Historic Homes in the Mid-Atlantic and New England
Online
tour of selected 17th, 18th & 19th century American homes in the Mid-Atlantic and New England
Starting Points:
- Historic House Museums in
the U.S. -- This web site was prepared by the Victorian
Preservation Association of Santa Clara Valley, California, but includes New England and mid-Atlantic historic
homes listed are from the 17th, 18th and early 19th century.
- Historic New England -- Lists 25 New England museum properties and more. (formerly Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities)
- WWW Links
to Living History, Agricultural and Open Air Museums -- Links to more than 80 web sites of living history museums
in the U.S. and other countries, many of which have historic houses as
part of the museum (such as Old Sturbridge Village).
American architectural styles
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Mid-Atlantic -- Delaware:
- Hagley Museum and Library / Eleutherian
Mills, Wilmington (c. 1803) -- Built by E. I. du Pont as first du Pont family home. Georgian-style residence furnished with antiques of the five generations of du Ponts. Includes Blacksmith Hill with Gibbons House, home to powder yard foremen and their families.
- Read House and Garden, New Castle (c. 1801) -- Built by George Read, son of one of Delaware's signers of the Declaration of Independence, exhibits the height of Federal
grandeur. Owned by Historical Society of Delaware.
- Cannonball
House, Lewes (c. 1797) -- House that survived the bombardment of Lewes in 1813.
- Fisher Martin House, Lewes (c. 1730) -- Now the Lewes Chamber of Commerce Visitors Bureau's Information Center.
- Historic Milton
-- Milton was first settled in 1672 by English colonists, and known by various names until 1807, when it was named after the English poet, John Milton. Includes both Victorian and Colonial style homes.
- Lewes Historical Society Complex including:
- Burton-Ingram House (c. 1800) -- Home of hand-hewn timbers, cypress shingles, and beautiful antiques.
- Rabbits Ferry House (c. 1789) -- 18th century farmhouse with original, paneling, and period pieces.
- Thompson Country Store -- Built in Thompsonville, Del., in 1800 and operated as a country store until 1962.
- Plank House -- Early Swedish log cabin furnished as an early settler's cabin , may be the oldest building in Lewes.
- Doctor's Office (c. 1850) -- Medical and dental museum.
- Ryves Holt House, Lewes (c. 1665) -- Oldest
house in Delaware. Belongs to the Lewes Historical Society.
- "A Tour of Lewes" -- a virtual tour of Lewes, Delaware, settled in 1631. Includes public and private houses.
- Winterthur Musem and Gardens, Wilmington.
Including the Period Room Tour. The former country estate of Henry Francis du Pont, Winterthur is a museum filled with his collection of American decorative arts made or used in America between 1640 and 1860 a 60-acre garden that features color throughout the year; and a research library for the study of American art and material culture.
- Historic Houses of Odessa, Odessa, Delaware --
Four historic houses from the 18th and 19th centuries. Part of Winterthur Museum.
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Maryland
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New Jersey
- Bainbridge House, Princeton --
Historical Society of Princeton, New Jersey.
- Historic Cold Spring Village --
Including the Phillip
S. Hand House and others listed on the Building
List by Name.
- Historic Places and Museums in Central New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania --
Includes descriptions of the Wallace House and Old Dutch Parsonage in Somerville, as well as many others.
- Morristown National Historical Park -- Includes the Ford Mansion (George Washington's Headquarters), the Wick House used during the Revolutionary War, and Jockey Hollow.
- Steuben House: (c. 1752) --
New Bridge Landing in Bergen County. A Revolutionary landmark whose architecture
and historic furnishings which recall the Bergen Dutch. Confiscated from Loyalist Jan Zabriskie in 1781, the State
of New Jersey presented it to Major-General Baron von Steuben, of the Continental Army in 1783. For more information on
other Bergen County historic houses see the Bergen County Historical Society.
