Historic Homes and Buildings

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#006633" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="175d6c00ddvuru.jpg"> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="725807b0.jpg" border=0 width="128" height="379" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#0066FF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Colonial Acton</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#333399" FACE="Arial" >    </FONT> |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Colonial Acton"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Landmarks"><U><B>Landmarks</B></U></A></div> <div> Historic Homes and Buildings</div> <div> <B>Click on topic:</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="#early_historic_structures_of_acton_ma__" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f011111100.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Early Historic Structures of Acton MA. </B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#businessesmonumentsschools" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc11111100.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Businesse/Monument/Schools</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#churches" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc11111100.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Churches</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#homes" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc11111100.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Homes</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#early_homes_of_acton" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f011111100.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Early Homes and Buildings of Acton</B></U></A><B>- </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Century Schoolbook" >Early owners, year originally built and description</FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="#acton_s_forgotten_historical_site" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f011111100.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Acton's Forgotten Historical Site</B></U></A><B> -</B> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Century Schoolbook" >The Hayward Farm</FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="#the_story_of_captain_simon_hunt_____" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f011111100.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Story of Captain Simon Hunt</B></U></A><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Century Schoolbook" >and the Liberty Tree House</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Lottery Houses of Acton</B></div> <div> <A HREF="#the_lottery_houses" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The History of the Lottery Houses</B></U></A><B> </B></div> <div> <A HREF="#this_old_house" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Abel Conant House, Main St. Acton, MA.</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#calvin_heywood_or_david_davies_house" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Calvin Heywood or David Davies House, Great Rd. Acton, MA.</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#john_robbins_house" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">John Robbins House, Great Rd. Acton, MA.</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#the_john_robbins_house" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The John Robbins House</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#dr__abraham_skinner_house" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Dr. Abraham Skinner House Nagog Hill Rd. Acton, MA.</B></U></A></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <A NAME="early_historic_structures_of_acton_ma__"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><B>Early Historic Structures of Acton MA. </B></FONT></div> <div> Information complied by the Acton Historical Commission: </div> <div> Anita Dobson, Marian Houghton, </div> <div> William Klauer, Robert Nylander, Stanley Smith, Jr.</div> <div> 1976</div> <bR> <div> <B>Structure/year built</B></div> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="businessesmonumentsschools"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Businesses/Monuments/Schools</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="#acton_memorial_library_1889" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Acton Memorial Library 1889</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#isaac_davis_monument_1851" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Isaac Davis Monument 1851</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#jones_tavern_1732" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Jones Tavern 1732</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#tuttles_jones_and_wetherbee_company" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Tuttles Jones and Wetherbee Company</B></U></A><B>, 1860</B></div> <div> <A HREF="#jones_and_faulkner_mill_1702" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Jones and Faulkner Mill 1702</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#samuel_jones_esq__law_office_1805" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Samuel Jones Esq. Law Office 1805</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#schoolhouse_1798" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Schoolhouse 1798</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="churches"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Churches</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="#the_chapel__evangelical__1829" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Chapel (Evangelical) 1829</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#evangelical_society_1846" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Evangelical Society 1846</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#st__elizabeth_of_hungary_1912" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">St. Elizabeth of Hungary 1912</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#second_meeting_house_1807" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Second Meeting House 1807</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#south_acton_congregational_society_1891" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">South Acton Congregational Society 1891</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#universalist_church_1868" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Universalist Church 1868</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#universalist_church_1877" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Universalist Church 1877</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#west_acton_baptist_church_1854" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">West Acton Baptist Church 1854</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="homes"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Homes</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="#john_adams_c1740" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">John Adams c1740</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#moses_adams_1780" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Moses Adams 1780</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#james_billings__underground_railway_" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">James Billings (Underground Railway)</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#brabrook_house_1751" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Brabrook House 1751</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#brooks___noyes_house_1821" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Brooks - Noyes House 1821</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#seth_brooks_1773" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Seth Brooks 1773</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#john_chaffin_c1750" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">John Chaffin c1750</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#robert_chaffin_c1762" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Robert Chaffin c1762</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#william_cutting_freed_slave_1735" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">William Cutting Freed Slave 1735</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#davis___conant_lottery_house_1793" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Davis - Conant Lottery House 1793</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#home_of_arthur_f__davis_artist_1807" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Arthur F. Davis Artist 1807</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#simon_davis_c1748" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Simon Davis c1748</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#nathaniel_edwards_clockmaker_1750" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Nathaniel Edwards Clockmaker 1750</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#faulkner_house_1707" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Faulkner House 1707</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#james_and_john_fletcher_1828" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">James and John Fletcher 1828</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#peter_fletcher_c1769" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Peter Fletcher c1769</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#harrington__woodbury_house_c1810" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Harrington- Woodbury House c1810</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#benjamin_hayward_1779" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Benjamin Hayward 1779</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#hayward___skinner_house_1801" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Hayward - Skinner House 1801</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#heywood___davis_lottery_house_1797" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Heywood - Davis Lottery House 1797</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#heald_house_c1743" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Heald House c1743</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#john_heywood_c1750" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">John