Architectural, Cultural sights in Boston
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1712 Ebenezer Clough House
Behind the Paul Revere Mall in the North End. Ebenezer Clough, a Sons of Liberty member who participated in the Boston Tea Party, was a mason who worked on the adjacent Old North Church.
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Old State House
Dating to 1713, the Old State House is Boston’s oldest surviving public building, where the Massachusetts Assembly used to debate the issues of the day before the revolution. It occupies a once prominent spot at the top of State St (then known as King St), which was Boston’s main thoroughfare. The building is best known for its balcony, where the Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians in 1776. The rooftop is graced with lions and unicorns, which were symbols of the British crown. These are replicas, as the originals were torn down in a fit of patriotism after the reading of the Declaration. Inside, the Old State House contains a small museum of revolutio…
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Old Corner Bookstore
In the earliest days of Boston history, this was the site of the home of Anne Hutchinson, the religious dissident who was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay colony and co-founded the Rhode Island colony. The current brick building dates to 1718, when it served as a pharmacy and residence. In the 19th century, however, the house was leased to a bookseller, Carter & Hendlee. This was the first of nine bookshops and publishing companies that would occupy this spot, making it a breeding ground for literary and philosophical ideas. The most illustrious was Ticknor & Fields, publisher of books by Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthorne, Longfellow and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Today the stor…
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John F Kennedy National Historic Site
In 1914 newlyweds Joseph and Rose Kennedy moved into this modest three-story house in the shady streetcar suburb of Brookline. Four of their nine children would be born and raised here, including Jack, who was born in the master bedroom in 1917. Matriarch Rose Kennedy oversaw the restoration and furnishing of the house in the late 1960s; today her narrative sheds light on the Kennedys’ family life. Mandatory guided tours allow visitors to see furnishings, photographs and mementos that have been preserved from the time the family lived here. A self-guided walking tour of the surrounding neighborhood sets the scene for the Kennedy family’s day-to-day life, including church,…
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Longfellow National Historic Site
Brattle St’s most famous resident was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whose stately manor is now a National Historic Site. The poet lived and wrote here for 45 years, from 1837 to 1882, writing many of his most famous poems including Evangeline and Hiawatha. The Georgian mansion contains many of Longfellow’s belongings and lush period gardens. After a long period of restoration, the site now offers poetry readings and historical tours. Incidentally, one reason Longfellow was so taken with this house was its historical significance. During the Revolutionary War, General Washington appropriated this beauty from its absent Loyalist owner and used it as his headquarters.
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Gibson House Museum
When Catherine Hammond Gibson moved to this Italian Renaissance row house in 1860, the Back Bay was barely filled in. This was one of the first houses built on Beacon St, and Ms Gibson was considered quite the pioneer (that she was a female homeowner in this ‘New Land’ was even more unusual). The Gibson House attempts to preserve a piece of Victorian-era Boston, showcasing antique furniture and art that was collected by the Gibson family, especially Catherine’s grandson Charles. Four of six levels are open, allowing visitors to see the servants’ quarters, the high-ceilinged library and music room, and Charles’ bedroom and study.
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House of the Seven Gables
Salem's most famous house is the House of the Seven Gables, made famous in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1851 novel of the same name. As he wrote: ‘Halfway down a by-street of one of our New England towns stands a rusty wooden house, with seven acutely peaked gables facing towards various points of the compass, and a huge clustered chimney in their midst.’ The novel brings to life the gloomy Puritan atmosphere of early New England and its effects on the people’s psyches; the house does the same. The admission fee allows entrance to the site’s four historic buildings, as well as the luxuriant gardens on the waterfront.
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Beauport Mansion
The lavish ‘summer cottage’ of interior designer Henry Davis Sleeper is known as Beauport Mansion, or the Sleeper-McCann mansion. Sleeper toured New England in search of houses about to be demolished and bought up selected elements from each: wood paneling, architectural elements and furniture. In place of unity, Sleeper created a wildly eclectic but artistically surprising – and satisfying – place to live. Now in the care of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Beauport is open to visitors. Beauport also holds afternoon teas, evening concerts and other special events.
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Otis House Museum
This stern, Federal brick building stands in stark contrast to the modern development all around it. It was the first of three houses designed by Charles Bulfinch for Mr Harrison Gray Otis at the end of the 18th century. A real estate developer, congressman and mayor of Boston, Otis and his wife Sally were renowned entertainers who hosted many lavish parties here. Since then the house has had quite a history, serving as a women’s bath and rooming house. These days it is the headquarters of Historic New England, a preservation society that has recreated the interior of the Otis’ day.
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Rotch-Jones-Duff House & Garden Museum
New Bedford’s grandest historic house was designed in Greek revival style by Richard Upjohn (1802–78), first president of the American Institute of Architects. Occupying an entire city block, it was built for whaling merchant William Rotch Jr in 1834 and owned by three prominent families in the following 150 years. The house contains the furniture and trinkets of these families, tracing the progression of the house’s history through the years. The grounds are absolutely lovely landscaped gardens, and include the irresistible Woodland Walk.
