Massachusetts History Blog

Goodnow Farmhouse // c.1786

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Located in the bucolic town of Princeton, Massachusetts, Goodnow Farm sits at the heart of a landscape that has been farmed for more than two and a half centuries. The farm and road take their name from the Goodnow family who owned the land here for well over 100 years. The farmhouse, which dates to around 1786, was built for Edward Goodnow (1742-1798) and his wife Lois, who married in 1770. Edward was a corporal during the Revolution, serving both at the Lexington alarm on April 19, 1775, and at Dorchester Heights in 1776, before settling in Princeton to spend his remaining years on the farm. The property was inherited by his son, Edward and later by his son, William B. Goodnow (1815-1904), the brother of Edward Augustus Goodnow, a merchant who made his fortune in Worcester and donated the Town Hall and Library to his birthplace. After nearly 150 years of Goodnow family ownership, in 1917 the old farm was sold to industrialist, Charles T. Crocker, Jr. of Fitchburg and became a gentleman’s farm. Crocker used the farm as a summer retreat from the city and hired staff to maintain the working farm aesthetic, though Charles Crocker did not actually do much or any of the agricultural laboring himself. Investing in the old farm to maintain the rural charm, Crocker added a large cow barn and attached dairy and the estate managed livestock and orchards. After the death of his father, in 1956, Mr. Crocker’s son, Charles T. Crocker, III, gave the main part of the farm, in two parcels totaling 636 acres, to the Massachusetts Audubon Society, to be preserved in perpetuity as a wildlife sanctuary. He made an additional gift of 118 acres in 1963. Over the subsequent decades, other parcels were acquired and the site has been operated as the Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary, covering roughly 1,100 acres of the oldest farmland in Princeton, with twelve miles of public walking trails and historic stone walls. The site preserves what early Princeton was known for, at a simpler time when families depended on their own gardens, orchards, livestock and labor.

Osgood Farmhouse // c.1794

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When the town of Princeton was incorporated, vast land holdings were acquired, sold, and subdivided into large farmsteads for families moving westward from Boston. Part of the land in present-day Princeton was owned by William Brattle of Cambridge, but was undeveloped and confiscated by the Government as Brattle was a Loyalist, and sold in 1781. The property was purchased by David Osgood and later inherited by his son, Houghton Osgood (1768-1844), who built this farmhouse around 1794. The farmhouse and surrounding property with small pond, remained in the Osgood family until the mid 20th century.

Russell Mansion House // 1823 & 1874

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Located in the Russell Corner section of Princeton, Massachusetts, this handsome brick mansion had its start as a smaller commercial building before becoming one of the grandest residences in town. In 1823, Charles Russell (1793-1882) built this square brick building to house his store, a post office, and second floor meeting hall for public gatherings and the local Masonic Lodge and local anti-slavery society. By the mid-nineteenth century, Charles Russell was a well-known figure in Boston. He was elected first as representative to the State Legislature and later as representative of the County of Worcester to the State Senate. He and his wife, Persis, had two sons, Charles Theodore Russell (1815-1896) and Thomas Hastings Russell (1820-1911), who both became prominent lawyers and politicians. In about 1874, Thomas Russell enlarged the family’s commercial block in Princeton, adding a third floor in the form of a mansard roof, a wrap-around porch, and belvedere at the roof. The old store became known as the Mansion House and served as Thomas’ summer residence outside of the city. The Mansion House has been lovingly preserved and is a lasting landmark that tells the story of Princeton from its beginnings as a rural community to an exclusive summer colony in the 19th century.

