List of historic houses in Massachusetts facts for kids

This is a list of amazing old houses in Massachusetts. These homes are called historic houses because they have been around for a long time and have important stories to tell. They show us how people lived in the past, from early settlers to famous writers and leaders. Many of these houses are now museums, so you can visit them and step back in time!

Samuel Lincoln House, Hingham, built on land purchased in 1649 by Samuel Lincoln, an ancestor of President Abraham Lincoln.

The Stephen Phillips House in Salem is over 200 years old. It was designed by Samuel McIntire and is now a historic house museum run by Historic New England. You can take tours here!

Exploring Western Massachusetts Homes

Berkshire County's Historic Houses

In Berkshire County, you can find many interesting old homes.

• Lenox
  • The Mount: This was the home of famous author Edith Wharton. It was built in 1902.
  • Ventfort Hall: A grand mansion built in 1893 in the Jacobean style. It belonged to George and Sarah Morgan (J.P. Morgan's sister).
• Pittsfield
  • Arrowhead: Built in 1780, this was the home of author Herman Melville, who wrote Moby Dick.
• Stockbridge
  • Chesterwood: This was the home and studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French in the 1920s. He created the Lincoln Memorial statue.
  • The Mission House: Built in 1739, this house belonged to the first missionary to the Mohegan Native Americans in Stockbridge.
  • Naumkeag: A large, 44-room country house designed in 1885 by famous architect Stanford White.
• Other notable homes:
  • Anthony House: In Adams, this is the birthplace of Susan B. Anthony, a leader in the women's rights movement.
  • Colonel John Ashley House: Built around 1735 in Sheffield.

Franklin County's Old Buildings

• Deerfield
  • Sheldon–Hawks House: Built in 1743.
• Greenfield
  • Leavitt–Hovey House: Built in 1799 by architect Asher Benjamin.

Hampden County's Historical Houses

• Agawam
  • Capt. Charles Leonard House: Built in 1805, also designed by Asher Benjamin.
  • Thomas and Esther Smith House: A good example of Georgian architecture from 1757.
• Chicopee
  • Edward Bellamy House: Built in 1852, this was the home of writer Edward Bellamy.
• East Longmeadow
  • Elijah Burt House: Built between 1720 and 1740, this house was a stop on the Underground Railroad, a secret network that helped enslaved people find freedom.
• Hampden
  • Laughing Brook Wildlife Sanctuary: This was the home of author Thornton Burgess, known for his nature stories.
• Holyoke
  • Wistariahurst: A large home built in 1868 for William Skinner.
• West Springfield
  • Josiah Day House: Built in 1754, this is the oldest known brick saltbox house. A saltbox house has a long, low roof in the back, like old salt boxes.

Hampshire County's Historic Sites

• Amherst
  • Dickinson Homestead: This was the home of famous poet Emily Dickinson.
  • Strong House: Built around 1744, this is now home to the Amherst Historical Society.
• Cummington
  • William Cullen Bryant Homestead: The home of poet William Cullen Bryant.
• Hadley
  • Porter–Phelps–Huntington House: Built between 1752 and 1799, this house belonged to several important local families.
• Northampton
  • Historic Northampton: This museum has three historic houses on their original sites, showing how homes changed over centuries.
    • Isaac Damon House: Built in 1813 by architect Isaac Damon.
    • Parsons House: From 1730, this house shows early Colonial architecture.
    • Shepherd House: Built in 1796, this house displays items from many generations of one family.

Central Massachusetts's Old Homes

Worcester County's Historic Houses

• Auburn
  • Joseph Stone House: A Central Chimney Cape house built around 1729.
• Grafton
  • Willard House and Clock Museum: This museum is dedicated to clocks and the Willard family.
• Shrewsbury
  • General Artemas Ward House: The home of General Artemas Ward, a leader in the American Revolutionary War.
• Worcester
  • Salisbury Mansion: Built in 1772.
  • Judge Timothy Paine House: Also known as The Oaks, built in 1774.
  • Captain Benjamin Flagg House: A Central Chimney Cape house built around 1717.

