Massachusetts, the “Old Castle” is an iconic landmark in the charming coastal town. The exact year it was built is not known, but it is believed to have been built in 1712 by Jethro Wheeler (1692-1755), a shoemaker who settled here from nearby Rowley. In 1724, Jethro deeded the property to his son Benjamin, and he moved out of town. Benjamin, is turn sold the property to his son Benjamin in 1769. Benjamin Jr.’s son, John D. Wheeler in 1792 inherited the property and added the lean-to/kitchen room to the rear to create the present saltbox roof form. Various Wheelers continued to own the Old Castle for another hundred years. The property was gifted in 1929 to the Pigeon Cove Village Improvement Society, and is presently under ownership of the Sandy Bay Historical Society, who manage the property as a house museum. The house with its overhanging second story reads like a garrison, a common element in First Period houses in Essex County.

Wellman-Fisher-Richardson House // c.1745

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The Fisher-Richardson House in Mansfield, Massachusetts is considered to be one of the oldest buildings in the suburban town. The home dates to sometime between 1743 and 1751 and was built for its original owner Ebenezer Wellman (1720-1776). The property was eventually owned by Lemuel Fisher, who in about 1800, doubled the size of the house adding its western half. When Lemuel died in 1820, the property was inherited by his youngest son, Daniel, a farmer and blacksmith who also built a gristmill nearby. The home was later inherited by Daniel’s daughter, Evelina and her husband, Captain Ira Richardson. By 1930, the gambrel-roofed Georgian house was in disrepair, and the owner at the time contacted SPNEA (now Historic New England) who drafted an agreement to acquire and restore the house. However, as local interest in the property increased, the owner deeded the property to the town, and the town took on the costs of restoration. The property is now managed by the Mansfield Historical Society.

Jonathan Fisher House // 1796

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Jonathan Fisher (1768-1847) was born in New Braintree, Massachusetts, and educated at Harvard College Divinity School. In the record of Plantation No. 5, (now Blue Hill), the selectmen voted to invite the Rev. Mr. Fisher to preach for four months in the summer of 1795. After his four month stint, the committee approached him, asking if he would stay and make the town his home, he accepted. He first built a primitive house which was outgrown by the time he had three children growing up in it! He had the current home built in 1814, attaching the original home as a rear ell (addition). Reverend Fisher died in 1847. His wife Dolly, died in 1853. At the end of the nineteenth century, Jonathan Fisher’s grandchildren decided to renovate the house. In 1896, they tore down the original house of 1796 and replaced it with a two-story addition to their grandfather’s 1814, giving it the current configuration. When the Fisher grandchildren who had been living there left Blue Hill, a number of local citizens concerned for the future of the building made arrangements that eventually led to the transfer of ownership of the house to a local non-profit foundation, the Jonathan Fisher Memorial, and made it possible for the house to be opened to the public. The Fisher House is open for tours in the summer.

Aldrich House // c.1790

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An unknown builder erected this Portsmouth house during the 1790s. Thomas D. Bailey lived here in 1836 when his grandson, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, was born up the street in the Laighton House (featured previously). Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907) became a revered American poet and author. Although he grew up in New Orleans and New York City, some of his fondest childhood memories were of the years 1849 to 1852 when he lived with his grandfather in this house. Later, from 1877 to 1883, the Society for the Benefit of Orphan and Destitute Children ran their Children’s Home in this building. Thomas Bailey Aldrich died on March 19, 1907. A few months later, on August 1, 1907, the Thomas Bailey Aldrich Memorial Association purchased this building, restored it to the time period when Aldrich was a boy here, and opened it as a memorial museum. The Aldrich House was acquired by Strawbery Banke museum in 1979, and it remains a historic house museum.

Dr. Ashbel Woodward House // 1835

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The Ashbel Woodward House in Franklin, Connecticut was built in 1835, on land purchased by Doctor Ashbel Woodward, a prominent local physician, a year prior. Woodward, was a graduate of Bowdoin College, and he began practice in Franklin in 1829, serving as the town’s primary medical practitioner until his death in 1885. Though in his 60s at the outbreak of the Civil War, Woodward perhaps lent his greatest service to his country when he served as a battlefield surgeon and medical facilities inspector for the Union army. Besides his work in medicine, Woodward collected literature and numerous artifacts pertaining to Franklin’s past and eventually wrote a book detailing the town’s history. The Ashbel Woodward House is an excellent example of the Greek Revival architectural style in a five-bay form. Interestingly, there are semi-elliptical windows in the pediment gable ends on the side elevations, seemingly a nod to the Federal style that was waning out of style at the time. The property is in use today as a museum, documenting the life of Dr. Woodward and the people of Franklin, Connecticut.

The Elms – Mrs. Berwind’s Bedroom // 1899

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On the second floor of The Elms mansion in Newport, you will find two separate bedrooms for the owners Edward and Sarah Berwind, a husband and wife of high society. The larger of the two bedrooms was for Mrs. Berwind as you know what they say, “happy wife, happy life”. Mrs. Berwind’s bedroom has cream-colored woodwork covered with custom-woven celadon green damask with borders of coordinated green, gold, and cream material. She had an adjoining bathroom and her chambers had access to her husband’s chamber along with a shared fireplace.

The Elms – Sitting Room // 1899

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The formal Sitting Room at the Elms in Newport, Rhode Island is one of the many statement-rooms found in the Gilded Age mansion. This room is located directly above the Ballroom and is the first space seen when ascending the main staircase onto the second floor. The sitting room was used by the Berwind Family and their guests as a gathering and socializing space, a little less formal than the ballroom downstairs for more elegant events. The Preservation Society of Newport County has done an amazing job at restoring the building and purchasing furniture and fixtures that were sold off when much of the inside of the property was sold off at auction in the 1960s. The Preservation Society restored the red silk walls fabric in the 1980s, bringing the space back to its original grandeur. I cannot think of a better place to just “sit”.