Rebecca Nurse Homestead facts for kids
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The Rebecca Nurse Homestead is a very old house located in Danvers, Massachusetts. It was built around 1678 and has been added to many times over the years. Today, it's a museum that shows what life was like long ago. A group of volunteers called the Danvers Alarm List Company owns and takes care of it. They even dress up as people from the Revolutionary War! This special place is also part of the Salem Village Historic District.
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What is the Rebecca Nurse Homestead?
This historic house was built in the late 1600s. It started as a two-story building with a main entrance and a chimney in the middle. Later, a kitchen was added, and then more parts were built in the 1700s and 1800s.
The house was a private home until 1907. Then, a group called the Rebecca Nurse Memorial Association bought it and worked hard to make it look like it did in the past. In 1926, they gave the house to another group that preserves old buildings. Finally, in 1981, the Danvers Alarm List Company took over. They are dedicated to showing what life was like in colonial times.
Who was Rebecca Nurse?
One of the most famous people connected to this property was Rebecca Nurse. She was accused during the terrible Salem Witch Trials in 1692. She was 71 years old when she sadly died because of these accusations. It's important to know that Rebecca Nurse did not live in the exact house you see today, but on the land.
Her great-grandson, Francis Nurse, later lived in the house. He was a soldier who marched from here to the Battle of Lexington and Concord during the American Revolution. The Putnam family bought the property in 1784 and lived there until 1905.
Exploring the House Today
You can visit four of the oldest rooms in the house. These include the "great hall," a sleeping "chamber," the "lean-to" kitchen, and a "parlor." They have been carefully restored to look as they did centuries ago. You'll see furniture and items from that time period.
Discovering the Grounds
The homestead sits on 27 acres of land, which is like 27 football fields! There are many other interesting buildings outside the main house.
One building holds parts of a house built around 1681 by Dr. Zerubabel Endecott. You can see how old houses were built from the inside. There's also a great copy of the first Salem Village Meetinghouse. This building was made in 1984 for a movie called Three Sovereigns for Sarah.
You can also find the Nurse Burial Ground, where Rebecca Nurse is buried. There's also a shoemaker's shed and a dairy shed, showing other parts of daily life long ago.
In 1885, Rebecca Nurse's family and local people put up a special monument to remember her. It was the first memorial ever built for someone accused of witchcraft in North America. A famous poet named John Greenleaf Whittier wrote words for the monument. In 1992, on the 300th anniversary of the trials, the remains of George Jacobs, another person accused during the trials, were also buried in the Nurse Burial Ground.
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