Eastern Massachusetts's Historic Homes

Essex County's Famous Houses

• Amesbury
  • Mary Baker Eddy Historic House: Connected to Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science.
  • Macy–Colby House: Built in 1654, making it very old!
  • John Greenleaf Whittier Home: The home of famous poet John Greenleaf Whittier.
• Beverly
  • John Balch House: Built around 1679, it's one of the oldest timber-framed houses still standing in the U.S.
  • John Cabot House: One of the first brick buildings in Beverly.

Conant House

• Danvers
  • Rebecca Nurse Homestead: This house belonged to Rebecca Nurse, who was accused during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. The house helps us remember this difficult time in history.
  • General Israel Putnam House: Built around 1648, this was the birthplace of General Israel Putnam, a hero of the Revolutionary War.
• Essex
  • Coffin House: A Colonial house built around 1678.
• Gloucester
  • Beauport, Sleeper–McCann House: Built in 1907 as a summer home for designer Henry Davis Sleeper.
  • Hammond Castle: This unique castle was the home and laboratory of inventor John Hays Hammond Jr., built between 1926 and 1929.
• Ipswich
  • Ipswich is famous for having hundreds of historic houses, including many from the "First Period" (the earliest colonial homes).
• Marblehead
  • Jeremiah Lee Mansion: Built in 1768, a grand example of Georgian architecture.
• Newbury and Newburyport
  • Spencer–Peirce–Little Farm: Built between 1675 and 1700.
• Salem
  • Salem is well-known for its many historic homes, especially those connected to its maritime history and the Witch Trials.
  • Andrew–Safford House: Built in 1819.
  • Derby House: Built in 1762, part of the Salem Maritime National Historic Site.
  • Gardner–Pingree House: Built between 1804 and 1805.
  • House of the Seven Gables: This famous house inspired the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
  • John Bertram Mansion: Built in 1855, this grand mansion later became the Salem Public Library.
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne Birthplace: Built between 1730 and 1745, this is where American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne was born.
  • Pickering House: Built around 1651, one of Salem's oldest.
  • Ropes Mansion: Built in the late 1720s.
  • The Witch House: Built around 1642, this was the home of Judge Jonathan Corwin, who was involved in the Salem Witch Trials.
  • Yin Yu Tang House: This amazing house was built in China around 1800. It was taken apart, shipped to America, and then put back together inside the Peabody Essex Museum!
• Swampscott
  • Mary Baker Eddy Historic House: Another home of Mary Baker Eddy.
  • Sir John Humphreys House: Built by the first Deputy Governor of Massachusetts.
  • Elihu Thomson House: The home of inventor Elihu Thomson.

