USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > Some annals of Nahant, Massachusetts > Part 24
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among them. The Old Stone barn on Spring Road, a fruit storage building, dates back to the 50's or earlier, as does the brick house across the street near it, also built by Tudor: This house was occupied for years by Peter Manuel, a gardener for Tudor, who had charge, among other duties, of a green- house down near the tall fenced garden between the brick house and Bear Pond. Many Nahanters remember him. An old plan of land around Cliff Street and up to Summer Street, dated 1845, has the whole area westerly of Summer Street labelled "The Great Pasture," while what is now Willow Road from Cliff Street down to Summer Street is labelled "Road leading to the Great Pasture." This plan was loaned for the preparation of these writings through the courtesy of Mr. Joseph Dwight, son of Dr. Thomas Dwight, recent owner and occupant of the house on Cliff Street, formerly the summer home of Charles Amory. There were gates across the roads to keep cattle in the Great Pasture from wandering easterly into the village.
Thus develops the picture of Nahant westerly from Summer Street. For years after 1800, only the Old Castle at Bass Point, and perhaps a herders' shack here and there. Then the Tudor homestead in the 20's and nothing more for another decade or so except what Tudor built, chiefly for farm buildings. Then Lawrence with two houses at Little Nahant and the two Phillips houses at Bass Point. In the 40's this was, as also the Tarbox house near Short Beach; the Bulfinch house at Nahant Road and Ocean Streets, built about 1840; the Tarbox house and stable at Nahant Road and High Street, now two houses; the Hammond house on Pond Street; and the Dunham, Johnson and Colby houses on Prospect Street, all dating around 1850; probably also in this period the Farrell house on Spring Road. All of these houses are identified elsewhere by naming later owners. The Johnson house on Prospect Street was later owned by Thomas P. Whitney and was moved to Pond Street. Whitney was a brother of Worthen Gove's wife, and thereby an uncle of Charles E. Gove. Whitney was at one time agent for the Tudor Ice Company at Cadiz, and
LL MANY
THREE CHEERS FOR THE BIG CHIEF HIP, HIP,
GOOD AFTERNOON SENATOR
BOSS WILS
TOM. TALBE
RESOLUTIONS
SEC PROCTOR
JUDGE DIA
H . C . LODGE PRIVATE
H. C. LODGE NAHANT
1.
. NORMAN
GRAND G.O.P. SALAAM
WHEN "BOSS" LODGE CAME IN TO THE DEPOT
Cartoon showing Two Nahanters, Senator Lodge and Judge Wilson From "Boston Post," June 19, 1904
From near Tudor Wharf, looking into Dorothy's Cove Hotel Tudor in center
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later was superintendent of the Tudor interests at Nahant. It is said that Mrs. Walter Johnson, coming from Reading to live on Nahant about 1841, told her friends that after leaving the beach, meaning Short Beach, her house was the third on the left-hand side of the road. The two others were the Tudor homestead and the Francis Johnson house now standing close to the street, but below Summer Street, the limit of the area now under consideration.
