Summer House

Abijah Moore Tavern – Locust Lawn // c.1750 & 1890

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A Colonial-era tavern that was Victorianized in the 19th century as a summer residence, only in New England! This stately mansion sits on Merriam Road in the charming town of Princeton, Massachusetts and was originally built by 1750 as a tavern/inn. Owner Abijah Moore (1724-1792) built the residence here as the road in front of his property was the main east-west highway between Lancaster and Barre, part of the Old Bay Path in the Commonwealth. When Princeton was first incorporated in 1759, it was in this house that the newly formed community held their first meetings. In 1765, Moore sold the property and moved to Vermont, and the Tavern became a farmhouse, renovated in the early 19th century with twin chimneys and barns behind. As Princeton shifted from agricultural to a summer colony, the property was purchased by Thomas Hastings Russell, who spent summers in his modified family homestead across the street. The traditional New England farmhouse was “modernized” in around 1890 with a full-length porch with corner gazebo and renamed Locust Lawn. The property was gifted to Thomas’ daughter, Mary, and her husband, Edward, as their own summer home.

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.

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.

Nickerson Cottage // 1885

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Augustus Nickerson (1860-1928) was a Boston-based accountant and avid cyclist of the Boston Bicycle Club and secretary of the League of American Wheelmen. Nickerson seemingly built this home in Marion around 1885 as a summertime retreat from the stresses of city living, but rented it to other Boston families for supplemental income. The property was sold in 1905 to Martha and Matthew Buckman (1832-1910), President of the University of Vermont 39 years from 1871 to 1910, overseeing dramatic growth for the University, which was one of the first eastern schools to admit women. This Marion home was his summer retreat while classes were out. While the architect is not currently known, it is clearly the work of a well-educated architect of the time, and likely the work of either William Gibbons Preston or Charles Allerton Coolidge, two Boston-based architects who summered in Marion and designed many Shingle style homes there. The home exhibits strong horizontal massing with an elongated sloped roof and is covered with weathered wood shingle sheathing, characteristic of the Shingle Style.

Leonard-Mitton Estate // c.1900

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One of the grandest homes overlooking Hammetts Cove and Sippican Harbor in Marion, Massachusetts, the Leonard-Mitton Estate showcases the status of the coastal community as a premier summer colony for wealthy Boston families going back over 100 years. The estate was built around 1900 for Charles Webster Leonard (1844-1941) of Boston and later New York, who without formal education, became the owner of a number of mills and quarries throughout New England and was a director of several local banks and businesses. A renowned horseman, he owned a breeding farm in Lexington, Kentucky and a trotting track in Readville. He was married to Emelyn Thatcher Welch in Paris and together, they built and owned this house until 1916. The residence is a sprawling Colonial Revival style mansion clad in stucco and capped with a gambrel roof. Its form comprises of a 2 1/2-story main block with two-story wings extending at 30-degree angles from the sides to provide better views of the harbor. By 1916, the summer residence was sold to George W. Mitton (1869-1947), the eldest son of Edward J. Mitton and Sarah Wade, the second generation of a family of merchants who operated the Jordan Marsh department store in Boston. Starting as a stock boy, George Mitton eventually became president of the company. He was trained in the business by his father, Edward J. Mitton, the Jordan Marsh president, and Eben D. Jordan, the company’s founder. George Mitton was credited with growing the company into New England’s largest department store and introducing innovations such as executive training programs and employee benefits. George Mitton and his wife, spent summers at their Marion “cottage” until George’s death, but the property remained under the ownership of the family until the 1970s. The expansive waterfront property was recently renovated and sold, preserving this grand estate for another century. 

Burdett Summer Cottage // c.1910

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Beginning in the late 19th century, affluent urban dwellers from cities like Boston and New York were traveling by train and steamship to seaside destinations like Marion, on the South Coast of Massachusetts. The town began to attract many notable political, literary, and art world figures seeking a seaside respite away from the heat and pollution of urban centers. Initially visitors stayed at hotels or rented private houses, but as the end of the century neared and Marion became nationally known as a desirable vacation destination, wealthy individuals began to build their own permanent summer residences. The Burdett Cottage on Water Street was built around 1911 for Boston lawyer, Everett Walton Burdett and his wife, Maude. The couple hired the Boston architectural firm of Bigelow & Wadsworth, to design the Colonial Revival style “cottage” with an accompanying garden designed by noted landscape architect, Arthur Asahel Shurtleff. The house features two end wings with porches and balconies to provide sweeping views of the harbor. 

White-Cushing Cottage // 1906

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The White-Cushing Cottage on Pleasant Street in Marion, Massachusetts, showcases the eclectic Victorian architectural styles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that are adored by so many. The residence was built for George F. And Clara A. White, who acquired the property in 1906. The couple moved to Marion from Brooklyn, New York, and had this home built while George was employed in the linen supply business. It is likely this was their summer residence as the couple also had a home in Newton, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. After Clara’s death in 1916, George sold their Marion home to Mathew Cushing (1859-1925) and his wife, Edith, who lived in Middleborough and too likely used this home in the summers. Mr. Cushing worked as a theatre manager until his death in 1925, and his wife continued to live in the house with her son, Bartlett. The White-Cushing House has elements of the Shingle style, which is commonly seen in the summer cottages of Marion and many coastal communities. The cottage has a flared gambrel roof and a distinctive wall dormer at the facade with an integrated wrap-around porch. 