Boylston Villa // 1819

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Ward Nicholas Boylston (1747-1828) was born as Ward Hallowell, in Jamaica Plain, Boston. At the age of 21, he took the name of his uncle, Nicholas Boylston, a wealthy Boston merchant who had no direct heir. A year later, he inherited his uncle’s estate and soon thereafter left for the next 27 years, taking up residence in London, and traveling across Europe and the Middle East. In 1800, Ward Nicholas Boylston inherited 3,000 acres of land from his uncle, Moses Gill, a wealthy merchant and acting Governor of Massachusetts from 1799 to 1800, when he died in office. Moses Gill was a slaveowner and when he moved to Princeton in 1767, town records indicate that he brought three “Negro servants” (slaves) with him. Interestingly, Gill thought enough of those whom he enslaved, as he bought expensive gravestones for their burial in the graveyard in Princeton, all three of which remain here to this day. They were: Nero, Flora, and Thomas. Ward Boylston spent summers at his uncle’s country estate until it was eventually demolished for his new Federal style country retreat, said to have been designed by Asher Benjamin, an architect then in the employ of Charles Bulfinch. The small brick villa is notable for its Palladian arches and walls inside lined with French Dufour wallpaper. Ward Nicholas Boylston’s name lives on through the names of Boylston Street in Boston named after him, as is the town of Boylston, Massachusetts, and Boylston Hall at Harvard University. He died in 1828 and was buried in the family tomb in Princeton. After his Nicholas’ widow, Alicia, died in 1843, the estate passed into the possession of Ward’s grandson, Dr. Ward Nicholas Boylston (1816-1870), who practiced medicine in Boston. Within a year after coming into his inheritance, the Dr. Boylston quit his career and settled at Boylston Villa, where he spent the remainder of his life and improved the estate with outbuildings.

Captain Benjamin Harrington House – Fernside // 1835

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Near the side of Mount Wachusett in Princeton, Massachusetts, Fernside has seen nearly two centuries of changing use but has maintained its significance all the while. This house was originally built in 1835 by Captain Benjamin Livermore Harrington (1774-1851) as a late example of a Federal style farmhouse with a symmetrical, five-bay facade and center entrance. Local resident, Wilkes Roper, bought the house in 1870 as the town of Princeton became desirable as a summer retreat, offering visitors cool mountain breezes and sweeping views of central Massachusetts. Mr. Roper added the side wings and opened the house as the Summer House Hotel, primarily renting rooms to Harvard professors and students. By 1890, the building had become the Vacation House for Working Girls. Renamed Fernside, the property became a resort for working women who could not otherwise have afforded a vacation. A week’s stay would have cost these ladies $4 in 1900. Guests arrived by train and were met by the Fernside carriage, which brought them and their luggage to the property. While staying here, the girls hiked the mountain, enjoyed fresh vegetables from the garden, and spent evenings in the library with charades, musicals, theatricals and dancing. Fernside’s final summer as a vacation house was 1988. Today, the property is home to Fernside at McLean, a rehabilitation center operated by McLean Hospital.

Isaac F. Thompson House // 1875

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Isaac Franklin Thompson (1823-1900) was a descendant of one of the earliest settlers of Princeton, Massachsuetts. He and his brother-in-law, Phineas Beaman, were early proprietors of the Wachusett House, a hotel in Princeton that catered to visitors arriving to town to take in cool mountain breezes and views during the summer months. In 1860, Isaac Thompson purchased the Greek Revival style Baptist Church in town and converted it into the Prospect House, a large summer hotel with expansive porches to provide visitors with sweeping views near the village. When Isaac Thompson retired from his role as a hotelier in 1874, he had this home built on the outskirts of the main village to enjoy his retirement. The handsome residence operated as the Dutchess Tea House from the 1930s-1950s, and was converted back to a single-family residence later in the 20th century.

Howe-Muzzy-Parker House // 1822

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Once painted and now slowly returning to its former glory, the Joel Howe House on Merriam Road is an example of a typical middle-class residence of the early 19th century in the community of Princeton. Joel Howe (1797-1864) was formerly a resident of Holden and came to Princeton to marry Lydia Merriam, who’s family had lived in the town since 1788. Joel worked as a blacksmith and reportedly maintained his blacksmith shop in the house and barn built in 1822 and still standing nearby. The family would move to West Boylston and Joel would sell the property to a colleague, fellow blacksmith, Benjamin F. Muzzy (1828-1887). In the late 19th century, the old brick residence was owned by Dr. Charles Edward Parker a notable physician in town. In the 20th century, the house was painted, but is slowly being worn off by time, giving the house a sort of vitiligo effect.