About 1847 a house was built near Nahant Road and Summer Street, on what is known as the Codman place, now owned by S. G. King. This was occupied by Dr. E. Porter Eastman, the first resident physician of the town. It came to be known as the "Butter Box," and finally Thomas G. Cary moved it down into the "Whiteweed field," where it was modified by one rambling addition after another and occupied by two daughters of Cary, and their husbands. These were Professor Louis Agassiz and Professor Cornelius C. Felton. The latter was president of Harvard University from 1860 until his death in 1862, at the age of fifty-five. For many years, up to 1860, he was Eliot professor of Greek literature at Harvard. Professor Agassiz, born in Switzerland in 1807, came to the United States in 1846, and in 1847 was professor of zoology and geology at Harvard. His study of glaciers and glacial drift, explaining many geological phenomena, was an important contribution to geology. It aroused discussion, but after a generation became a fixed part of knowledge in this science. In a journey to Brazil, in 1865, it is stated that he discovered more than eighteen hundred new species of fish. He died in 1873. Mrs. Agassiz, in later years, was president of Radcliffe College. Agassiz, by the many lectures he de- livered outside of the classroom, greatly increased the general interest in the subjects of his study. Good stories are told of him and his enthusiasms. One is that on a trip with his wife, she exclaimed, when putting on a shoe in the morning, "Why, here is a little snake in my shoe." The professor's reply was, "What, only one? Where is the other six?" With his boundless ardor the handiest receptacle seems to have served
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his purpose. The Agassiz house has seen several owners since this time, under some of whom it has been remodelled, but the exterior appearance is much as it was when this famous man lived there. In late years Rufus L. Sewall and Judge Bosson have owned it, and only recently Walter L. Hobbs purchased it for his own use as a summer residence. Judge Albert D. Bosson was of the Chelsea District Court for a generation, until his death in 1926. Near by was the Cary house, else- where mentioned.
The 50's saw other houses added to this part of Nahant, but none to Little Nahant, after the two already mentioned, and not much to Bass Point after the two Phillips houses. One of the latter was remodelled in 1868 for C. J. Whittemore, at which time the stable was moved to Spring Road and made into a carpenter shop for Joseph T. Wilson, but that estab- lishment is now enlarged in every direction so that the original building is hard to identify. About 1854 the Codman house on Summer Street was built by Thomas H. Perkins for his daughter Mrs. William F. Cary, but was owned and occu- pied for many years by Edward W. Codman. Miss Mary Russell once wrote that Colonel Perkins had a sister who lived in a cottage where this house now stands, and that on her death the building was demolished and the present house erected. She also said that Mrs. Cary sold the property because incensed at the insistence of Frederic Tudor that Summer Street be built from the main road northeasterly. This road cut off some fine trees and sheared away the narrow strip across the street from the main portion of the land. Miss Russell, who died in 1918 at the age of ninety, could have given many valuable reminiscences of old Nahant, but so far as is known a few occasional comments are all that is available. Codman was a grandson of Stephen Codman who built the old part of the Lawrence place across Nahant Road from the Public Library building. This latter slight elevation was at one time known as Snake Hill, so relates one old Na- hanter, and it is only more recently that the hill around the corner of Willow and Cliff Streets has been called Snake Hill.
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A rosebush, now blooming every spring against the rear piazza of the Whitney homestead, was given to Minerva Rice by Stephen Codman over a century ago. Minerva Rice was a daughter of Jesse Rice and married Washington H. Johnson. The "Ned" Codman place is now owned by Samuel G. King, a more recent comer to Nahant, who bought it in 1917.
The "Whiteweed field" was owned by Thomas H. Perkins and included all the land easterly from Summer Street and from the water on the northerly side to a stone wall which extended from the Codman estate to Schoolhouse Lane, mark- ing the line against the Johnson lands, a house-lot's depth away from what is now Central Street, and about as the line now runs back of the Winslow and Rodman places, which were formerly Sears and Snelling ownerships. Mrs. William F. Cary built the house later owned and occupied by Charles Merriam on Summer Street near the water, and recently bought by Richard Harte. Edward Motley built the house and stable now occupied by his grandsons, J. Lothrop and Edward Motley. Motley was a brother of John Lothrop Motley, the historian. David Sears, Jr., soon sold to Lyman Nichols, from whom this place passed to his daughter, Mrs. John S. Wright, and was later sold to its present owner, Dr. Frederic Winslow. The Samuel G. Snelling place was sold in the 80's, and was for years owned and occupied by Miss Emma Rodman and her father. The building of the "Log Cabin" has already been mentioned. Joseph G. Joy, its first owner, was a son of John Joy who lived at the corner of Joy and Beacon Streets in Boston. Another son, Benjamin, had a son John Benjamin and grandson Charles H. Joy, whose widow is a frequent summer resident of Nahant today. She is a daughter of E. R. Mudge of Swampscott. John B. Joy lived on the large Joy place on Ocean Street in Lynn. Joseph G. Joy seems to be remembered as the owner of one of the finest private libraries of his time. The present H. G. Curtis house was built by Mrs. Story, who was the widow of Judge Joseph Story of the United States Supreme Court. This house was first occupied in 1850, as an entry in the "Lynn News"
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his purpose. The Agassiz house has seen several owners since this time, under some of whom it has been remodelled, but the exterior appearance is much as it was when this famous man lived there. In late years Rufus L. Sewall and Judge Bosson have owned it, and only recently Walter L. Hobbs purchased it for his own use as a summer residence. Judge Albert D. Bosson was of the Chelsea District Court for a generation, until his death in 1926. Near by was the Cary house, else- where mentioned.