Chadwick Cottage // 1891

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One of the many summer cottages tucked away in the trees in the Chocorua Colony in Tamworth, New Hampshire, the Chadwick Cottage was built in 1890 for prominent gynecologist, Dr. James Read Chadwick (1844-1905). Dr. Chadwick was introduced to Chocorua during his summer visits to the White Mountains, where he and his family stayed at local hotels as early as 1876. He purchased seventeen acres of forest nearby Chocorua Lake in 1890 on which he erected this house and its outbuildings the following year. The design of the buildings is attributed to Boston architect, Clarence Howard Walker, who was affiliated with the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts and designed this rustic cottage to fit within the forest, enhancing the landscape surrounding it. Dr. James Chadwick was a professor at Harvard Medical School and a pioneer nationally in the field of gynecology, where he played a key role in organizing the American Gynecological Society. In 1905, while vacationing at his Tamworth cottage, Dr. Chadwick died following a fall from a piazza roof. The Chadwick Cottage was sold a year later to Lillian and William G. Farlow, a world-renowned authority on fungi and other non-flowering plants, likely a friend of the late Dr. Chadwick. The cottage and its associated out buildings are lovingly preserved over a century later and exemplify the best of summer cottages in New Hampshire.

Intermont Estate – President Grover Cleveland Summer House // c.1905

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Tucked into the hills of Tamworth, New Hampshire, Intermont was the beloved summer home of President Grover Cleveland and his wife Frances as a respite from the stress and pollution of ordinary life. The Clevelands purchased the property, which built from two farms joined together, in 1905 at a time when Tamworth and the Chocorua area of the White Mountains were rapidly developing into a summer enclave. The old farmhouse was modified and converted into this stately summer cottage, fitting for a President. Architecturally, Intermont reflects the early 20th century rustic movement with a white clapboard exterior, cross-gabled rooflines, and wraparound porches on three sides, opening onto sweeping mountain views. Cleveland spent his final summers here fishing, hunting, and writing before his death in 1908. The property remains one of the finest summer residences in New Hampshire and is lovingly preserved inside and out.

Eastman House – Fleetwood Farm // c.1792

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Perched on a hill just outside Tamworth Village, the Eastman House stands as a stately Federal period farmhouse that later became a summer residence, a parallel to many similar homes in this community. The house was built around 1792 for William Eastman (1738-1800) a Revolutionary War veteran who settled in Tamworth and became selectman, Deacon of the Congregational Church, and Constable in town. The property functioned as a proper farm with detached barns and other agricultural structures that remain today. By the late 19th and early 20th century, the farm became a summer residence and given the name, Fleetwood Farm by residents.

Beauford Lodge Cottage // 1902

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This handsome cottage on Thurber Road in the Onteora Park colony in the Catskills of New York, was built by 1902 for Col. James P. Kimball (1840-1902), and his wife, Maria (Brace) Kimball, as their summer home. James Peleg Kimball was one of the most renowned U.S. Army surgeons of the late nineteenth century. The home was meant to be the couple’s place of respite, but Col. Kimball died here in 1902, not long after the family moved into the home to enjoy the fresh air of the Catskills. Maria Kimball retained the cottage for years until it was sold in 1919, and owned later by Clayton McMichael of Pennsylvania, and a director of the Onteora Summer Theatre. The rustic Shingle/Arts and Crafts style cottage was originally named Beauford Lodge, and was later named Stone Acres by McMichael.

Former Bear and Fox Inn // 1888

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Once the heart of the Onteora Park colony in the Catskills Mountains, this large building was known as the Bear and Fox Inn. The inn was built in 1888 from plans by young architect Dunham Wheeler (1861–1938), the son of the founder of the colony, Ms. Candace Wheeler, along with three cottages, while Ms. Wheeler’s Associated Artists interior design company provided the upholstered furnishings. Candace’s daughter, Dora (Wheeler) Keith, painted an inn sign depicting a bear and fox dancing by the light of the moon. In the early development of Onteora Park, there was no sewer or water system, and the original cottages had no kitchens built within the homes. As a result, the Bear and Fox Inn provided a space where cottagers would meet daily for meals. By the 20th century, cottagers would add kitchens inside their homes, and some dinners and events were moved to the Field House. The Bear and Fox Inn was altered with the removal of the large dining room, and converted to a private residence, which remains to this day. The structure is an excellent example of the Arts and Crafts style in a rustic finishes, typical for Upstate New York summer cottages.

Streeter Cottage // 1882

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In 1881, Gilbert Streeter and his wife Rebecca purchased a small house lot in the Salem Willows for a summer cottage for them to retreat across town to during the warmer months. Gilbert Streeter was an amateur historian, businessman, publisher of the Salem Observer and was able to afford a second residence in his hometown. The Streeter cottage was built by 1882 and stands out not only for its excellent state of preservation, but for its unique architecture. The cross-gabled form cottage is covered in board-and-batten siding with bargeboards lining the eaves.

William Bates Summer Cottage // 1885

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While Salem is best-known for its First Period and Federal style buildings, the Salem Willows neighborhood features some of the finest Victorian summer cottages in the Boston area. This cottage was built in 1885 by William Marston Bates (1820-1912), a Salem-based dentist, as his summer retreat when not in the office. The Stick style cottage has a steep gable roof with jerkinhead clip at the facade and a wrap-around porch with decorative jigsawn bracketed details. The house is a well-preserved example of the style, examples of which are becoming less-and-less frequent in recent years.

Miles Standish Cottage // c.1890

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One of the larger summer cottages on Hull Hill is the Miles Standish Cottage, which dates to around 1890. The cottage was built after the nearby Hull Yacht Club was completed in 1882, which was apparently the second largest yacht club upon its completion. Owner L. Miles Standish was the first owner and the eclectic Craftsman/Shingle style cottage has been lovingly maintained by all subsequent owners. The house appears to now have the name “Last Best Place”, which is very suitable!