Heywood c1750</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#ephraim_hosmer_c1750" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Ephraim Hosmer c1750</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#jonathan_hosmer_1760" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Jonathan Hosmer 1760</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#nathan_d__hosmer_1837" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Nathan D. Hosmer 1837</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#simon_hunt_c1735" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Simon Hunt c1735</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#samuel_jones_esq__1807" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Samuel Jones Esq. 1807</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#samuel_jones_esq__1807" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Samuel Jones Esq. 1807</B></U></A><B> (2)</B></div> <div> <A HREF="#knight___forbush_house_c1710" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Knight - Forbush House c1710</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#john_law_site_of_the_first_house_1656" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">John Law site of the First House 1656</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#john_law_jr__c1737" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">John Law Jr. c1737</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#liberty_tree_house_c1710" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Liberty Tree House c1710</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#old_parsonage_1741" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Old Parsonage 1741</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#samuel_parlin_c1772" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Samuel Parlin c1772</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#john_robbins_lottery_house_1800" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">John Robbins Lottery House 1800</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#joseph_robbins_jr__1774" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Joseph Robbins Jr. 1774</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#dr__abraham_skinner_lottery_house_1797" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Dr. Abraham Skinner Lottery House 1797</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#bradley_stone_c1834" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Bradley Stone c1834</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#peter_tenney_c1835" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Peter Tenney c1835</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#charles_tuttle_house_c1817" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Charles Tuttle House c1817</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#simon_tuttle_c1795" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Simon Tuttle c1795</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#walcott___taylor__underground_railway_" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Walcott - Taylor (Underground Railway)</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#stephen_weston_c1836" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Stephen Weston c1836</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#wetherbee_tavern_1802" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Wetherbee Tavern 1802</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#wheeler___lothrop_house_1760" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Wheeler - Lothrop House 1760</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#daniel_white_c1815" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Daniel White c1815</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#mark_white_c1750" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Mark White c1750</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="second_meeting_house_1807"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Second Meeting House, 1807 &  Acton Town Hall, 1863</B></FONT></div> <div> The Town Hall was the location of Acton's Second Meeting House, an elegant building of Federal Design, which also served as the Town House. Little used for religious purposes after 1832, the building as converted to the town hall in 1859 after the town bought the rights of the First parish. It was burned in 1862.</div> <bR> <div> The present building has been the center of town government since its construction, and although no longer large enough for town meetings, still contains the offices and meeting rooms of the town officers. It is in the bracketed Italian Style, popular just before the Civil War.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="acton_memorial_library_1889"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Acton Memorial Library, 1889</B></FONT></div> <div>  The Acton memorial Library was a gift to his native town in 1889 by William Allen Wilde, a Boston publisher. It is also the Town's Civil War Memorial, the names of the soldiers and the battles in which they participated being inscribed on slate tablets under the arch at the former main entrance. The architects for the original building were Hartwell and Richardson, and Joseph Schiffer designed the rear brick addition in 1965.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="isaac_davis_monument_1851"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Isaac Davis Monument, 1851</B></FONT></div> <div>              This quarry faced granite obelisk resting on a pedestal whose sides rise    Romanesque arches was built in 1851 to honor Capt. Isaac Davis of Acton, the first American officer to fall in the Revolution at the fight at Concord Bridge, also Abner Hosmer of Acton, killed in the same fight and James Hayward, killed at Fiske Hill, Lexington, during the retreat of the British on April 19, 1775, both marching with Davis' Minute Company. Their remains are placed within the base of the monument. Rev. James Trask Woodbury (Acton Evangelical Church 1832-1852) prevailed upon the Legislature to erect the monument to honor the first officer to die, and suggested the use of native granite. The stone that was used came from the farmland of Mr. Woodbury in Acton Center. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="charles_tuttle_house_c1817"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Charles Tuttle House, c1817</B></FONT></div> <div> Thomas Thorp occupied the original house built on this site, a one-story cottage located apparently to the northeast of the present house, in the 1780's. Thorp was the last survivor of the original Acton minutemen. The present house was built for Charles Tuttle about 1817 at which time the smaller house was removes. Francis Tuttle, a later resident and former Town Clerk, was active in the movement to plant trees along the town common in 1840.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="the_chapel__evangelical__1829"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Chapel (Evangelical), 1829</B></FONT></div> <div> Trustees representing the orthodox members of the old Congregational Church when Rev. Marshall Shedd, the third minister, was introducing more liberal Unitarian ideas built the chapel. Under the Rev. James T. Woodbury, this orthodox group was organized as the Evangelical Society who worshipped in this building until 1833 when they built their own meetinghouse on the site of the present Congregational Church. Sold in 1839, the Chapel was remodeled into a dwelling, which it remains until 1922 when it was acquires by the Acton Center Women's Club. It is Acton's only surviving Federal Period public building and one of only two brick-ended houses in Acton.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="james_and_john_fletcher_1828"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>James and John Fletcher, 1828</B></FONT></div> <div> This house originally stood on the site of the Memorial Library and was moved in 1788 by Moses Taylor when he cleared the site for the building of the library. That lot was first occupied (about 1815) by the store of john White. Jr., which was burned in 1822, two years after the Fletcher brothers bought it. The house later built on the site of their store is a good example of Federal period architecture, the front doorway being a particularly fine feature. The Fletchers occupied the house until it was sold in 1888 by Rev. James Fletcher (son of John) who complied <I>Acton In History</I> in 1890.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="schoolhouse_1798"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Schoolhouse, 1798</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> This building was located on Nagog Hill road just north of the old Parsonage. It was square and the teacher's desk stood in the center of the back with the rows of children's desk and benches rising towards the sides. The exterior was red. In 1845, it was moved to its present position and remodeled into a house with Greek revival architectural details.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="stephen_weston_c1836"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Stephen Weston, c1836</B></FONT></div> <div> Built for Stephen Weston this is a good example of the modest and somewhat unconventional Federal Period house built around the Common in the early ninetieth century.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <A NAME="home_of_arthur_f__davis_artist_1807"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Home of Arthur F. Davis, Artist, 1807</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>    Built for Samuel Law, who was one of the real estate developers of what is now Acton Center; from 1816-1840 it was the home of Stephen Weston, a local storekeeper. In 1876, it was bought by John F. Davis, father of Arthur F. Davis, former librarian and popular painter of many local scenes, "The Departure of the Minutemen" hanging in the Acton Memorial Library is his best known work. </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  </div> <div>  <A NAME="samuel_jones_esq__1807"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Samuel Jones, Esq., 1807</B></FONT></div> <div> One of the houses built by Jones during his development of the real estate around the Common, its Federal period proportions and hip roof are somewhat obscured by the bay and piazzas added during the Victorian era.