The 50's saw other houses added to this part of Nahant, but none to Little Nahant, after the two already mentioned, and not much to Bass Point after the two Phillips houses. One of the latter was remodelled in 1868 for C. J. Whittemore, at which time the stable was moved to Spring Road and made into a carpenter shop for Joseph T. Wilson, but that estab- lishment is now enlarged in every direction so that the original building is hard to identify. About 1854 the Codman house on Summer Street was built by Thomas H. Perkins for his daughter Mrs. William F. Cary, but was owned and occu- pied for many years by Edward W. Codman. Miss Mary Russell once wrote that Colonel Perkins had a sister who lived in a cottage where this house now stands, and that on her death the building was demolished and the present house erected. She also said that Mrs. Cary sold the property because incensed at the insistence of Frederic Tudor that Summer Street be built from the main road northeasterly. This road cut off some fine trees and sheared away the narrow strip across the street from the main portion of the land. Miss Russell, who died in 1918 at the age of ninety, could have given many valuable reminiscences of old Nahant, but so far as is known a few occasional comments are all that is available. Codman was a grandson of Stephen Codman who built the old part of the Lawrence place across Nahant Road from the Public Library building. This latter slight elevation was at one time known as Snake Hill, so relates one old Na- hanter, and it is only more recently that the hill around the corner of Willow and Cliff Streets has been called Snake Hill.
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A rosebush, now blooming every spring against the rear piazza of the Whitney homestead, was given to Minerva Rice by Stephen Codman over a century ago. Minerva Rice was a daughter of Jesse Rice and married Washington H. Johnson. The "Ned" Codman place is now owned by Samuel G. King, a more recent comer to Nahant, who bought it in 1917.
The "Whiteweed field" was owned by Thomas H. Perkins and included all the land easterly from Summer Street and from the water on the northerly side to a stone wall which extended from the Codman estate to Schoolhouse Lane, mark- ing the line against the Johnson lands, a house-lot's depth away from what is now Central Street, and about as the line now runs back of the Winslow and Rodman places, which were formerly Sears and Snelling ownerships. Mrs. William F. Cary built the house later owned and occupied by Charles Merriam on Summer Street near the water, and recently bought by Richard Harte. Edward Motley built the house and stable now occupied by his grandsons, J. Lothrop and Edward Motley. Motley was a brother of John Lothrop Motley, the historian. David Sears, Jr., soon sold to Lyman Nichols, from whom this place passed to his daughter, Mrs. John S. Wright, and was later sold to its present owner, Dr. Frederic Winslow. The Samuel G. Snelling place was sold in the 80's, and was for years owned and occupied by Miss Emma Rodman and her father. The building of the "Log Cabin" has already been mentioned. Joseph G. Joy, its first owner, was a son of John Joy who lived at the corner of Joy and Beacon Streets in Boston. Another son, Benjamin, had a son John Benjamin and grandson Charles H. Joy, whose widow is a frequent summer resident of Nahant today. She is a daughter of E. R. Mudge of Swampscott. John B. Joy lived on the large Joy place on Ocean Street in Lynn. Joseph G. Joy seems to be remembered as the owner of one of the finest private libraries of his time. The present H. G. Curtis house was built by Mrs. Story, who was the widow of Judge Joseph Story of the United States Supreme Court. This house was first occupied in 1850, as an entry in the "Lynn News"
