Dr. Eugene Forrest McQuesten was born in Litchfield, NH, on October 11, 1843. He enrolled at local schools before graduating from theJefferson Medical College in 1866. He practiced medicine in Lynn, Massachusetts for two years before moving to Nashua, New Hampshire to run a medical office. He worked in Nashua for years, later being nominated President of the New Hampshire Medical Society. In 1886, he purchased a house lot on Nashua’s Concord Street and razed the existing dwelling, building this stunning brick residence a year later.
Inspired by suggestions from books by Andrew Jackson Downing, the Gen. George Stark House is one of the finest dwellings in the Italian villa style in New Hampshire. Located on a triangular plot just north of Downtown Nashua, the house was built in 1856 by a man who, though then only in his early thirties, was one of New Hampshire’s most experienced civil engineers and surveyors, and was the superintendent of the Nashua and Lowell Railroad. General George W. Stark (1823-1892) was born in Manchester, N.H., and as a young man worked on surveys of the canals and factories being built in the late 1830s in his native city. In 1836, during the first days of railroading in northern New England, Stark was employed with the engineers who laid out the route of the Nashua and Lowell Railroad. He climbed the ladder, eventually working as treasurer and assistant superintendent of theHudson River Railroad, subsequently rising to the position of superintendent. He later became superintendent of the Nashua and Lowell Railroad, whose route he had helped to plan, and in 1857, at about the time he saw the completion of his Italianate villa, he became managing agent of the Boston and Lowell line. In the same year, he was commissioned Brigadier General of the Third Brigade of New Hampshire Militia, giving him his title, General. The Stark House was occupied by General Stark and by members of his family until the property was acquired by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, about 1928. Today, it houses offices but retains a distinct residential character regardless.
This Queen Anne Victorian residence sits at 85 Concord Street in Nashua, New Hampshire. Built in 1889-90 for Elijah Shaw, the house is one of a dozen or so well-preserved Victorian-era mansions along the prominent street. Elijah Morrill Shaw (1826-1903) was born in Kensington, NH and spent many of his early years working at woolen mills all over the Northeast until the outbreak of the American Civil War. Obeying his country’s call to arms, at the time of the Rebellion, he entered the army in 1861 and was later promoted to Captain in 1863. After the war, he continued working at mills all over the region until 1888 when he was hired by the Nashua Manufacturing Company. He built this house soon after his arrival and remained there until his death in 1903. The dwelling and rear carriage house are clad in shingles with the house built with a brick first floor.
Charles William Hoitt (1847-1925) was born in Newmarket, New Hampshire, the son of William K. A. and Sarah C. (Swain) Hoitt. His father was a descendant of John Hoyt, one of the original settlers of Salisbury, Massachusetts. On the maternal side he is a descendant of Phineas Swain who served at Bunker Hill on the American side. Charles enrolled at Dartmouth College in 1867, and was graduated in the class of 1871. He moved to Nashua to work as Master of the Mt. Pleasant School and later worked as an usher at the Lincoln Grammar School in Boston. He eventually gave up teaching as a profession and returned to Nashua and worked at a local law office. He was admitted to the Hillsboro bar in 1877, and worked as a City Solicitor and later as Justice to the Nashua Police Court. With his standing, he erected this fine house on Concord Avenue, with a deep lot where he raised rare exotic birds. Judge Hoitt served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1901 and in 1907, was appointed by Theodore Roosevelt to be the United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire. His residence in Nashua blends Queen Anne, Shingle, and Colonial Revival styles elegantly. The property was purchased in the 1920s by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua as a parsonage, a use it held until it was sold in 1977 to a private homeowner. The shingled porch was removed during the time it was a parsonage, but the house remains in excellent condition today!
The Stephen and Maria Mansfield House is located at 70 Concord Street in Nashua, New Hampshire, and is one of many stunning old houses along the largely residential street. The dwelling was built in 1888 for Stephen Willard Mansfield, a shoe dealer in Nashua, and his wife, Maria. The Mansfield House is a great example of a more modestly sized Queen Anne style house, which is typified by the asymmetrical plan, varied siding types, and intricate carvings and turned posts. This house is dominated by a two-story rounded bay which is capped by a conical roof. She could definitely use a good paint job but it’s a really sturdy old home built from old-growth lumber. She’s here to stay!
The Shaw Warehouse located inside Prescott Park in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was constructed between 1806 and 1813 and is significant as a rare example of a vernacular warehouse building from the early 19th century. It is very vernacular, unadorned with a very functional use, but these types of buildings (like barns and stables) are some of the most charming and provide a link to working-class history from the past. The building is the only of its kind remaining in its original location in Portsmouth, and as a result, was listed in 2011 on the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places. It now houses offices for the nearby park.
In 1833, a group of prominent Portsmouth merchants organized the Marine Railway Company and installed a set of tracks from the water in Portsmouth’s harbor to this brick machine house. When coupled with two horses, the machinery would, as the owners proclaimed, “draw vessels of 500 tons and upwards, entirely out of the water, placing them in a situation where any part of their hulls can be inspected or repaired with great dispatch.” The Portsmouth Marine Railway Company continued to operate until the mid- 1850’s. Thereafter the wealthy merchant Leonard Cotton bought it and ran it as a private venture. The railway ceased operations somewhere around 1875, though the tracks remained in place well into the 1980s. The brick building has been adaptively reused and is occupied by the Players Ring Theatre, a local non-profit group.
Another of the absolutely stunning 18th century homes in Portsmouth I stumbled upon in my recent walk there is this late-Georgian home, built in 1780 and owned by Ebenezer Lord. Lord worked as a cabinetmaker and produced many fine pieces of furniture, many of which are sold today for high values at auction. Due to his high skill with woodworking, it is possible that Ebenezer built this home himself for his family, down to the segmental pediment over the front door. The house has been maintained very well, and even retains historic wood windows.