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="brooks___noyes_house_1821"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Brooks - Noyes House, 1821</B></FONT></div> <div> Originally the store of Alpheus Witt, a local trader, this house was built in two sections. The eastern part, with its central chimney, was constructed first, and the remainder added in about 1824. It was later the home of Dr. Paul C. Kittredge, who practiced as a physician in Acton from 1830 to 1834.</div> <div>      From 1845 to the 1930's, it was occupied by the Brooks family and descendants, one of whom was Rev. Frederick Brooks Noyes, author of several colorful articles on aspect of Acton's history.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="evangelical_society_1846"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Evangelical Society, 1846</B></FONT></div> <div> This is the second meeting on this site. The first one built in 1833, was burned in 1846. A typical Greek Revival Church with centers front entrance and a spire, the present building was remodeled in 1898 when the corner tower and the stain glass window were added and the interior much changed. In 1966 a large modern wing was added.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="samuel_jones_esq__1807_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Samuel Jones Esq., 1807</B></FONT></div> <div> This was the home of Samuel Jones, Esq., who was the principle developer of Acton's Common when the Second Meeting House was built. Wood lane formerly called Jones Turnpike was intended by him to be Acton Center's connection with the Union Turnpike (mass Ave.) and South Acton. After he failed financially and left town, this house was occupied, from 1810 to 1830 by his mother, the widow of Capt. Isaac Davis, and here she held a “Dame School” for the children of the village.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="samuel_jones_esq__law_office_1805"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Samuel Jones, Esq., Law Office, 1805</B></FONT></div> <div> Originally a one-story hip roof building, this was the Law Office of Samuel Jones, Esq. Who practiced as an attorney in Acton 1805 and 1806, the years he was the Town's representative to the General Court. With the decision in 1806 to locate the Meeting House where the Town Hall now is, Jones began active real estate development to create a town center. He donated the greater part of the common as a free gift to the town; he built a hotel, a store, various shops for blacksmiths and coopers, and three houses. His grand plan faltered as results of the Embargo of 1808; he failed financially in 1810 and was obliged to flee town by stealth.</div> <div> After many changes of ownership, the house was acquires by the Davis family and it was here that the widow of Capt. Isaac Davis spent the last years of her life. It was altered to its present appearance in the 1850's and is still owned by Davis descendents.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="harrington__woodbury_house_c1810"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Harrington- Woodbury House, c1810</B></FONT></div> <div> Edward Harrington and his mother, Mrs. Anna Harrington built this large Federal double house about 1810. From 1834 to 1852, it was the home of Rev. James Trask Woodbury. A conscientious collector of Acton's Revolutionary War history, he was the prime mover, through his address before the Massachusetts Legislature, in the planning and construction of the Revolutionary Monument on the Common. At the time of the Civil War, this was the home of Capt. Daniel Tuttle, whose company was one of the first to respond to the alarm (April 15, 1861) that Fort Sumter had been fired upon, thus beginning the Civil War.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="robert_chaffin_c1762"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Robert Chaffin, c1762</B></FONT></div> <div> Robert Chaffin, brother of John Chaffin and builder of this house, was chairman of the Committee to Humble the Tories, a body chosen in Concord from neighboring towns in 1774. In 1816 Rev. Hosea Ballou held the first meeting of the Universalist Church Society here. An unusual smoke room with its original hooks is located in the chimney directly acing the front door and there is pine-paneled room to the right. An unusual feature for so small a wooden house is a slate roof.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="john_chaffin_c1750"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>John Chaffin, c1750</B></FONT></div> <div> This house is characteristic of the story and a half cottage built in Acton in the mid 18<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> century. It is still property of the descendents of John Chaffin.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="samuel_parlin_c1772"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Samuel Parlin, c1772</B></FONT></div> <div> <B>     </B>This is an example of the New England farmhouse with two stories both in front and in back as opposed to the saltbox. The builder was a solider in the Revolution and later was a trustee of the Acton Social Library. The house contains a room that may have been used as a station of the Underground Railroad</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="simon_tuttle_c1795"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Simon Tuttle, c1795</B></FONT></div> <div>      This house was built for Simon Tuttle and Simon Tuttle, Jr. near an older house that had been owned by the Tuttle family since 1752. Simon Tuttle Sr. was a soldier of the Revolution. In 1839 Francis Tuttle, a descendent, sold the farm to the Town to be used as an almshouse which it remained until 1920. In 1875 the exterior parts of the interior were thoroughly renovated. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="moses_adams_1780"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Moses Adams, 1780</B></FONT></div> <div>      The Town of Acton built this house for Rev. Moses Adams. It may include part pf an earlier house on the same site. In 1792, Rev. Adams bought the house now called Old Parsonage (see below) and moved there. The next occupant was Francis Barker who had been the drummer for the Acton Minutemen at the North Bridge. Though the house was altered during the Victorian period, the hipped roof is probably original.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="dr__abraham_skinner_lottery_house_1797"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Dr. Abraham Skinner, Lottery House, 1797</B></FONT></div> <div>      In 1794 Harvard College with permission of the State legislature, held lottery to procure money for a new building (Stoughton hall) Four Actonians held shares in a single lottery ticket, which drew one grand prize. Three of them used the money to build new houses and the other completed a house already begun.</div> <div> Abraham Skinner, one of Acton's noted early physicians, practiced in town from 1788 to 1810. His house, thought somewhat altered, is almost a twin to the John Robbins lottery House and retains some of its fine Georgian exterior detail</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <A NAME="old_parsonage_1741"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Old Parsonage, 1741</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>      Originally built by Jacob Hooker, a tailor, the house was later owned and occupied from 1760's to 1755 by James Dudley, a Revolutionary War solider. From 1792 to 1819, it was the home of Acton's second minister, Rev. Moses Adams, a careful scholar whose anti war views during the War of 1812 caused a slight stir locally. About 1795 Rev. Adams remodeled the house, adding the enclosed porch and the hipped roof (which had a balustrade) and the window blinds, first of their kind in Acton.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="davis___conant_lottery_house_1793"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Davis - Conant Lottery House, 1793</B></FONT></div> <div>      This house was begun by Jonas Davis and was completed using a share of the 1794 Lottery prize. It is still owned by Davis descendents, the Conants. It was extensively altered on the exterior in 1880. The long range of sheds and large barn are particularly noteworthy features.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="heald_house_c1743"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Heald House, c1743</B></FONT></div> <div>      Built by one of a succession of John Healds, it is difficult to distinguished among them, but it seems probable that the builder was a member of the Revolutionary Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety. This is a well preserved thought somewhat altered example of a mid 18th century salt box. This house has sometimes been confused with an earlier house, which once stood in the part of Acton, which is now Carlisle. It was the earlier house from which Capt. John Heald marched to Boston in 1689 to depose the Royal Governor, Sir Edmunds Andros.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="daniel_white_c1815"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Daniel White, c1815</B></FONT></div> <div>      Dating from two periods, this is unusually long cottage house. It was built for Daniel White after he transferred his tavern to his son Deacon John White. It relates to the small enclave of Federal period building, which grew up around the Nagog Hotel (the White Tavern), which formerly stood diagonally across the street.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="joseph_robbins_jr__1774"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Joseph Robbins, Jr., 1774</B></FONT></div> <div>      This house was built as a wedding present for his son Joseph Robbins, Jr. by Capt. Joseph Robbins who led the East militia Company to the Concord Fight. Formerly a saltbox, it was plastered on the outside and marked to resemble stone.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="simon_davis_c1748"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Simon Davis, c1748</B></FONT></div> <div>      This house remained in the Davis family for three generations, although at times it was used as a rental property. From about 1825 until his death, it was the home of Jonathan Billings (1777-1841), a clockmaker, who had been apprenticed to Aaron Willard. He made mostly banjo clocks for local trade.