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shows. A son of Judge Story was William Wetmore Story, the sculptor, and a daughter was the wife of George W. Curtis, whose writings include many passages about the delights of Nahant. This place later was the home of Alanson Tucker and more recently owned by Horatio G. Curtis who with his two brothers, Louis and Lawrence Curtis, are long-time summer residents, and sons of Thomas Buckminster Curtis, a Nahanter whose house was moved to make room for the Frank Merriam house on Vernon Street, built in 1888, to Willow Road across from Curlew Beach, where it is now owned by Miss Harriett E. Hudson. Horatio Greenough, the sculp- tor, owned land and planned to build a house about where the Public Library building now stands. Unfinished cellar walls marked the beginning of this project, which was stopped by the owner's death in 1852, only a short time after he had returned from several years in Italy. A sister of Horatio Greenough was the wife of Thomas Buckminster Curtis, and a younger brother was Richard Saltonstall Greenough, who was also a sculptor, and whose best known work is the bronze statue of Franklin in front of the City Hall in Boston. About 1840 E. Augustus Johnson built a house across Pleasant Street, then Schoolhouse Lane, about midway between Nahant Road and Central Street, later known for many years as the Spooner house, and among the buildings torn down when the present Town Hall was erected. About 1850 Charles B. Johnson built his house on the corner of Pleasant and Central Streets. This Johnson was a grandson of Benjamin, the third brother of Caleb and Joseph, who was born on Nahant, but moved away. His wife was Annie E. Johnson, sister of Edward J. John- son and daughter of Jonathan Johnson. She was gifted with a poetic spirit, publishing many little poems some of which were finally collected into a volume. She died in 1916, at the age of eighty-nine. Charles B. Johnson, often known as Charlie Lamplighter, because of his long-time occupation, died in 1896 at the age of seventy-one. He was for a time agent or supercargo for the Tudor Company in their ice business, and was located abroad. A daughter, Caroline M. Johnson, was a
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long-time librarian of the Public Library, until her marriage to George D. Foye. She died in 1925, at the age of sixty-six.
The house at the corner of Nahant Road and Summer Street was built about 1845 by William F. Johnson. Later known as the Colby, the Oxnard and Archibald cottage, it is now owned by Wallace D. Williams, a recent comer to Nahant, who owns and occupies the adjoining house on Nahant Road, which was built at a somewhat later date by Caleb H. John- son, a son of Welcome W. Johnson. Harmony Court, near Summer Street, seems to have been named facetiously by a summer resident, after the line of the Psalm, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." For here were four brothers, - Francis, Joseph, Walter and Edmund, sons of Joseph. The Joseph Johnson house is now owned by Mrs. William J. Mclaughlin.
The Abner Hood house, up Bass Beach Hill, was later owned and occupied by a summer resident, John C. Gray, who sold it and built what was commonly known as the Blanchard house in the early 50's. It was burned in the fire of 1896 and was replaced by the Duncan house, built by the Hon. George Duncan (who married Mrs. Blanchard), and recently bought by Arthur Perry. This is at the corner of Cliff Street and Willow Road. About the same time was built the Longfellow house across the street, also burned in 1896. The cellar walls left standing were developed into a garden pavilion by Arthur Perry, its present owner. Most of the houses around East Point have been named elsewhere. The Inches house, a stone house overlooking Bass Beach, was built by Ebenezer Chadwich in the early 50's, and the James H. Beal house by Chadwick's son, Christopher. A little later came the Samuel H. Russell house, burned in 1896, on the site now occupied by the Herbert F. Otis house. The little Russell house on Vernon Street, known to most Nahanters as the home of Miss Mary Russell, sister of Samuel H. Russell, was owned by their father, Nathaniel P. Russell. It was torn down a few years ago and the space is now vacant. The various houses that Coolidge built are mentioned elsewhere. David Sears, who
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owned one of them, later Appleton, then Boyden, now Smith, was a Boston merchant, the father of David, Jr., Knyvet W. and Fred R. Sears, who later lived on Nahant. Mrs. K. W. Sears still occupies the house on Swallows Cave Road, built in 1874. The Fred R. Sears house on Cliff Street next to the "Lodge Villa" was built in 1870. None of this family are now in Nahant.