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Hooper-Lee-Nichols House
This c 1685 Georgian mansion has been changed several times over the course of its 300-plus-year history, first to modernize and hide its original appearance, and then to recover its historically accurate appearance. Now the headquarters of the Cambridge Historical Society, the house is open for occasional architectural tours (check the website for the schedule, which fluctuates). Highlights include the massive stone fireplace in the Chandler room and hand-painted wallpaper in the Bosphorous room.
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Great House Site
A sweet oasis in the midst of Charlestown, City Sq is also an archaeological site. Big Dig construction unearthed the foundation for a structure called the Great House, widely believed to be John Winthrop’s house and the seat of government in 1630. Winthrop soon moved across the Charles to the Shawmut Peninsula, and the Great House became the Three Cranes Tavern, as documented in 1635. Informative dioramas demonstrate the remains of the kitchen, the main hall and the wine cellar.
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Historical Society of Old Newbury
Cushing House, a 21-room Federal home houses the Historical Society of Old Newbury. The home is decked out with fine furnishings and decorative pieces from the region. Collections of portraits, silver, needlework, toys and clocks are all on display, not to mention the impressive Oriental collection from Newburyport’s early Chinese trade. The society offers guided tours, exhibits, special events and lectures. The last tour begins one hour before closing.
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The Wayside: House of Authors
The Wayside: House of Authors was at various times the home of Nathaniel Hawthorne, children’s author Margaret Sidney and Louisa May Alcott. Life-size sculptures and audio programming depict all three of these famous authors (and their families) during the times that they lived here. Now operated by the National Park Service, it is open by guided tour only.
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Paul Revere House
When silversmith Paul Revere rode to warn patriots of the British march to Lexington and Concord, he set out from his home on North Sq. This small clapboard house was built in 1680, making it the oldest house in Boston. The structure actually violated building codes of the day, which – in the wake of the fire of 1676 – required brick construction. Nonetheless, the house survived and has now been restored to its 17th-century appearance. A self-guided tour through the house and courtyard gives a glimpse of what life was like for the Revere family (which included 16 children!). Also on display are some examples of his silversmithing and engraving talents, as well as an impre…
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Great House, Crane Estate
On Castle Hill sits the 1920s estate of Chicago plumbing-fixture magnate Richard T Crane. The 59-room Stuart-style Great House is the site of summer concerts and special events. It’s open for tours in summer, but only a few days a week. The lovely landscaped grounds, which are open daily, contain several miles of walking trails.
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Stephen Phillips Memorial Trust House
Lovers of old houses should venture to Chestnut St, which is among the most architecturally lovely streets in the country. One of these stately homes is the Stephen Phillips Memorial Trust House, which displays the family furnishings of Salem sea captains, including a collection of antique carriages and cars.
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Witch House
Best of Salem's other 'witchy' sites is the Witch House, the home of the magistrate who presided over the trials. To dig deeper, read Arthur Miller's The Crucible, which doubles as a parable to the 1950s anticommunist 'witch hunts' in the US Senate that resulted in Miller's own blacklisting.
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Ebenezer Hancock House
Part of Blackstone Block is the c 1767 Ebenezer Hancock House in Creek Sq, home of John Hancock's brother. At the base of the shop next door, the 1737 Boston Stone served as the terminus for measuring distances to and from 'the Hub.' (The State House dome now serves this purpose.)
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Richard Sparrow House
As New England’s oldest European community, Plymouth has its share of fine old houses, some very old indeed. The oldest is the Richard Sparrow House, built by one of the original Pilgrim settlers in 1640. Today the house contains a gallery that exhibits interesting art by local artists.
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Jeremiah Lee Mansion
The Marblehead Historical Society operates the Georgian Jeremiah Lee Mansion, which was built in 1768 on the order of a prominent merchant. It is now a museum with period furnishings, and collections of toys and children’s furniture, folk art and nautical and military artifacts.
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Marblehead Arts Association
Housed in the King Hooper mansion, four floors of exhibit space have shows changing monthly. Besides rotating exhibits, this facility hosts lectures, classes, receptions and occasional performance pieces by local artists.
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Pickering House
Furnished in antiques, Salem’s Pickering House is said to be the oldest house in the USA continuously occupied by the same family.
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Spooner House
The Plymouth Antiquarian Society maintains three historic houses, but only the Spooner House is open for tours.
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Old South Meeting House
‘No tax on tea!’ That was the decision on December 16, 1773, when 5000 angry colonists gathered here to protest British taxes, leading to the Boston Tea Party. This brick meeting house, with its soaring steeple, was also used as a church house. In fact Ben Franklin was baptized here. Which is why he found it so abhorrent when – after the Tea Party – British soldiers used the building for a stable and riding practice. The Old South congregation moved to a new building in Back Bay in 1875, when Ralph Waldo Emerson and Julia Ward Howe gathered support to convert the church into a museum. The graceful meeting house is still a gathering place for discussion, although not as mu…
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