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="james_billings__underground_railway_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>James Billings (Underground Railway) 1787</B></FONT></div> <div>      Architecturally, this is one of the most ambitious of the post Revolutionary farmhouses in Acton. James Billings was a Revolutionary War solider. James Hapgood, a later owner, was granted a tavern license in 1830. A space in the middle of the chimney, originally a smoke oven, was almost certainly used in the Underground Railway.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="heywood___davis_lottery_house_1797"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Heywood - Davis Lottery House, 1797</B></FONT></div> <div>      His Lottery house was built by Calvin Heywood, a housewright by trade, and was later owned by David Davies, one of Isaac Davis' Minutemen. Essentially a central chimney house, it originally stood at the corner of Great Road and Brook Street and was moved to its present site in the late 1960's to prevent its destruction.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="john_robbins_lottery_house_1800"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>John Robbins Lottery House, 1800</B></FONT></div> <div>      As a boy, John Robbins was one of the messengers who spread the April 19<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>alarm. Later he was one of those to hold a share in the winning Harvard College lottery ticket and used his prize money to build what was by far the most elaborate of the Lottery Houses: at the time it was considered the finest in town. The interior woodwork especially the mantel pieces and staircases, are well-designed and executed examples of Georgian joinery. It stayed in the Robbins family until 1920, as a probable result of which the house remains in substantially its original condition. </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="wetherbee_tavern_1802"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Wetherbee Tavern, 1802</B></FONT></div> <div>      This build was erected by Edward Wetherbee when he expanded his tavern business. His son Edward, Jr., was one of the riders who spread the alarm April 19,1775, to the home of Simon Tuttle on Nagog Hill Road. Daniel Wetherbee of the third generation was a state legislator and was instrumental in establishing the state prison at Concord. He rebuilt the old gristmill across the street from his house in 1840 and was one of the originators of the Framingham and Lowell Railroad of which he was a permanent director.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="brabrook_house_1751"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Brabrook House, 1751</B></FONT></div> <div>      Owned and occupied by the Brabrook family for about 150 years, this is the only 18<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> century gambrel-roof house in Acton. The road to Concord followed by the Acton Minutemen on their way to the Concord Bridge on April 19,1775, passed close by what is now the rear of this house, but was then the front. </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="mark_white_c1750"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Mark White, c1750</B></FONT></div> <div>      This house was occupied by Ensign Mark White, an elected constable at Acton's first town meeting, 1735. The cellar hole of an earlier house is a few feet away.</div> <div>      There is a family tradition that Ensign Mark White (16815-1758) was a grandson of Peregrine White of the Mayflower.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="seth_brooks_1773"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Seth Brooks, 1773</B></FONT></div> <div>      Built for Seth Brooks, who was Sergeant of Captain Davis' Minute Company, the house, though essentially a central chimney farmhouse, shows the introduction of such Georgian features as the hipped roof, enclosed front porch, large windows, ad fine interior paneling.</div> <div>      The house and farm remained in the Brooks family for over 100 years. It is still a working farm with an unusually well preserved complement of early farm buildings.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="john_heywood_c1750"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>John Heywood, c1750</B></FONT></div> <div>      Originally this was a lean-to-house built by John Heywood, a housewright, for his own house. It was altered to its present condition in the early 19th century by Reuben Wheeler, Heywood's son-in-law. With its setting and barn, it gives an excellent picture of an early homestead.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="nathaniel_edwards_clockmaker_1750"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Nathaniel Edwards, Clockmaker, 1750</B></FONT></div> <div>      Nathaniel Edwards, Jr., son of the builder of this house, was a maker of tall clocks in the late 18<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> century. A number of these clocks have survived, including one in the Concord Antiquarian Museum. This house contains some of the best early Georgian paneling found in Acton</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <A NAME="jonathan_hosmer_1760"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Jonathan Hosmer, 1760</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>      Traditionally bricklayers by trade, the Hosmer family was active in the early settlement of the Town of Acton.</div> <div>      This house is the best surviving example of the lean-to style house popular in early Acton. The original exterior finish was roughcast plaster marked to simulate bricks. In 1797 the house was extended along, the original lines. It is now owned by the Acton Historical Society, Inc.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="universalist_church_1877"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Universalist Church, 1877</B></FONT></div> <div>      Built in 1877 for designs by the Boston firm of Ober and Rand, this church is Acton's earliest example of stick style architecture, so called because of the use of “sticks” to create patterns emphasizing wood construction, as seen here in the diagonal motif in the front wall and tower and vertical motif in the gables.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <A NAME="jones_tavern_1732"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>Jones Tavern, 1732</B></div> <div>      The Jones Tavern was built for Samuel Jones, Jr. whose father was one of the purchases of the iron Work Farm. It was opened as a tavern in 1750 and was also Acton's first general store. Traditionally, this was a gathering place before the Revolution and is the only one of Acton's three revolutionary taverns still standing. The home of Aaron Jones, a member of the Faulkner Militia Company, who served in the Northern campaigns of the Revolution from Concord bridge to Burgoyne's surrender, the house was enlarged to its present appearance in 1818 by him and remained in the Jones family until 1946. It was apparently on this farm that Sarah Dublet, last of the local Nashoba Indians Tribe, spent her last days</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="tuttles_jones_and_wetherbee_company"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Tuttles, Jones, and Wetherbee Company, 1860</B></FONT></div> <div>      The Tuttles, Jones, and Wetherbee Company originated in the store opened in Jones Tavern in 1839 by James Tuttle, son-in-law of Elnathan Jones, Jr. In 1845, Jones Tavern closed, and James Tuttle assuming its trade built a new store on the opposite side of Railroad Street. As business expanded with the prosperity brought by the railroad, the partnership included Tuttle's brother Varnum and his brothers-in law, Elnathan Jones, Jr. and J.K.W. Wetherbee. The company was said to be the largest commercial establishment on the railroad line between Waltham and Fitchburg, a forerunner of the department store idea. It enjoyed its heyday from 1850 to 1900, and then began to fade with the rise of the automobile.</div> <div>      Business continued in Exchange hall, as South Acton Department Store until 1950, closing after 200 years of operation. The hall on the third floor was used for lectures, dances, and other social functions. It was also the early meeting place of the South Acton Universalist Church </div> <div> (1860-1877).</div> <div>      Architecturally, this building is one of the best examples of bracketed Italian style in Middlesex County. The spring dance floor on the third story in another significant feature of the building. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="jones_and_faulkner_mill_1702"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Jones and Faulkner Mill, 1702</B></FONT></div> <div>      Mills were established here by the partnership of Ephraim and Samuel Jones and Jonathan Knight who had purchased the largest portion of the Concord Iron Work Farm. A fulling mill was built first in 1702, followed by a sawmill in 1706. A gristmill was added about 1750 by Ammi-Ruhamah Faulkner. The earliest buildings now standing here may date from about 1750. A grain business still occupies some of these buildings. The textile business discontinued in the 1850's was said to be one of the early attempts to manufacture wool on a large scale in this country.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="faulkner_house_1707"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Faulkner House, 1707</B></FONT></div> <div>      The Faulkner House was built for Ephraim Jones, who in partnership with his brother and Jonathan Knight established the mills that were the nucleus for the settlement of South Acton. It is the only documented garrison house within the present bounds of Acton. From 1738-1940, the Faulkner family occupied the house. On April 19, 1775, members of Colonel Francis Faulkner's Militia Company, gathered here prior to the march to Concord Bridge. Col. Faulkner was appointed to the Mass. Constitutional Convention in 1779. Sophia Faulkner, a descendent born here was an outstanding teacher at Perkins Institute For The blind. Her husband, himself blind was a founder of the Royal Normal College for the Blind in London and was knighted by King Edward VII. After his death, Lady Campbell returned to Acton and a few years after her own death, the house went out of the family. Now owned by Iron Work Farm in Acton, Inc., it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="john_adams_c1740"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>John Adams, c1740</B></FONT></div> <div>      John Adams built this house, which is a good example of an early New England farmhouse. It remained in the Adams family until 1816 when the Conants, for whom Conant Street was named, purchased it.