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New York
- Bowne House, Flushing (c. 1661) -- The John Bowne House. Built by Flushing merchant and landowner John Bowne, whose supporters who wrote the Flushing Remonstrance, demanding the right to practice religion of choice. This document served as inspiration for the adoption of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Note: from the "About Queens" page, select "Queens Historical Society."
- Bronx County Historical Society -- Includes exterior photo
of the Edgar Allen Poe cottage. (Select The Bronx from the left menu, then Poe Cottage.)
- Eastfield Village, Nassau
- The Historic House Trust of New York City -- 19 historic house museums located in New York City parks. Web site includes exteriors photos of four houses.
- Hudson Valley Network -- Including:
- "In Search of Old New York" -- Online article (no longer available online)
- Kingsland Homestead, Flushing, Queens (c. 1785) -- Queens Historical Society
- Montgomery Place, Annandale-on-Hudson (c. 1804)
- Philipsburg Manor, Sleepy Hollow -- Working
18th century house and farm restored by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
- Sunnyside, Tarrytown (c. 1835) -- Home of author Washington Irving
- Van Cortland Manor, Croton-on-Hudson --
18th century stone manor house.
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Pennsylvania
- Barns-Brinton House, Chadds Ford (c. 1714)
- Betsy Ross House, Philadelphia
(c. 1740) -- Betsy Ross rented this house from 1773 to 1786.
- Brandywine Battlefield, Chadds Ford --
Site of the Battle of Brandywine in 1777. Includes: Washington's Headquarters at Benjamin Ring's house and
Lafayette's Headquarters at Gideon Gilpin's House.
- Conrad Weiser Homestead,
Womelsdorf
- Daniel Boone Homestead, Birdsboro, Berks County --
Site of the birth of the great American frontiersman in 1734.
- Edgar Allen Poe National Historic Site, Philadelphia
- Friendship Hill House, Point Marion -- National Historic Site.
Estate of Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
- Glen Foerd on the Delaware (c. 1850) -- Historic riverfront estate.
- Hope Lodge, Fort Washington -- Built between 1743 and 1748 by Samuel Morris, a prosperous Quaker entrepreneur. Includes an online Virtual Tour.
- Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, Birdsboro, Berks County (c. 1780)
-- Ironmaster's house and workers houses.
- John Chads House, Chadds Ford (c. 1725)
- Landis Valley Museum, Lancaster -- 18 & 19th century Pennsylvania German heritage living history museum. Website has Virtual tour including "Log Home".
- Pearl S. Buck House, Perkasie (c. 1835)
- Pennsbury Manor, Morrisville. William Penn's 17th century manor house. The manor was built c. 1683-99, destroyed at the end of the 18th century and recreated in the late 1930's. Includes online Photo Gallery.
- Peter Wentz Farmstead, Center Point -- Wonderful to see but not on the web.
The 90 acre working farm has a Georgian style mansion furnished in period. Call (610) 584-5104.
- Schriver House, Gettysburg (c. 1860) --
The home of civil war hero George Washington Schriver.
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Virginia
- Colonial Williamsburg including:
- Bassett Hall -- Built between 1753-1766. Once the Williamsburg home of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
- James Geddy House (c. 1762)
- Peyton Randolph House (c. 1715)
- George Wythe House (c. 1750-1755)
- Gunston Hall Plantantion, Mason Neck (c. 1755) -- 18th century plantation home of George Mason.
- Monticello, Charlottesville -- 18th
century home of Thomas Jefferson.
- Mount Vernon -- 18th century home of George Washington
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New England -- Connecticut
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Maine
- Hamilton House, South Berwick
(c. 1785) -- Extensive grounds and gardens. In coastal Maine.
- Nickels-Sortwell
House, Wiscasset (c.1807) -- House with elegant facade dominates
Wiscasset. Built by Captain William Nickels, a ship owner and trader.
- Sarah Orne Jewett House, South Berwick (c.1774) --
Stately Georgian residence.
- Sayward Wheeler House,York Harbor
(c. 1718) -- Overlooks a once thriving waterfront.
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Massachusetts
- Beverly Historical Society: Historic Houses
-- Includes Cabot House (c. 1781), Balch House (c. 1636), and Rev. Hale Farm (c. 1723).