Mrs. K. W. Sears is a daughter of George Peabody. The Peabodys were a Salem and Danvers family, related to the famous George Peabody whom biographical dictionaries tell about. Joseph Peabody and his family came to the old Nahant House prior to 1837. This is the place on Vernon Street built by Coolidge. In 1837 it was sold to Joseph Peabody's sons George and Francis, and in 1847 George became sole owner, and it was this house which he occupied in the summer season until his death in 1892, the long period of fifty-five years. Here came frequently his son-in-law the Hon. William C. Endicott, who was Secretary of War in President Cleveland's Cabinet from 1885 to 1889. In 1892 this house was sold to Dudley Bowditch Fay. Another son of Joseph Peabody was Joseph Augustus Peabody, who died in 1828. In 1866 his widow built the house on Winter Street, now owned by Dr. Morton Prince, and occupied it until her death in 1876. It was sold to Dr. Prince in 1892.
This property on Winter Street was earlier owned by Caleb Johnson. The corner house, commonly known as the Grover House, and later as the Conant House, was built by General Devens. Charles F. Johnson tells that he and his brother dug, and stowed away properly, one hundred bushels of potatoes in one day from this field at the corner of Winter Street and Nahant Road.
The "Lodge Villa" was bought by Henry Cabot. John E. Lodge, coming north in summer from New Orleans, lived at Nahant. After his marriage in 1842 to Anna Cabot he made the town his permanent summer home. The advent of the Civil War added to business cares already pressing too heavily upon him, and he died in 1862, practically burnt out by work. He
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was a shipping merchant, and amassed a fortune, as did so many others in this business. In 1849, when water freights were so high on account of the gold rush, he had one ship paid for in receipts before she sailed on her maiden trip. In 1853, when sailings from Boston for San Francisco were so numerous as to be bewildering, Lodge had three clipper ships in this service. His two children were Henry Cabot Lodge, distin- guished Nahanter of later years, and Elizabeth Cabot Lodge, afterwards wife of George Abbot James. Of Senator Lodge it is not necessary to say much, as he was prominent enough to find place and space in more important writings. Most Nahanters remember him best as riding horseback, his favorite exercise, about town, with a nod and smile for any people he knew; or as town moderator, a position filled whenever he could be present, after advancing years prevented Joseph T. Wilson from any regular attendance at town meetings. From the early 1900's for fifteen or twenty years he thus served the town, in addition to filling the position of public library trustee for the record period of nearly forty-eight years. His last time as moderator was in July, 1921, and the last annual town meeting over which he presided was in 1919. Nahanters well know his careful consideration of many little requests made to him. He was always willing to give his time and energy to help even in small personal matters. It was a privilege, which closer friends enjoyed, to go to his house and talk about things great and small, and his friendship and sympathy were always evident. Nahanters were proud that he was one of them, and all felt a sense of personal loss when he was gone. His first election to the State Legislature was due to his old friend, Joseph T. Wilson, who proposed his name in the party convention at a time when the Lynn districts associated with Nahant were willing a Nahanter should get the nomination because there was no show of winning. It was as one throws a bone to a dog. Nahant was the small end of the district and usually could get no consideration of her possible candidates. The two men were always close friends, and commonly the Senator's morning ride took him by
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Wilson's door, where he would stop for a few minutes' chat. The Senator wrote the inscription on the bronze tablet erected to Wilson in the Town Hall in 1915. In 1925 a second tablet, matching the former one, was erected to Lodge's memory, and the two memorials are on either side of the stage. The inscrip- tion for the latter was prepared with the assistance of Bishop Lawrence, lifelong friend of Nahant's famous resident. The Senator used to slip into town quietly, in order to get some peace and ease before the politicians found he was home. After a few weeks, when onslaughts of these people were too numerous, he would vanish, perhaps down to Tuckanuck Island with another old friend, Dr. Bigelow, returning again after people found out he was gone. The Senator died in 1924 at the age of seventy-four.