Many may not know this fact about Portsmouth, which shaped the city’s development for some of the formative years of the coastal town. The 1814 Brick Act was passed by the New Hampshire legislature after three devastating fires wiped out hundreds of closely-packed wooden buildings in the heart of the state’s only seaport. The act prohibited the erection of wooden buildings of more than twelve feet high in the downtown area which was the densest, it was effectively an early building code. The regulation helped change the look of the city, creating the red brick image Downtown that many identify today as Portsmouth. As a result, nearly all homes and buildings in the downtown area of Portsmouth were constructed of brick, largely in the Federal style, popular at the time. This home was constructed around 1815 as a wedding present for the South Parish’s minister, Reverend Doctor Nathan Parker, upon his marriage to Susan Pickering, the daughter of New Hampshire Chief Justice John Pickering and a descendant of the original John Pickering.
The Abraham Wendell House on Pleasant Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is a three-story, five-bay, masonry Federal-style residence with symmetrical facade. The building has a slate hip roof with overhanging eaves, a dentilled cornice, and tall brick chimneys. The facade has a wood-paneled entrance door with elliptical entablature, Corinthian pilasters, and a fanlight above. The home was built around 1815 for Abraham Wendell (1785-1865) a ship’s chandler and hardware merchant. Along with his brothers, Jacob and Isaac, established cotton mills in Dover. Although they lost money on the early mill attempts, they became wealthy importer of foreign goods into the ports of Portsmouth. The house remains a highly significant example of early 19th century residential architecture built for wealthy merchants.
In his 1917 will, Aaron Cutler of Hudson, N.H. left his estate to family and friends with his remaining estate to be bequeathed “for the purpose of the erection, furnishing and maintenance of a Public Library, upon the express condition that the citizens of said town give land upon which to erect the same. Said land to be located within one-quarter of a mile of the town hall. Said Library to be of brick and slate. And to be known as “The Aaron Cutler Memorial Library.” His town of Hudson recently erected a memorial library, so he sought to fund a library in an adjacent municipality. Land was donated in Litchfield for a new library there and architect William M. Butterfield furnished plans for the building. The library was completed in 1924 and exhibits Tudor/English Revival design, unique for the town.
Isaac Newton Center (1811-1889) was born in Windham, NH and arrived to the rural town of Litchfield, NH in its early days. Upon arrival, he appears to have built this homestead sometime in the mid-19th century based on its style. Like many in town, he was a farmer and was involved with the local Presbyterian Church, which is still neighboring this old farmhouse. After his death, the old farmhouse and homestead was inherited by Isaac’s youngest son, Isaac Newton Center, Jr., who was engaged in local town affairs, serving as City Clerk, Treasurer, Forest Fire Warden, and Library Trustee. The house appears as a melding of late Greek Revival and Italianate, possibly from the 1850s or 1860s.
The town of Litchfield, New Hampshire is located at the southern section of the state across the Merrimack River from the town that carries its name. Land which is now known as Litchfield, was once populated by the Abenaki people. The New Hampshire Archaeological Society has located over 30 Native American sites along the shore of the Merrimack River in Litchfield, with artifacts several thousands of years old being uncovered. European influences started in the 1650’s with early records showing that Litchfield was then a part of Dunstable, Massachusetts. Both sides of the Merrimack River were granted in 1656, to William Brenton, colonial governor of Rhode Island. The name was changed to “Brenton’s Farm” in 1729. Chief Passaconaway of the Penacook lived in a Litchfield settlement at least part of the year around this era. In 1728, sixteen proprietors divided up the Brenton Farm Land. In 1749, the land was granted to another group of settlers and named “Litchfield” after George Henry Lee, Earl of Lichfield. The town has historically been comprised of farmland without a true town common or center. A small enclave of buildings did center in town, where the town hall was built. This building, the Old Town Hall of Litchfield, was built in 1851 from parts of an older meetinghouse, which was built across the road from where the building now stands. A shift in the course of the Merrimack River during the early 1800s forced the dismantling of the original Meeting House and a new structure to be built. It is a modest Greek Revival structure with corner pilasters, entablature, and gable end facing the street which reads as a pediment. It is very well maintained to this day as the home to the Litchfield Historical Society.
There’s not much that is more picturesque and stereotypical New Hampshire than old, wooden mill buildings. When I was looking for a town to explore in NH, I got stuck on a photograph of the old Cragin-Frye Mill in Wilton, and off I went! Daniel Cragin (1836-1921) was born in Merrimack, NH of Scottish descent. In 1856, age 21, he rented a room in a woolen goods mill, and he built knife trays and wooden toys which he turned into a business. He started his business with ten dollars, and turned a profit from the beginning, so much so that by 1858, he accumulated enough money to purchase a nearby existing building for his own operation. The mill was water-powered and grew quickly. The Daniel Cragin Mill began production of sugar boxes and dry measure boxes. The mill closed briefly after Cragin retired in the early 20th century. In 1909, Whitney Morse Frye and his father, Dr. Edmund Bailey Frye, bought the mill from Cragin. Frye continued the Cragin line of wooden trays, boxes, and pails in addition to his normal processing of grains. Whitney Frye died in 1961, and his employee, Harland Savage Sr. purchased the old mill, continuing operations. After his retirement in 1981, his son Harley and his wife Pam Porter Savage took over operations and they have operated the mill to the present day as Frye’s Measure Mill. The mill is one of a few remaining operating water-powered measure mills in the United States!
Buildings of New England 