Bagg Hall – Princeton Town Hall // 1884

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Rising from the northwestern corner of the town common, Bagg Hall is the red-brick centerpiece of Princeton, Massachusetts, and it has shaped civic life in the village for well over a century. Funding for the structure came from wealthy businessman, Edward A. Goodnow. Born in Princeton, Edward Augustus Goodnow (1810-1905) was a storekeeper and manufacturer of shoes in Princeton before moving to Worcester where he made his fortune. He became the President of the First National Bank of Worcester and oversaw immense growth for the institution. Goodnow married four times in his 94 years of life, with his first two wives, Hariett Bagg and Mary Bagg (sisters) dying at just 28 years old and 31 years old respectively. In his later years of life, Edward began spending his fortune on charitable causes, including inveting in his hometown which lacked a proper Town Hall or Library. He donated funds for the Goodnow Memorial Library and in 1884, he funded Bagg Hall as the new Town Hall in Princeton, namedbagg in honor of the lives of his first two wives and his son, Henry, all of whom died prematurely. Mr. Goodnow hired Worcester architect, Stephen C. Earle, to design the building which resulted in this handsome brick structure in the fashionable Romanesque Revival style. The only stipulation was that the old Congregational Church was in the way. The solution: Goodnow paid to have the church moved from its site to the eastern edge of the town common. The Bagg Hall building is notable for its strong arched entrance beneath the gable, rounded corner tower with conical roof, and trimming in brownstone and terracotta accents. Today, the building is home of the town’s administrative offices and was restored by 2020.

Stone Estate and Gate Lodges // 1910

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Jutting into Buzzards Bay in Marion, Massachusetts, Great Hill is significant not only as the highest point in town but it is also home to one of the grandest estates in New England. Before the present mansion and various outbuildings were constructed here in the early 20th century, the property was home to Marion House, a sprawling 1860s resort hotel that drew hundreds of summer guests every year. In the early 1900s, Boston financier and Hayden, Stone & Co. co-founder, Galen L. Stone (1862-1926) bought the entire 312-acre peninsula and had the old hotel torn down. In its place, Stone commissioned this massive Tudor-style stone mansion with a central Great Hall built from stone quarried in Pennsylvania and shaped on-site by dozens of stonecutters. The estate was designed by architect, Horace Frazer of the firm, Chapman & Frazer, and it takes strong design elements from the country estates in the English countryside. Inside, the spaces are finished largely in oak with the grounds dotted with formal gardens, greenhouses, by landscape architects, Shurcliff & Shurcliff. The castle-like Main House, was greatly reduced from its original size in the 1950s to make the residence more manageable for later descendants, but even over one hundred years later, it remains one of the most impressive English Revival country houses in the United States, and the property’s grounds are open on weekdays for walking and cycling on paved roads.

“Fair Oaks” // 1903

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One of the many grand Summer estates on the coast of Sippican Harbor in Marion, Massachusetts, is this mansion known as “Fair Oaks”. The residence was built in 1903 in the Tudor Revival style for Otis A. Shepard a wealthy lumber dealer in Boston. Given Shepard’s line of work he not surprisingly called his summer estate “Fair Oaks”, and his house’s building materials were undoubtedly supplied by his company. For his summer estate, Shepard hired Boston architect, Charles Allerton Coolidge, who spent summers at his own cottage nearby and designed many historic homes in Marion for other summer residents. A number of years later, the property was purchased by Elizabeth F. Clark and her husband Edward A. Clark (1868-1922), a stock broker in Boston. Exterior and interior images of the house during Clark’s ownership appeared in architectural publications in 1919, highlighting the architecture and interior design.

Browne-Hosmer Cottage // 1881

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This Shingle style home in Marion was designed for Reverend William Percy Browne (1838-1901), who was educated at Kenyon College in Ohio alongside John Cotton Brooks, the youngest brother of Phillips Brooks, who would become the Rector of Boston’s Trinity Church and briefly Bishop of Massachusetts. Brooks would hire H.H. Richardson to design Trinity Church in Boston in the early 1870s. From this connection and being members of the St. Botolph Club of Boston, Reverend William Percy Browne and H.H. Richardson began a working relationship designing Browne’s summer cottage in Marion. The legend is that at the club, Browne bet Richardson that he could not design a small house for $2,500. Browne lost. This modest house was completed in 1882 and represented an early, significant example of a Shingle style home in Massachusetts. Browne died in 1901 and the house was sold to Sidney Hosmer, a Boston electrical engineer. Under his ownership, the home was expanded and altered, likely from plans by Charles Allerton Coolidge, Boston architect who summered in Marion. The cottage was eventually purchased by Tabor Academy, who in 2019, pulled a demolition permit for the house. Architects and historians quickly rallied and advocated for the preservation of the cottage, saving it from the wrecking ball, for now. The cottage remains vacant and no definitive plans as of 2026 have been unveiled to sell the property or restore it.


