Capt. John Wilson House and Bates Ship Chandlery facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Capt. John Wilson House and Bates Ship Chandlery
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Wilson House (l.) and Bates Chandlery (r.)
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 Location in Massachusetts
Location in the United States
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| Location | Cohasset, Massachusetts |
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| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1754 |
| Architect | Nicholas, David |
| Architectural style | Federal, Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 02001614 |
| Added to NRHP | December 27, 2002 |
The Captain John Wilson House and Bates Ship Chandlery are two very old and important buildings in Cohasset, Massachusetts. You can find them at 4 Elm Street. Today, the Cohasset Historical Society owns these buildings.
If you visit in the summer, you can explore the Captain John Wilson House. It is now a historic house museum, which means it looks like it did long ago. The Bates Ship Chandlery building has cool displays about Cohasset's history with the sea. Both buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. This means they are special and worth protecting!
What Are These Buildings Like?
These two historic buildings are in the middle of Cohasset's downtown area. They sit on the north side of Elm Street, close to Main Street. They share one piece of land, with a pretty garden and a picket fence in front. Behind them, you can see natural rock formations.
The Wilson House
The Wilson House is a wooden building with two and a half stories. It has four sections across the front. The roof slopes down on the sides, and there are chimneys at each end. The outside is covered with horizontal wooden boards called clapboard siding.
The house shows off a style called Federal architecture. This means it has fancy details like columns (called pilasters) and a decorative border (called a dentillated cornice) around the front door. A shingled addition was built onto the back around 1830. This makes the house look like a saltbox, which is a type of house with a long, sloping roof at the back.
Inside, the main room is on the right side. On the left, there's a smaller, unfinished space. A large fireplace sticks out into the main room. A narrow staircase behind the fireplace leads up to the second floor.
A local builder named David Nicholas built this house around 1810. This was a time when many new buildings were going up. Soon after, Captain John Wilson bought the house. Captain Wilson was a sailor who operated ships from Cohasset Harbor. People say he also ran a chandlery from his house. A chandlery is a store that sells supplies for ships, like ropes, sails, and tools.
The Wilson family owned the house until 1912. After that, it was used for different businesses. In 1936, it was given to the Cohasset Historical Society.
The Bates Ship Chandlery
The Bates Ship Chandlery is a two-story wooden building located to the east of the Wilson House. It has a hip roof, which means all sides slope downwards to the walls. Like the Wilson House, it's covered in clapboard siding.
This building was originally located near Bates Wharf, right on the waterfront. In 1957, it was carefully moved to its current spot. The chandlery was built way back in 1754! It is one of the oldest and best-preserved buildings that reminds us of Cohasset's early history as a busy port town. It shows how important shipping was to the town long ago.
See Also
- Pratt Historic Building
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Norfolk County, Massachusetts
