Massachusetts
Recent Articles
The Clough House
Walking through Boston’s North End, we stopped at the Clough House on Unity Street, behind Old North Church. Its brick exterior holds a history that reaches beyond colonial Boston into the lives of immigrant families who later made this neighborhood their home. Built around 1715, the house was the home of master bricklayer Ebenezer Clough, […]
The Skinny House
Across from Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, a remarkably narrow wooden house stands among the larger brick buildings of Boston’s North End. At 44 Hull Street, the Skinny House rises four stories while measuring only about ten feet across its street-facing exterior. Its entrance is tucked into the alley beside it, allowing the slender front to […]
The Paul Revere House
Many of our visits to Boston lead us along the Freedom Trail, even if we follow only a small portion of it. As we meandered through the North End, we returned to the Paul Revere House in North Square. Its wooden exterior, overhanging second story, and diamond-paned windows stand apart from the taller buildings surrounding […]
George Middleton House
Standing at 5 Pinckney Street on Boston’s Beacon Hill, the George Middleton House preserves an important chapter in the city’s early African American history. Constructed between 1786 and 1787, it is considered the oldest surviving residence on Beacon Hill and a rare example of a late-eighteenth-century Boston home built and owned by African Americans. The […]
The Samuel Lincoln House
This house on North Street in Hingham marks the beginning of President Abraham Lincoln’s family story in America. The historical marker beside it identifies the property purchased in 1649 by Samuel Lincoln, the president’s fourth great-grandfather. Samuel Lincoln was born in England in 1622 and came to Massachusetts while still a teenager. Known as “Samuel […]
The Bartlett–Russell–Hedge House
Standing prominently on Court Street, the Bartlett–Russell–Hedge House is one of Plymouth’s finest examples of Federal-style architecture. Its symmetrical façade, Palladian window, entrance balcony, and rooftop cupola distinguish it from the surrounding commercial buildings. The house was constructed in 1803 for Joseph Bartlett, a Plymouth Sea captain. Its design has been attributed to Charles Bulfinch, […]
Samuel Lucas – Thomas Howland House
Standing at 36 North Street, the Samuel Lucas–Thomas Howland House does not immediately reveal its extraordinary age. Its white clapboard exterior, regularly spaced windows, and later additions give it the appearance of a traditional New England home. Hidden within that familiar exterior, however, is a structure believed to date from about 1637–1640, placing it among […]
The Third Harrison Gray Otis House
When I came across this house at 45 Beacon Street, I recognized the Otis name because I had already visited the Harrison Gray Otis House near Massachusetts General Hospital. What I didn’t realize was that the Cambridge Street house was only the beginning of the family’s story. Harrison Gray Otis eventually built three Boston houses, […]
The Benjamin Nye Homestead
While exploring East Sandwich, I stopped at the Benjamin Nye Homestead. From the outside it looks like the kind of weathered, shingled house that seems completely at home on Cape Cod. What I didn’t initially appreciate was just how old it is. The earliest portion of this house was built in 1678, making it one […]
Peace Field
There are some historic homes that you visit once, and there are others that continue to draw you back. For me, the Adams National Historical Park in Quincy is one of those places. Living in Massachusetts, we have had the opportunity to visit many times, and each visit reveals something new about one of America’s […]
Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm
There are some historic homes that stand apart from all the others, and the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm in Newbury, Massachusetts, is certainly one of them. The moment I saw its weathered brick walls and centuries-old architecture, I realized this was not the typical colonial farmhouse. It possesses a quiet strength that reflects more than three hundred […]
The Wing Fort House
Along Spring Hill Road in East Sandwich stands a house whose simple exterior hides an extraordinary history. The Wing Fort House dates to about 1641, placing its beginnings within the first years of Sandwich itself. What makes it especially unusual is the continuity of the family connected with it: generations of the Wing family occupied […]
