Marion MA

John Pitcher House – Old Parsonage, Marion // 1813

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Known as the “Old Parsonage” this historic house in Marion, Massachusetts, was built in 1813 by Capt. John Pitcher (1788-1867) around the time of his marriage to Catharine Clark. John Pitcher was the brother of Elizabeth Pitcher Taber, a major benefactor of the town of Marion. The residence is unique in that the primary facade is actually facing away from the street, with the prominent three-story facade being the historic rear of the home. The Federal period house sits on a raised stone foundation with a central door and shingle siding above. Behind his home, a large pasture was grazed by sheep and cows until the land was sold off and subdivided for residential development later in the 19th century. When Capt. Pitcher died, he left his house to the Congregational Church, which used it as a parsonage for many years until 1966, when the church sold the property to Lawrence P. and Edith G. Pangaro, who co-founded the Marion Sentinel and the Sippican Publishing Company. The home was recently renovated.

Look-Coggeshall House // 1828

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Believe it or not, this beautiful home was once a one-story Cape house and given its present appearance in 2003! Built in 1828, the Look-Coggeshall House sits on the idyllic Main Street in Marion, Massachusetts, and was constructed for Captain Hiram Look (1803-1865), a sea captain, and his new wife Kezia within a year of their marriage. They had two daughters, one of which, Amanda, would inherit the family home with her husband, Bernard Coggeshall, who shows up in the census at varied times as a: tin peddler in 1870, huckster in 1880, a dealer in stoves in 1900, and as an owner of a hardware store by 1910. Old photos of the house show the original four-bay Cape form before the house was given its second story in 2003. The designer did an excellent job to preserve the door surround with transom, lintels and maintain the window spacing, with the addition of a band between the floors which visually depicts where the original roof began.

Cobb-Luce House // 1841

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This beautiful side-hall Greek Revival style residence on South Street in Marion, Massachusetts, was built in 1841 as a parsonage for the Marion Congregational Church, built that same year. The first pastor to reside here was Rev. Leander Cobb, who assisted his father, Rev. Oliver Cobb, who had been preaching in Marion since the completion of the first meeting house in 1799. After Leander Cobb’s death in 1873, the church decided to sell this parsonage and it was purchased by Rev. Cobb’s second wife, Selina, who sold it to George Luce (1825-1893) a master mariner. In 1960, the property was sold to local historian and founder of the Sippican Historical Society, Olive Hiller Somers (1890-1967). The residence was renovated and retains much of its original architectural integrity.

Marion Congregational Church // 1841

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Built in 1841, the Congregational Church in Marion, Massachusetts, is a stellar example of a mid-19th century ecclesiastical building designed in the Greek Revival style that represents the town’s evolution and prosperity through today. During the 18th century, area residents had to travel all the way to Rochester Center on Sundays to worship as this village was a part of Rochester until 1852, when it set off as its own town. Instead of keeping the Wampanoag name Sippican, meaning ‘land of many waters’, the people of present-day Marion chose their name in honor of General Francis Marion, a Revolutionary War hero from South Carolina who became a celebrated military leader during the American Revolution. The original 1799 Meeting House was replaced by this handsome structure, when ten Marion sea captains each contributed $1,000 towards its construction. The church’s completion in 1841 marked the beginning of the nine year co-pastorate of Rev. Oliver Cobb and his son, Rev. Leander Cobb at the height of prosperity for the coastal community. The church is characterized by its boxy, rectangular form with its primary facade treated as a portico in antis crowned by a closed pediment and the iconic multi-stage clock tower which remains an important landmark in town.

Old Marion Meeting House – Marion General Store // 1799

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Tucked into the heart of Wharf Village, the main village in the charming coastal community of Marion, Massachusetts, this building which is known today as the Marion General Store, wears its history quietly beneath a deceptively simple Greek Revival facade. The structure was constructed in 1799 as Marion’s first Congregational Meeting House, where religious services of the congregational church were conducted before the separation of church and state. The construction of this wood-frame building did more than give the faithful a place to worship, it anchored Wharf Village as the commercial and civic center of town, setting in motion the currents that would eventually set Marion off from its mother-town, Rochester in 1852. By the 1830s, the old meeting house was in poor condition, and along with the push for a separation of church and state and tax dollars no longer going to the Congregational Church, a grander Greek Revival church was built across the street. The Old Meeting House was also renovated in the Greek Revival style and operated as Delano Hall, a store with dance hall and meeting space on the upper floor. The building lives on today as the Marion General Store, with its old clapboards and pilastes holding the layered history and architecture of the seaside community that grew up around it from working port town to wealthy coastal village.