- Cogswell's Grant, Essex (c. 1730). The summer home of Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little, preeminent collectors of American decorative arts in the mid 20th century.They restored it carefully, trying to preserve original 18th-century finishes and carefully documenting their work. In more
than 50 years of collecting, they sought works of strong, even quirky character,
and in particular favored objects with their original finishes and New England histories.
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Coffin House, Newbury (c. 1654)
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Emily Dickinson
Homestead, Amherst (c. 1813). Poet Emily Dickinson. Dickinson
lived all but fifteen years of her life at the Homestead, where she wrote
most of her extraordinary poems. Owned by Amherst College and open
for tours.
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Historic Deerfield, Deerfield.
14 historic homes; official home page.
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Hoxie House, Sandwich
(c. 1637). Classic saltbox most likely the oldest house
on Cape Cod. It was the home of the town's second minister, Rev. John Smith,
his wife, Susanna, and their 13 children. It is named for Abraham Hoxie,
a Sandwich whaling captain who bought it in the 1850s. Remarkably, its
occupants lived without electricity, plumbing or central heat until the
early 1950s. In the late 1950's the town purchased the Hoxie House and
restored it to its current late-17th century condition. The museum is open
daily from June through mid-October from 10 AM to 5 PM.
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House of Seven Gables, Salem (c. 1668).
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Merwin House, Stockbridge (c. 1825).
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Orchard House, Concord (c. early 1700s). Home to Louisa May Alcott's family from 1858 to 1877.
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Peabody Essex Museum, Salem -- Twenty-three pre-Civil War structures,
(including outbuildings); eight are listed on the National Register of
Historic Places; four are National Historic Landmarks; three
buildings are designed, wholly or in part, by Samuel McIntire; and
three, wholly or in part, date from the 17th century.
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Quincy House, Quincy (c.1770).
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Salem, Massachusetts
Architecture
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The Little Farm (Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm, Newbury (c. 1690).
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Stephen
Phillips Memorial Trust House, Salem (c. 1806).
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The
Witch House, Salem. Only structure still standing in Salem with
direct ties to the 1692 Salem Witch Trials.
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New Hampshire
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Gilman Garrison House, Exeter (c. 1690). The frontier towns of New England lived with the threat of Indian attack. The Gilman Garrison House, described in 1719
as "the old logg house," was built as a fortified house.
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Governor John Langdon House, Portsmouth (c.1784). Home of John Langdon, a merchant, shipbuilder, Revolutionary leader, signer of the United States Constitution, and three-term
governor of New Hampshire.
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John Paul Jones House Museum, Portsmouth (c. 1758). John Paul Jones stayed here for two visits to Portsmouth.
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Jackson House, Portsmouth (c. 1664).
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Rhode Island
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Arnold House (c. 1687). A rare surviving example of a "stone-ender," a once common building type first developed in the western part of England.
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Clemence-Irons House, Johnston (c. 1680). Another rare surviving example of a "stone-ender."
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Newport Mansions, Newport.
Includes the Breakers (c. 1893).
Vermont
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Selected historic
inns in the mid-Atlantic and New England states
General web sites listing and describing many historic inns in America:
Selected historic inns:
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Connecticut
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Delaware
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Maine
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Maryland
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Massachusetts
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Deerfield Inn, Deerfield, 1884
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The Publick House, Sturbridge, 1731
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The Red Lion Inn, Stockbridge, 1773
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Salem Cross Inn, West Brookfield, National Historic Landmark
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Wayside Inn, Sudbury, 1702 (Longfellow's Wayside Inn)
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New Hampshire
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Rhode Island
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Vermont
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Buying
and preserving a historic home
Other
interesting links for those interested in historic homes
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Originally presented October 22, 1998 by Sandra Millard, Assistant Director for Library Public Services. Part of the University of Delaware Library Electronic Lunch series.
This page is maintained by Rebecca
Knight, Reference Department.
Last modified: 08/12/04