Just before his death John E. Lodge bought the Nahant Hotel property, or most of it, comprising chiefly what is now known as the Lodge and James estates. James built the Lodge house, and then built the house he afterwards occupied. All of this was in the late 60's. The builder was George U. Perkins, who was in business under this name from 1866 until 1888, when his brother James C. Perkins became a partner and the firm name was Perkins Brothers. George Perkins died in 1901 and James in 1916. Before 1866 Perkins was in business with Thomas P. Whitney, and the town report for 1859 names Perkins and Whitney. He came to Nahant some years before that and perhaps worked for Hammond, or for Stetson and Hammond, as it appears that for a time he lived with Hammond in his house on Pond Street. Perkins' first shop was on Nahant Road up the hill from what is now the Whitney homestead; later they had a shop on Curlew Beach, which was in those days more a public beach than it is today; and still later they were in the location, more familiar to present-day Nahanters, on Willow Road near Summer Street. People remember that when the news of Lee's surrender came to town, in 1865, Perkins marshalled together the school children and marched them around town with staves over their shoulders, mostly laths, after which
Hon. Curtis Guild
J. Colby Wilson Selectman
Albert G. Wilson Public Library Trustee
Charles W. Stacy Highway Surveyor
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there was a sort of impromptu party at the old Maolis house on Ocean Street. Among the buildings erected by Perkins, besides the two above mentioned, were the old Town Hall, the William F. Cary house on Summer Street, now Richard Harte's, the Longfellow house on Willow Road near Cliff Street, and the Rodman house on Pleasant Street, formerly owned by Samuel G. Snelling. These all reach back to the 60's or earlier.
Other houses around East Point deserve mention because running back through the early years of the town. The Mountford house, located where now stands the house of Mrs. K. W. Sears on Swallows Cave Road, was owned and occupied by Mrs. Mountford's father, Benjamin W. Crown- inshield, who was Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinets of Presidents Madison and Monroe, from 1814 to 1818, and Congressman from 1823 to 1831, when he was defeated by Rufus Choate. Elizabeth Crowninshield was a famous beauty and belle of her time. She lived in her father's house after his death, and in 1863 married the Rev. William Mountford. The place was sold to Knyvet W. Sears in 1874. For his son George, Crowninshield built the Warren house on Vernon Street, now occupied by Lawrence Curtis, but remodelled out of any resemblance to the original. This was later owned by Dr. John Mason Warren, whose wife was a daughter of Crown- inshield. Dr. Warren was a son of Dr. John Collins Warren and grandson of Dr. John Warren, the latter a brother of Gen- eral Joseph Warren of Revolutionary fame. Dr. Warren, our Nahanter, is another of the long list of Nahanters whose names are in most dictionaries of biography, as are also his father and grandfather. His daughters married into other Nahant fami- lies. One married Samuel Hammond, one Charles H. Gibson and one Thomas Motley, father of present-day Motleys, who are interested and helpful citizens of Nahant. Thomas Motley, also a valuable citizen of Nahant, died in 1909 at the age of sixty-two. He was a son of Edward Motley. The Samuel Hammond house is on land bought from Ebenezer Hood in 1828. The house was built in 1829 by Samuel Hammond,
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