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Maine
Dramatically sited on a hill overlooking the Sheepscot River, Castle Tucker tells the story of a prominent shipping family’s life on the coast of Maine over a period of 150 years. From 1858 until the end of the twentieth century, both the Tucker family and their imposing house survived economic upheavals, emotional turmoil, and a […]
Shipping magnate William Nickels had this impressive mansion built in 1807 as a symbol of his wealth and status. His ships traveled to Europe and the West Indies, bringing back fine imported goods for wealthy Wiscasset households. William and Jane Nickels’ lavish lifestyle came to an abrupt end when Thomas Jefferson’s Embargo of 1807 devastated […]
Framed by dense woods and set in rolling hills overlooking a pristine section of the Kennebec River, the 1762 Bowman House is a rare survivor of domestic eighteenth-century elegance in a rural setting. Lawyer and later Judge Jonathan Bowman built the stylish house and furnished it with exquisite Boston-made furniture, Chinese export porcelain, and imported […]
In 1796 Daniel Marrett, a recent Harvard graduate, moved to Standish, Maine, to become the town minister. He bought the most imposing house in town to reflect his status as the community’s leading citizen. Three generations of Marretts remained there for nearly 150 years. Marrett House is a classic example of the “big house, little […]
Iconic Maine author Sarah Orne Jewett was born in her grandparents’ eighteenth-century house in 1849. She lived there with her family until she was five years old, when the family built a Greek Revival house next door. As Sarah gained attention as a writer, she and her family lived in the two Portland Street homes […]
In a picturesque setting overlooking the Salmon Falls River, this striking Georgian mansion, a National Landmark c. 1785, and its landscape share a history that mirrors that of its Southern Maine region. Hamilton House is located on the homeland of the Wabanaki. After European colonists took ownership of the area known as South Berwick, Maine, […]
At Sayward-Wheeler House, overlooking the York River, free and enslaved people lived in close proximity as the dramatic events of the American Revolutionary War unfolded around them. Enslaved household members Prince and Cato sought freedom, while the wealthy and esteemed property owner, Jonathan Sayward, found himself at the center of turmoil. On land once home […]
New Hampshire
Merchant James Rundlet and his wife Jane built their home on a terraced rise and filled it with the finest furnishings available. It was both an urban showplace and home for the Rundlets’ large family. Rundlet-May House shows four generations of family possessions, ranging from original 1807 wallcoverings and furniture to twentieth-century additions by the […]
A National Historic Landmark, Langdon House is an exceptional Georgian mansion which George Washington “esteemed the first” in Portsmouth. Its reception rooms are of a grand scale suited to ceremonial occasions and are ornamented by elaborate wood carving in the Rococo style. John Langdon was a merchant and shipbuilder. A three-term governor of New Hampshire, […]
A National Historic Landmark, Jackson House is the oldest surviving wood-frame house in New Hampshire. It was built by Richard Jackson, a woodworker, farmer, and mariner. It resembles English post-Medieval prototypes, but is notably American in its extravagant use of wood. Succeeding generations added a lean-to by 1715, along with more additions in the 1700s […]
In 1709 the Gilman family built a garrison, or fortified structure, near the banks of the Squamscott River on land that had been the home of the Pennacook people for thousands of years. Starting in the mid-seventeenth century, the Gilmans built lucrative sawmills on the river, which devastated local fish stocks and made navigation of […]
Barrett House, also known as Forest Hall, was built c. 1800 by Charles Barrett Sr. for his son Charles Jr. and daughter-in-law Martha Minot on the occasion of their marriage. Its grand scale was encouraged by Martha’s father, who promised to furnish the house in as lavish a manner as Barrett Sr. could build it. […]
Massachusetts
Rocky Hill Meeting House is one of the best preserved examples of an original eighteenth-century meeting house interior. The fact that it has served no active congregation since the mid-nineteenth century led to its remarkable state of preservation. Eighteenth-century hardware remains intact throughout the building. The marbleized pulpit and pillars supporting the upper galleries still […]
Dole-Little House was built c. 1715 with materials salvaged from an earlier structure. Its first owner was Richard Dole, a cattleman, who built a two-room, central-chimney house with a small kitchen shed at the rear. This shed has since been replaced with a larger lean-to. Decorative carpentry and finishes include chamfered edges, molded sheathing (especially […]
Coffin House, occupied by the Coffin family over three centuries, reveals insights into domestic life in rural New England. The house, which contains the family furnishings, began as a simple dwelling built in the post-medieval style. Tristram Coffin and his family lived, cooked, and slept in two or possibly three rooms; their possessions were few. […]
In 1911 Swett-Ilsley House became the first property acquired by Historic New England, just a year after our founding. The original portion, built in 1670 by Stephen Swett, was one room deep, and later additions more than doubled the size of the house. Over the centuries the building served as a tavern, chocolate shop, chandlery, […]
Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm is a family-friendly National Historic Landmark with activities for all ages. The 230-acre site includes a 1690 manor house that served as the country seat of wealthy Newburyport merchants and an attached farmhouse that was home to a Lithuanian family for most of the twentieth century. Take a tour or come to one […]
Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House, a National Historic Landmark, was the summer home of one of America’s first professional interior designers, Henry Davis Sleeper. Perched on a rock ledge overlooking Gloucester Harbor, Beauport was Sleeper’s retreat, backdrop for entertaining, and professional showcase, and an inspiration to all who visited. After Sleeper’s death, Beauport was purchased by […]
A must-see for lovers of American folk art, Cogswell’s Grant was the summer home of renowned collectors Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little. The colonial-era farmhouse is a rich backdrop for their celebrated collection, assembled over nearly sixty years. Though known for their research, the Littles decorated with an eye for visual delight rather than […]