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="hayward___skinner_house_1801"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Hayward - Skinner House, 1801</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>      This large center chimney farmhouse was built for Simeon Hayward and was occupied by his daughter, Mrs. Mary Hayward Skinner, until her death in 1891. (Mrs. Skinner was born in 1796 in the old Hayward house, which stood to the rear of the present building.) Acton's first piano was brought here in 1813, a gift to Mary Hayward from her Uncle. It is said that one of the large second floor rooms was used as a ballroom. Along with the four Lottery houses, this was considered to be                   one of the finest homes in Acton. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="peter_fletcher_c1769"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Peter Fletcher, c1769</B></FONT></div> <div>      Probably this is the earliest surviving house of the locally important Fletcher family. From 1785 to 1796 it was the home of William Thomas, a schoolmaster, one of Captain Isaac Davis' Minutemen. Homestead of the Joseph Wilde family from 1813-1875, it was the birthplace (1827) and early home of William Allen Wilde, a Boston publisher who gave the Acton Memorial Library to the town.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="john_law_site_of_the_first_house_1656"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>John Law, site of the First House, 1656</B></FONT></div> <div>      The first settler of Acton, John Law, was living on this property by 1656. Law seems to have been a Scottish prisoner of war who was employed by the townspeople of Concord to care for their sheep. The property remained in the Law family for over 200 years. Built in the 18<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> century, the present house was extensively altered in 1864.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="wheeler___lothrop_house_1760"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Wheeler - Lothrop House, 1760</B></FONT></div> <div>      Though the lean-to is a later addition, this I one of the few early saltboxes remaining in Acton. An unusual feature is that it was built into a hill so that both the front and back are two stories high. It was built for Ezra Wheeler, a revolutionary solider, and remained in his family for three generations. Owned by the Lothrop family from 1845 to 1955 it was the birthplace of Alvin M. Lothrop (1847) founder of Woodward and Lothrop Department Store in Washington, D.C.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="john_law_jr__c1737"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>John Law, Jr., c1737</B></FONT></div> <div>      One of Acton's most picturesque early homes - the one story part built in the 1730's and the two-story part in the 1830's - John Law, a grandson of Acton's first settler, originally owned this.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="walcott___taylor__underground_railway_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Walcott - Taylor (Underground Railway) 1846</B></FONT></div> <div>      One of Acton's finest examples of the “Gothic Gingerbread” style, this house was built for Jabez Wolcott, a housewright who established one of the early factories in South Acton after coming of the railroad. It was later owned by Zoheth Taylor, a merchant associated with the Tuttles, Jones, and Wetherbee Company.</div> <div>      This is a reliable tradition that a well-hidden room in the barn was used as a station of the Underground Railway before the Civil War. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="south_acton_congregational_society_1891"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>South Acton Congregational Society, 1891</B></FONT></div> <div>      This church is one of Acton's best examples of the Queen Anne-Shingle Style, a late 19<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> century movement that stressed the development of a picturesque American architecture through the use of wood, the most plentiful building material in specific forms such as shingles. These concepts are illustrated in this building through the use of the turreted bell tower and gables.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="knight___forbush_house_c1710"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Knight - Forbush House, c1710</B></FONT></div> <div>      Built by Jonathan Knight, the housewright connected with the manufacturing venture that brought about the settlement of Mill Corner, now South Acton, it was owned and occupied by the Forbush family from 1739 to the 1830's.  David Forbush, Jr., was the Orderly Sergeant of Captain Isaac Davis' Minutemen. The house has an unusually well preserved early 18th century chimney.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="liberty_tree_house_c1710"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Liberty Tree House, c1710</B></FONT></div> <div>      Originally a salt box and changed to its present appearance about 1820, this house was begun by the Knight family who were associated with the earliest village settlement of what is now South Acton. From 1755 to 1802 it was owned and occupies by Simon Hunt, Captain in the Revolutionary War and at Concord, White Plains and Saratoga. Acton's Liberty tree, an elm planted when the house was built, stood in front of the house until 1930's. In the 1840's this was the home of Sally Bright who kept a dame school in the house. In 1915 a maple was planted here as a Peace Tree by the children of Acton, eventually to replace then aged Liberty Tree.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="simon_hunt_c1735"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Simon Hunt, c1735</B></FONT></div> <div>      Although some earlier histories of Acton identify another house as Simon Hunt's, recent research shows that the rear section of this house was “Simon Hunt's New House” built in 1735, the year that Acton was incorporated. This house was later owned by the Jones family and enlarged to its present size in about 1815.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="benjamin_hayward_1779"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Benjamin Hayward, 1779</B></FONT></div> <div>      Benjamin Hayward, Minutemen in the Company Isaac Davis and brother James Hayward who died in Lexington during the British retreat on April 19, 1775, is believed to have built this house about a year before his marriage in 1780. This is one of Acton's best examples of a post-Revolutionary center chimney farmhouse with its long ell, originally a series of sheds.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="universalist_church_1868"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Universalist Church, 1868</B></FONT></div> <div>      Although basically a rural Meeting House, this building presents an ambitious attempt to look “Gothic”, an undercurrent of mid-nineteenth century design, which tried to revive the religious influence of the Middle Ages. In this building, features included the basement, which was cut to imitate stonework, the wooden buttresses of the tower, the pointed windows, and the pointed arches in the belfry.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="west_acton_baptist_church_1854"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>West Acton Baptist Church, 1854</B></FONT></div> <div>      The first church (846) on this site was burned in 1853; Dwight and Firman, local contractors, constructed this building. It has been modernized. A tall spire was taken down in 1934 and replaced by a golden dome.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="bradley_stone_c1834"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Bradley Stone, c1834</B></FONT></div> <div>      Built for Bradley Stone in about 1834, this Federal house is Acton's only example of entirely brick construction. A wooden ell on the rear is a former 18<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> century schoolhouse which was moved from a near by location. As a local merchant, Bradley Stone was instrumental in promoting the location of the railroad through West Acton.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="st__elizabeth_of_hungary_1912"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 1912</B></FONT></div> <div>      This was built as a mission church, an offshoot of St. Bridget's, the Maynard Catholic Parish. It is in the informal mission style used by the Catholic Church at that time, here carried out in fieldstone and stucco. St. Elizabeth of Hungary was made a separate parish in 1945.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="ephraim_hosmer_c1750"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Ephraim Hosmer, c1750</B></FONT></div> <div>      Originally a four room central chimney farmhouse, this was enlarged in 1807 by Joel Hosmer, son of Ephraim Hosmer, to serve as a tavern for Union Turnpike, completed in 1806.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="nathan_d__hosmer_1837"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Nathan D. Hosmer, 1837</B></FONT></div> <div>      While the present building is an excellent example of a commodious Federal farmhouse, built to house two generations, (father, Nathan Davies Hosmer and son, Aaron Hosmer) it occupies the site and contains reused parts of the original Deacon Jonathan Hosmer house about 1734. The old house was the birthplace and home for twenty-one years of Abner Hosmer, one of Captain Isaac Davis' Minutemen who was killed in the fight at Concord Bridge, April 19, 1775, and the home of Luther Blanchard, fifer to the Acton Minutemen and wounded at Concord fight. Blanchard had been apprenticed to deacon Jonathan Hosmer to learn the bricklayer's trade.