Middlesex County's Historical Homes

• Arlington
  • Jason Russell House: Built in 1740, this house saw some of the bloodiest fighting during the Battles of Lexington and Concord in the Revolutionary War.
  • Fowle-Reed-Wyman House: The oldest house in Arlington, built around 1706.
• Cambridge
  • Cooper–Frost–Austin House: Built around 1681, this is the oldest house in Cambridge.
  • Elmwood: The birthplace and home of poet James Russell Lowell, built in 1767.
  • Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site: Built in 1759, this house was George Washington's headquarters during the Revolutionary War and later the home of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
• Concord
  • The Old Manse: Built in 1770 by Ralph Waldo Emerson's grandfather. Both Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote some of their famous works here.
  • Orchard House: This was the home of Louisa May Alcott, and it's where she wrote her famous novel Little Women.
  • The Wayside: Built around 1717, this house was home to a Minuteman during the Revolution and later to Louisa May Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson House: The main home of famous writer and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson.
  • Thoreau Birth House: Built around 1730, this is where writer Henry David Thoreau was born.
  • Robbins House: Built around 1790-1800, this was the home of Caesar Robbins, a formerly enslaved African-American who fought in the Revolutionary War.
• Lexington
  • Hancock–Clarke House: Built between 1698 and 1738, this house was important during the Revolutionary War. John Hancock, who signed the United States Declaration of Independence, was connected to this home.
• Lincoln
  • Gropius House: Designed in 1938 by famous architect Walter Gropius.
• Malden
  • Cox-Haven House: Built in 1790, this house was one of the stops on the Underground Railroad, helping enslaved people escape to freedom.
• Medford
  • Isaac Royall House: A beautiful mansion from the early 1700s. It has New England's only remaining slave quarters, which helps us learn about this difficult part of history.
  • Peter Tufts House: Possibly the oldest all-brick house in the United States.
• Lowell
  • Whistler House Museum of Art: The birthplace of famous painter James McNeill Whistler.
• Natick
  • Sherman Geissler House: Built in 1750 by Roger Sherman, who was the only person to sign all four major founding documents of the United States! The house was moved from Connecticut to Natick.
• Sudbury
  • Wayside Inn: This is the oldest operating inn in the country, open since 1716. The grounds also have a one-room schoolhouse linked to the poem Mary Had a Little Lamb.
• Waltham
  • Gore Place: A large brick country estate built in 1806.
  • Lyman Estate: Another country estate, built in 1793.
• Woburn
  • Benjamin Thompson House–Count Rumford Birthplace: The birthplace of Benjamin Thompson, also known as Count Rumford, a famous scientist and inventor.

Norfolk County's Historic Houses

• Quincy
  • John Adams Birthplace: The birthplace of John Adams, the second President of the United States.
  • John Quincy Adams Birthplace: The birthplace of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States.
  • Peacefield: This was the home of several generations of the Adams family, including two presidents.
• Brookline
  • John F. Kennedy National Historic Site: The birthplace of John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States.
• Dedham
  • Fairbanks House: Built around 1641, this is North America's oldest surviving timber-frame house!

Southeastern Massachusetts's Homes

Bristol County's Historic Buildings

• Fall River
  • Borden–Winslow House: A Georgian Colonial style house built in 1740.
• New Bedford
  • Rotch–Jones–Duff House and Garden Museum: Built in 1834, this was the home of William Rotch Jr., a wealthy whaling merchant.

Plymouth County's Old Houses

• Duxbury
  • Alden House Historic Site: This house is believed to have been built by John Alden, one of the Pilgrims who came on the Mayflower.
  • King Caesar House: Built in 1808, this was the home of Ezra Weston, II, a powerful ship owner known as "King Caesar."
• Plymouth
  • Harlow Old Fort House: Built in 1677 using timbers from the Pilgrims' original fort.
  • The Jabez Howland House: Built in 1667, this was the home of John Howland, another Mayflower passenger.
  • Richard Sparrow House: Built around 1640, this is the oldest house in Plymouth.
• Hingham
  • Samuel Lincoln House: Built in 1721 by Samuel Lincoln, whose grandfather (also Samuel Lincoln) was an ancestor of President Abraham Lincoln.

Cape Cod and the Islands' Homes

Barnstable County's Historic Houses

• Atwood House Museum: In Chatham, built in 1756.
• Hoxie House: In Sandwich, this is Cape Cod's oldest saltbox house, built around 1675.
• Wing Fort House: In East Sandwich, Massachusetts, built around 1641.

Dukes County's Oldest Homes

• The Vincent House: On Martha's Vineyard, built around 1672, making it the oldest house on the island.

Nantucket County's Historic Houses

• Jethro Coffin House: On Nantucket, built around 1686, this is the oldest house on Nantucket that is still on its original foundation.

See also

• Historic New England
• The Trustees of Reservations
• List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts
• List of the oldest buildings in Massachusetts
• List of Registered Historic Places in Massachusetts