Austin Cottage and Moon Gate // 1885

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The Austin Cottage and Moon Gate on Water Street in Marion, Massachusetts, are iconic landmarks in the community that showcase the architectural history of this coastal community. The Queen Anne style “cottage” was designed by Boston architect and Marion summer resident, William Gibbons Preston, for Judge James Walker Austin (1829-1895) in 1885. Early in his professional career, James W. Austin left Boston for the Hawaiian Islands, where he was recruited by King Kamehameha as a legal advisor and went on to serve as district attorney. He was elected a member of the Hawaiian parliament three times and was later appointed as judge in the Hawaiian Supreme Court and eventually became chief justice there before moving back to Boston in the 1870s. Judge Austin and his family summered at this cottage, known as “Edgewater” until his death, but the property remained in the Austin Family with final ownership held by the couple’s daughter Edith Austin (1873-1957). According to local lore, the moon gate was built for Edith around 1922 as an entrance to her extensive gardens. Edith is said to have been inspired by photographs of moon gates shared by her friend June Butler, who had married Parker Converse, who also summered in Marion, following their honeymoon in China. Local stones were used to construct the circular gate and the elements on the cornice of the gate were obtained from China. In Chinese culture moon gates are thought to offer an auspicious welcome or fortune to those who pass through with the ducks that adorn the top apparently symbolizing wealth and marital bliss. The garden has since been subdivided from the Austin estate, which was damaged in the 1938 New England Hurricane but both remain preserved today.

Frederick B. Cutler Cottage // c.1903

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One of the most interesting houses in Marion, Massachusetts, is the Frederick Cutler Cottage, at the corner of Water and Lewis streets which was split in the 1970s to create two homes. The Cutler Cottage was originally built around 1903 for Frederick Barker Cutler (1861-1946), partner in the firm of Stetson, Cutler & Company in Boston, a building materials company who sold everything from long lumber and shingles to lime. For his summer cottage in Marion, Cutler hired noted Boston architect Herbert Langford Warren, founding principal of Warren, Smith & Biscoe, to furnish plans for the Arts and Crafts style dwelling of shingles, stone and brick. In the 1970s, the owner separated the house into two detached dwellings and moved them to separate lots. Both parts of the Cutler Cottage have since been renovated and further expanded, but retain much of their original qualities.

George House // 1929

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This Georgian Revival house on Butler Point in Marion, Massachusetts, was built in 1929 at the period of great transition of many coastal communities in New England between the Gilded Age and later summer cottage period of prosperity and the Great Depression.The “cottage” here was built for Jerome R. George (1867-1942), vice president and chief engineer of the Morgan Construction Company of Worcester and avid boater. A native of Ohio, he was a
noted designer of steel mills in the United States, Europe, and India and built this home, likely as their summer retreat.
The house is prominently sited and is one of the best examples of the Colonial Revival style I have seen in the seaside town. It is clad in cedar shingles as a nod to the vernacular coastal homes and larger Victorian-era summer homes seen in the village but resembles the 18th century Colonial homes with an elaborate pedimented entry, symmetrical facade, corner quoins, and massive brick chimneys.

Delano House // 1902

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This early 20th century home on Cottage Street in the South Coast community of Marion, Massachusetts, was built in 1902 for Hattie F. Delano and Walton S. Delano, a descendant of the great Delano family in Massachusetts. Walton worked in nearby Wareham at A. S. Gurney and Company, dealers in coal, grain and flour. The house is unique as it is in the American Foursquare form, a type of home built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The hallmarks of the style include a basically square, boxy design, two-and-one-half stories high, usually with four large, boxy rooms to a floor, a center dormer, and a large front porch with wide stairs. This example stands out for the shingle siding, flared eaves and rubblestone foundation, a nod to the more rustic summer cottages built in Marion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.