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="william_cutting_freed_slave_1735"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>William Cutting, Freed Slave, 1735</B></FONT></div> <div>      This house was built for William Cutting, a freed mulatto slave who was a respected farmer. His daughter taught one of the local dame schools in the 1770's. It was to this house that Mrs. Elizabeth Bentley, wife of Joshua Bentley, who rowed Paul Revere across the Charles River on April 18, 1775, came as a refugee from the British occupation of Boston. Her son Rev. William Bentley, diarist and minister at Salem, preached his first sermon in this house while a student at Harvard, then in session in Concord.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="peter_tenney_c1835"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Peter Tenney, c1835</B></FONT></div> <div>      The piazza across the front part of this house is Acton's only remaining example of an apparently local fashion during the Federal period. This is a feature usually associated with the later Victorian era.</div> <div>      It is believed that the ell to the right is an older house, built about 1770 for Joseph Piper, Jr., Clerk of Capt. Isaac Davis' Minute Company</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="acton_s_forgotten_historical_site"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Lucida Handwriting" >Acton's Forgotten Historical Site</FONT></div> <div> <I> <A NAME="the_hayward_farm"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></I><I>The Hayward Farm</I></div> <div> By Mr. Percy W. Wood</div> <div> February 1964</div> <bR> <div> Presented to the Acton Historical Society</div> <div> By Mr. Percy W. Wood</div> <div> On Sunday evening March 15, 1964</div> <div> The meeting was held at the Liberty Tree House, South Acton, MA<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Nearly all the many landmarks and historical sites in Acton are marked in some way and are so familiar the to townspeople and visitors alike.</div> <bR> <div>      However there is one historical site almost forgotten by the few “native” Actonians and unknown to newer residents. It is located at what is now Arlington Street, West Acton, and is the farm upon which James Hayward was born. Situated upon a knoll, it overlooks the highway, which forms part of the old Indian trail and the first colony road, which connected Stow with Acton. On this same road less than a quarter mile to the east is to be found the familiar birthplace of Captain Isaac Davis. </div> <bR> <div>      Information concerning the early history of the Hayward farm is very meager. It is listed on the old map of Acton as simply the Captain Samuel Hayward homestead and the date, presumably that of the erection of the building, 1735.</div> <bR> <div>      Captain Hayward was a man of great prominence in the new town of Acton for history records that he served on numerous committees connected with establishing the town and also held a considerable number of town offices, including that of moderator. He was also a deacon in the First Church.</div> <bR> <div>      There is another house not far from the Hayward farm, which is still standing; the fine old home off Mrs. Rachel Haynes erected, I believe in 1752, and originally owned by another Hayward possibly a relative of the other family of that name. </div> <bR> <div>      In the year 1750 there was born to Captain Samuel and his wife Mrs. Mary Hayward a son who became noted in history as the third man from Acton to die on April 19, 1775.</div> <bR> <div>      The following written by the late Reverend F. P. Wood, father of Oliver D. Wood, gives the importance much better than I could hope to do:</div> <div>           </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> A REMINISCENCE OF APRIL 19, 1775</div> <bR> <div>               Hear the highway which leads from Lexington to Concord, the same hat was pursued by British regulars and over which they were afterwards pursued, close by a well is a tablet bearing the following inscription:  </div> <bR> <div>      “At this well, April 19, 1775, James Hayward of Acton met a British solider, who raised his gun said, “You are a dead man.” “And so are you, “ replied Hayward.  Both fired, the solider was instantly killed and Hayward was mortally wounded.”</div> <bR> <div>      As this tablet notes one of the most thrilling incidents of a day full of thrilling adventures, it may be interesting to the reader of this journal to know something more of the hero who is introduced.</div> <bR> <div>      Hayward had just passed his twenty-fifth birthday. He was one of the most athletic young men of the town, though by accident he had sustained a physical disability, which relived him from the legal obligation to perform military duty. (He lost most or all the toes on one foot. P.W.) He had been a schoolmaster and was in a position to take an intelligent view of the crisis. In the morning of this eventful day he had stood with Capt. Davis, the commander of the Acton Minutemen, at the North Bridge and was near his leader when he fell. It was in pursing the British as they stampeded towards Charlestown Neck, that he received his mortal wound. As the fatal ball sped on it way, it entered his body through the powder horn which hung at this side, a relic, which is in the possession of the town of Acton and is valued above its weight in gold.</div> <bR> <div>      The following interview of Hayward with his father, who was able to reach his side a short time before he expired, has been preserved:</div> <bR> <div>      “James, you are mortally wounded, you can live but a few hours. Are you sorry that you `turned out'?”</div> <div>      </div> <div>      Father, hand me my powder horn and bullet pouch. I started with one pound of powder and forty balls. You see what I have been about. I am not sorry I turned out. I willingly die for my country. She will now, by the help of God, no doubt, be free. And tell mother not to mourn too much for me, and her whom I love better than my mother, that I not sorry, and though I never shall see her again here, may I meet her in heaven!”</div> <bR> <div>      Upon the old gravestone, which originally stood at the head of Hayward's grave, were the following inscriptions;</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I>                                                  “In memory of Mr. James Hayward,</I></div> <div> <I><IMG SRC="28dbfff0.jpg" border=0 width="191" height="255" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> son of Capt. Samuel and Mrs. Mary Hayward,</I></div> <div> <I> who was killed in Concord Fight. April 19, 1775,</I></div> <div> <I> aged 25 years and four day.”</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>This monument may unborn ages tell</I></div> <div> <I>How brave young Hayward like a hero fell.</I></div> <div> <I>When fighting for his countries liberty,</I></div> <div> <I>Was slain, and here his body now doth lye.</I></div> <div> <I>He and his foe were by each other slain.</I></div> <div> <I>His victims blood with his ye earth did stain,</I></div> <div> <I>Upon ye field he was with victory crowned,</I></div> <div> <I>And yet must yield his breath upon that ground.</I></div> <div> <I>He expresse't his hope in God before his death</I></div> <div> <I>After his foe had yielded up his breath</I></div> <div> <I>Oh may his death a lasting witness lye</I></div> <div> <I>Against oppressors bloody cruelty.</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> In 1851, Hayward's ashes were removed from the old cemetery and placed with those of Capt. Davis and Abner Hosmer, the only Americans who fell at the North Bridge, beneath a noble granite shaft upon Acton Common, and there may they rest in peace until the principle for which they fought and fell shall have a world wide application.</div> <bR> <div>      Captain Samuel Hayward, the father continued to live on the home place until his death March 6, 1794, at the age of 78. The following quaint but rather appealing epitaph is on his gravestone in Woodlawn Cemetery:</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><IMG SRC="28f769d0.jpg" border=0 width="118" height="157" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">“This stone is erected to preserve the remembrance of</I></div> <div> <I> Deacon Samuel Hayward</I></div> <div> <I>and to remind the living that they must follow him.</I></div> <div> <I>Died March 6, 1794 aged 78</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>For many years he commanded the Militia of this town.</I></div> <div> <I>He was a kind husband and father and neighbor, a lover of his country, </I></div> <div> <I>of good men, of religion and of the poor.</I></div> <div> <I>The memory of the just is blessed</I></div> <div> <I>Here is a biding of Saints.”</I></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> The next occupant of the farm appears to have been Capt. Stevens Hayward, another son. He was followed by the Hon. Stevens Hayward who acquired this title from the fact that he served in both branches of the Massachusetts legislature, first in the House of Representatives in 1812 and 1828-1829, and in the Senate in 1844-1845. He was also a member of the dedication committee of the monument. He lived on the farm for several years then purchased and moved into the mansion in Acton Center next to the Town hall which stood where the home of Mr. Roger Crafts is now. A newspaper clipping recalling the April 19, 1825 celebration, when Acton united with Concord for the fiftieth anniversary of that day says:</div> <bR> <div>      On this occasion the Acton military commanded by Col. W. E. Faulkner made a fine display. If we are not mistaken, it was on that occasion that Stevens Hayward Esq., gave a toast, which has gone around the globe. Though Esq. Hayward had served in both branches of legislature, and was very able in public affairs, he was not given to speech making, so that when he was invited to speak at the banquet he declined, but upon being urged by the Ho. E. R. Hoar, the president of the day, said: ` Mr. President, I will not make a speech, but I will show my interest in the occasion by giving a toast: <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><I>The Concord Fight! Concord furnished the ground and Acton the men'.”