Salem shipwright Eleazer Gedney built the earliest portion of Gedney House in 1665. Originally the house was asymmetrical, with two rooms on the first floor, a single chamber above, and an attic with a front-facing gable. Significant renovations in 1712 and 1800 resulted in dramatic changes to the house’s appearance. Gedney House is significant both […]
In 1821 four intact rooms from an earlier house were transported by ox sled to Salem’s fashionable Chestnut Street to form the core of a new Federal-style mansion being built by Captain Nathaniel West. Nearly a century later, Anna Phillips bought the house and launched a fourteen-month renovation in the Colonial Revival style. Today Phillips […]
Boardman House, a national historic landmark, was built in 1692 for the family of William Boardman. With the majority of the original structure still intact, the house remains unaltered from the 17th and 18th centuries. Boardman House provides an exceptional opportunity to view seventeenth- and eighteenth-century construction techniques and finishes. When Historic New England founder, […]
Cooper-Frost-Austin House is clearly documented as the oldest dwelling standing in the city of Cambridge. The same family owned it for more than 250 years. Built by Samuel Cooper in 1681, the house is one of the earliest examples of an integral lean-to “half house” consisting of a “low room,” “little room,” “kitchin,” “Chamber,” “kitchin […]
Walter Gropius, founder of the German design school known as the Bauhaus, was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. He designed Gropius House as his family home when he came to teach architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Modest in scale, the house was revolutionary in impact. Gropius House is […]
Overlooking a farm and pleasure grounds, this country seat, also known as “the Grange,” was a powerful force in the lives of five generations of the Codman family. Each generation left its mark, and the estate came to symbolize the family’s fascinating past. Today the house is filled with art and memorabilia collected in Europe […]
The Lyman Estate, also known as “the Vale,” is a National Historic Landmark and one of the finest U.S. examples of a country estate following eighteenth-century English naturalistic design. In 1793 shipping merchant Theodore Lyman commissioned famed architect Samuel McIntire to design and build a Federal-style house for his family. The family enlarged the house […]
The Lyman Estate Greenhouses are among the oldest surviving greenhouses in the United States. The complex includes an 1804 grape house, 1820 camellia house, 1930 orchid house, and a 1840s sales greenhouse where you can buy plants to take home. Our expert horticultural staff offers advice and assistance with plant selection and culture. No matter […]
Built between 1694 and 1701 for a farming family, Browne House contains rare surviving architectural features from the late 1600s. In a near ruinous state when it was acquired by Historic New England founder William Sumner Appleton in 1919, the house was painstakingly restored in what is acknowledged to be the first fully documented restoration […]
Otis House is the last surviving mansion in Bowdoin Square in Boston’s West End neighborhood. Charles Bulfinch designed the house for Harrison Gray Otis, a lawyer who was instrumental in developing nearby Beacon Hill, served in Congress, and was a mayor of Boston. It is the first of three houses Bulfinch designed for Otis and […]
Pierce House is one of the last surviving examples of seventeenth-century architecture in the city of Boston. Lived in by ten generations of one family, the house documents the building practices and tastes of the Pierces over three centuries. Family members expanded and adapted their house to meet demands for space, function, comfort, and privacy. […]
Explore a rare surviving example of late nineteenth-century architecture and design. Designed by renowned Boston architect W. Ralph Emerson and built in 1878, the Eustis Estate sits on eighty acres of picturesque landscape at the base of the Blue Hills. Full of stunning, intact architectural and design details, the Eustis Estate is a historic site […]
This country estate overlooking Quincy Bay transports you to the Revolutionary War era and tells the story of a woman’s work to preserve her family’s history more than 100 years later. Revolutionary leader Josiah Quincy built the house in 1770. He and his family played key roles in the social and political life of Massachusetts […]
In 1936 Mary Thacher had Winslow Crocker House moved six miles down the Old King’s Highway. Over ten months, the house was taken apart, beam by beam, and reassembled next door to her ancestral home in Yarmouth Port. She remodeled the interior to provide an attractive backdrop to the significant collection of antique furniture she […]
William and Elizabeth Doane purchased this late Federal-style house in 1875 as their summer retreat. During this period, Stockbridge, in the heart of the Berkshires, became a popular summer destination for New Yorkers like the Doanes. In 1900 they added a Shingle Style wing that wrapped around the back of the house and included a […]
Connecticut
Built in 1846 in the newly fashionable Gothic Revival style, Roseland Cottage was the summer home of Henry and Lucy Bowen and their young family. While the house is instantly recognizable for its pink exterior, Roseland Cottage has an equally colorful interior, featuring elaborate wall coverings, heavily patterned carpets, and stained glass, much of which […]
Rhode Island
Clemence-Irons House is both one of the oldest houses in the Ocean State and an important record of twentieth-century restoration methods. Built by Richard Clemence in 1691, it is a rare surviving example of a stone-ender, a once common building type with roots in western England. Passing through a series of owners over hundreds of […]
Arnold House is a rare surviving example of a stone-ender, a once-common building type featuring a massive chimney end wall. Built by Eleazer Arnold in 1693, the house features stone work that reflects the origins and skills of the settlers who emigrated from the western part of England. The house is a National Historic Landmark. […]
Located by the bay on the ancestral homeland of the Narragansett People, Casey Farm once produced food for local and coastal markets and was one of many plantations tied to slavery. Today, farm managers raise organically grown produce for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and the seasonal Casey Farm Market. Choose from a wide […]
For millennia, Indigenous people lived well on Conanicut Island, using controlled burning to clear the land for hunting and cultivation. European colonizers sought the resulting grasslands for their animals. After 1657, the land was owned by three governors and worked by enslaved people and tenant farmers. In 1789, Job Watson purchased the farm that would […]
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