</I></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <div> The old farm was sold to Benjamin Lentelle, (a son of James Lentelle died in the Civil War) who lived there for several years and then sold it to Orlando Leland. From here on we are able to secure somewhat more complete information concerning the subsequent owners and occupants.</div> <bR> <div>      For instance, in an old tax valuation of Acton for 1875, in my possession, the Leland farm is listed as comprising 67 acres and with buildings was valued at four thousand seventy-five dollars. It would be most interesting if it were possible to ascertain the present value of the buildings and other taxable property within the bounds of those original 67 acres.</div> <bR> <div>      An article in the Town Warrant of April 5, 1886 deals indirectly with the old farm, namely Article 12, “To see if the town will widen and straighten the road leading from the house Orlando Leland through the village of West Acton to the house of George A. Stevens”. This was the house owned and occupied by Joseph Lizotte at the corner of Arlington and Elm Streets. Incidentally, in Captain Hayward's time this highway, Arlington Street, was known as Captain Samuel Hayward's way to meeting and it followed from the above corner the present Hayward Road for the remainder of the route to Acton Center.</div> <bR> <div>      The late Oliver D. Wood gave me an anecdote concerning Mr. Leland. “He rented a pew in the Acton Center Church, adjoining that of my mother, but he very seldom attended services.” Mr. Leland died December 30, 1887 aged 81 years, as the results of being thrown from a wagon in a runaway accident.</div> <bR> <div>      The next occupants of the Hayward Homestead were Eugene Kraetzer family who moved here from Lexington. Some of the older residents of West Acton still remember then as a cultured and refined family who were very hospitable and fond of company. As the family included four vivacious and attractive daughters they were well supplied with company particularly the young men of the vicinity. Mr. Kraetzer died on September 1, 1893 at the age of 44 and the family later returned to Lexington. A grandson or great grandson resides at the present in Concord. They were the last family to occupy the old house for it and all the other buildings on the place were burned by Getchell, the incendiary who was notorious in that line although he did temper his infamous deed somewhat by always selecting empty buildings to destroy.</div> <bR> <div>      This event occurred about seventy years ago. The old farm subsequently came into the possession of Samuel R. Boughs who cultivated it to some extent. Finding that he needed a barn on the place, he purchased one on the Calvin Holbrook place, now the home of Martin Duggan, and had it moved up the hill and placed on the old cellar hole.</div> <div>  But because this building was only about three-quarters as large as the old one it presented an odd appearance perched as it was, as though undecided whether to stay there or the leap off into space. I recall asking my grandfather why it looked so peculiar and he explained that it had been moved from another site. That was news to me for up to then, I had supposed that a building remained wherever it was erected.</div> <bR> <div>      Incidentally, I have tried to find out from some of the older residents what the old house looked like but unfortunately, no one can recall its appearance, although several remember the former occupants.</div> <bR> <div>      For about two decades the old farm remained without residents. Though without buildings, it was, nevertheless, a beautiful sight to the nature lover for on both sided of Arlington Street were handsome maple trees whose branches formed an arch over the roadway reminding one of the Gothic cathedral roof, while along the front border of the farm was one of the finest examples of a stone wall to be seen in Acton. Laid up without mortar it was so well built that it remained in perfect condition for many years. It was perfectly flat and level on the top and afforded an excellent place for small boys to test their skill in sprinting along its entire length. The locale being without streetlights and the road lightly traveled it was noted as a very popular “lovers lane” </div> <bR> <div>      The farm was the scene of another fire in 1911 or 1912 when a brush fire spread over a large area of pasture and woods, and spreading into some peat bogs adjoining Massachusetts Avenue, continuing to burn for a considerable time until finally extinguished by a soaking rain. </div> <bR> <div>      In 1913 Samuel F. Carlisle purchased the farm and began an extensive market garden business. He proposed to erect a large greenhouse so as to supply year around crops. Being of an economical turn of mind and wishing to reduce the cost of the foundation as much as possible, he instructed the workman to use a much larger proportion of sand and gravel than is usual in mixing the concrete. It looked all right to the average person but when the experienced eye of Mr. John Hoar, the contractor, fell on it, he had grave doubts, and gave some lusty cracks with a sledgehammer whereupon it crumbled and fell like the Biblical parable of the house built on the sand.</div> <bR> <div>      It was necessary to replace the entire foundation with stronger masonry. The greenhouse was subsequently completed and included an apartment in which Mr. Carlisle's family resided until the dwelling house was built a few years later. Their first child, a son, was born there, and if I may pardoned a personal reminiscences, I recall with amusement overhearing a caller of my grandmother's remark that it was a pity that the daughter of a prominent citizen (which Mrs. Carlisle was) should have to have a child born in a greenhouse!</div> <bR> <div>      An attractive and commodious house was completed in 1915, situated on the site of the old one; the Carlisle family lived there about 15 years or more, while carrying on the market garden business with varying degrees of success.</div> <bR> <div>      In the early 1930's Mr. Thomas Curley and his family became the occupants of the farm. Mr. Curley died on January 15, 1939 but the family continued to reside there. Two sons served in World War II. In recent years they have renovated and greatly improved the house, which, in spite of being comparatively new, had deteriorated considerably. </div> <bR> <div>      The old transplanted barn was blown down in the 1954 hurricane. Three new streets, namely Birch Ridge Road, Cheery Ridge Road, and Juniper Ridge Road have been laid out and with various attractive homes erected thereon have created almost a village by itself.</div> <bR> <div>      The locale is still a very attractive one for lovers of nature and could be for the lover of history if there was a marker to inform him that this is historical ground. </div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="the_story_of_captain_simon_hunt_____"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>     </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="1b202ac0.jpg" border=0 width="258" height="172" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Story of Captain Simon Hunt  and the </div> <div> Liberty Tree</div> <div> Liberty Street, South Acton, Massachusetts</div> <bR> <div> Presented by Marguerite E. White and </div> <div> Eileen L. Travers</div> <div> Documentary by Acton Historian </div> <div> Robert L. Nylander</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> 1715<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > - Handcrafted by friends and neighbors- the house which was to become the house of patriot Simon Hunt was hewn from the land. Built with friendship, heavy beams raised, pegged and boarded, and lovingly completed. The house, like others of its day, had to be a shelter, a fortress, and a home.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> 1973 <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >- Through the centuries, this house still serves as a home to man. The labor of love that went into the building, the courage and fortitude of the early settlers, were all entrapped into beams and panels. There is a pervasive atmosphere in such a noble house that seems to spread blessing to all who enter.</FONT></div> <bR> <div>      The magic is in the live buildings, in the towering English elm that still remain, a one-time companion to the Liberty Tree.</div> <bR> <div> Documentary and legendary facts and fantasies, the stories are locked in the old beams, in the wide paneling, in the tremendous stones that support the heavy chimney. Like the heart of the building, it climbs way through the center of the house, fantastically twisting its structure as it reaches through the attic before emerging on the roof, - a device known as the early builders to prevent downdrafts through the wide openings in the fireplaces.</div> <bR> <div>      The Documentary Facts are……</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Hunt House</B></div> <div> Built by Henry Sparks in 1715 (as he writes in a deed); bought in 1727 by   the Hunt family of Concord, who used it sometimes as a resident and sometimes as a “tenement” farm to let until 1755, when Simon hunt, Jr., bought it to live in.</div> <div> Josiah Bright family owned and occupies 1802-1871</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Simon Hunt House: Simon Hunt, Jr. (1734-1820)</B></div> <div> Simon Hunt bought this house in 1755, from his father, on his marriage to Lucy Raymond; he sold the house to Josiah Bright in 1802.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >Before 1775</FONT> - 1<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >st</FONT> Lieutenant in Capt. Faulkner's west company militia. </div> <bR> <div> April 19, 1775<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > - took command of the west company on the Faulkners' front lawn, and led the west company down to the Concord Fight.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> 1775 <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >- at White Plains</FONT></div> <bR> <div> 1777<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > - Saratoga at Burgoyne's surrender.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> THE LIBERTY TREE<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >, in the south yard, an elm probably planted by Henry Sparks when he built the house (1715), became Acton's Liberty Tree during the Revolution, following the example set by Boston.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> THE PEACE TREE<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > in the north yard, a maple, planted by Reuben L. Reed and South Acton School children in 1915.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> The <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >LEGEND</FONT> of the Liberty Tree - is the alchemist that brought us from city, excitedly to undertake the heavy task of reclaiming the aging buildings and restoring them to newer strength and beauty and usefulness.</div> <bR> <div> The <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >LEGEND</FONT> of the Liberty Tree - is that General Washington tied his horse to the English Elm tree on the southwest side of the house when he called on Captain Hunt in 1776.</div> <bR> <div> This <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" >LEGEND</FONT> was told to us with the reverence by the real estate man who sold us the house. It was repeated to us by neighbors and local tradesmen. Some were skeptical; many had lost interest. In those days, around the middle forties, there was little interest in historic events. “We though of it as just an old house,” said one.</div> <bR> <div> But many still treasure the legend. Our near neighbor handed us a clipping from the Boston Globe dated 1923, picturing the house and the Tree, and reciting the incident of Washington and the Liberty Tree. The Boston Globe again carried the same story in 1958.</div> <bR> <div> One of our neighbors was the late Professor Bertha Sharpley Burke, of Harvard College, a descendant of the Hunts, and the wife of another descendant of the early patriots, the late Henry Barker Burke. Both of these people were antique collectors and preservers of early Acton history. Mrs. Burke showed us an old mug held in her family over the years, and alleged to have been the mug from which General Washington drank when he called on Captain Hunt in 1776.</div> <bR> <div> There was at least one historian of the town during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century - Reuben L. Reed - wood carver and history lover. He carved the wooden markers, which are shown in the photograph, one for the Liberty Tree and one for the Hunt house. These are now here framed and preserved and framed.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >A newspaper account of 1898,</FONT><A HREF="#the_home_of_captain_simon_hunt_" TITLE="Historic Homes and Buildings"><U><B>The Home of Captain Simon Hunt </B></U></A><B>. </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >preserved by another descendant of the Hunts, Mrs. Otis Reed, describes the ceremonial placing of the markers in their respective positions.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> The following excerpts are taken from this newspaper account:</div> <bR> <div> <I>“…this house was the home of Captain Simon Hunt who seems to have been almost constantly in the service of his country from the morning of the 19</I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><I>th</I></FONT><I> of </I></div> <div> <I>April 1775 to 1779. </I></div> <bR> <div> <I>“…Captain Hunt commanded one of the Acton militia companies and rendezvoused his men at Major Francis Faulkner's on the morning of the Concord fight….He commanded a company op on Dorchester Heights from March 4 to 10, 1776, at the time of the evacuation of Boston by general Howe. This is a matter of record. There is a letter in the State House written by Captain Hunt to Col. Eleanor Brooks, that he had drawn 14 men, presumably for service under General Stark.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>“…the occasion was the unveiling of the Markers upon the home of Captain Simon hunt, and upon a noble elm as the Liberty Tree which stands in front of said house. The exercises were under the auspices of the Bunker Hill Historical Society, of which Reuben Reed, esq., is Vice President, by whom they were largely arranged….</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>“…but even more valuable, if possible, was the work done in this celebration in that it brought out and tended to get into such a shape as to pass on to future generations a record of the achievement of one of the most patriotic and useful citizens that Acton has produced. (Capt. Simon Hunt)</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>“… the services were attended by a large number of representative citizens including members of the Hunt family…Mr. Reed then made a very historical speech with reference to the hunts and the early history of the town…</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>“… Rev. Wood expressed his great satisfaction at the effort, which has been made to make very prominent the achievement of Revolutionary Patriots…particularly in the fact that they had the foresight and the breath of view to lay the foundation of our government upon the broad principles that…</I></div> <div> <I>`Government derives their just powers from the consent of the governed'…that the government is only the servant of the people, and if not promoting the people's interest to be called down by the people's voices at any time. If we lose sight of this and trample the principle underfoot it will soon appear that the Revolutionary Fathers fought and died in vain…”</I></div> <bR> <div>      So spoke Rev. Wood at the Liberty Tree ceremonies in 1898.</div> <bR> <div>      In 1915, Reuben Reed was again ceremoniously honoring the Liberty Tree. He prevailed on the teaches at the Acton Grade School, which was on School Street in South Acton, to celebrate Arbor Day by planting a tree on the grounds of the Captain Simon Hunt house. This was to act as a stand -in for the Liberty Tree against any possible loss of the tree that might occur.</div> <bR> <div>      The teachers obliged and all eight grades of the school marched to the site and helped plant the little Maple Tree - then almost four feet high - which was christened the “Peace Tree” and which still stands.</div> <bR> <div>      Some of the participants in that event have presented us with most of the names of the children, and they have confirmed that fact that they were brought up with the story of the Liberty Tree, the legend that George Washington tied his horse to the Liberty Tree when he called on Captain Simon Hunt in 1776.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="the_home_of_captain_simon_hunt_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Lucida Handwriting" ><B>The Home of Captain Simon Hunt </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>and the Liberty Tree</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Patriotic Observance</B></div> <div> <B>Markers placed on Revolutionary Mansion and Liberty Tree </B></div> <div> <B>at South Acton</B></div> <div> <B>1898</B></div> <bR> <div>      “…The occasion was the unveiling of the markers upon the home of Captain Simon Hunt and upon a noble elm as the liberty tree which stands in front of the said home. The exercises were under the auspices of the Bunker Hill Historical Society of which R. L. Reed, Esq. is a vice -president, by whom they were largely arranged.</div> <bR> <div>      “…The house has been renovated and the grounds beautified, which work was made a valuable addition to the town, as is always the case with such works of improvement. But even more valuable, if possible, was the work done in this celebration in that it brought out and tended to get into such a shape as to pass on to future generations a record of the achievement of one of the most patriotic and useful citizens that Acton has ever produced.</div> <bR> <div>      This house was the home of Captain Simon Hunt, who seems to have been almost constantly in the service of his country from the morning of the 19<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> of April 1775 to 1779. Captain Hunt commanded one of the Acton militia companies and rendezvoused his men at Maj. Francis Faulkner's on the morning of the Concord Fight. James Hayward, who was shot in Lexington, was a member of his company.</div> <bR> <div>      “He commanded a company our on Dorchester Heights from March 4 to 10, 1776, at the time of the evacuation of Boston by Gen. Howe. This is a matter of record. There is a letter in the State House written by Captain hunt to Col. Eleazer Brooks that he has drawn 14 men, presumably for service under Gen. Stark. Jonathan Hosmer, Jr. was in the number of these men and it is said upon a gravestone in Woodlawn Cemetery that he fell at Bennington; if he fell there, it was presumed that his Captain was there.</div> <bR> <div>      “Rev. James Fletcher in his “Acton History” says of these Acton men that they witnesses the surrender of Burgoyne and guarded the prisoners that were brought back to Cambridge, and that they, with their Pastor Rev. Moses Adams, as chaplain, were in the battle of White plains.</div> <bR> <div>      “The exercises were attended by a large number of representatives citizens, especially of the Hunt descendants…Mr. Reed then made a very felicitous and historically very instructive speech with references to the Hunts in the early history of the town as the generations had occupied this house. He referred in a complimentary way to the Hosmers who were represented at Bennington 122 years ago where one of them laid down his life fighting the British Gen. Baum.</div> <bR> <div>      “He also gave an interesting account of the planting of the liberty trees in various parts of the country, but this one, in its magnificent proportions, and considering the one by whom it was probably planted, was the noblest of them all.</div> <bR> <div> “…Later Rev. Mr. Wood expressed his great satisfaction at the effort which has been made to make very prominent the achievements of the revolutionary patriots and especially to make it very clear in what respects…they were prominent, particularly in the fact that they had the foresight and the breath of view to lay the foundation of our government upon the broad principles that `government derives their just power from the consent of the governed', that the government is only the servant of the people, and if not promoting the people's interest to be called down by the people's voices at any time. If we lose sight of this and trample this principle underfoot it will soon appear that the revolutionary fathers fought and died in vain.</div> <bR> <div> … “Hanging upon the “Liberty Tree” were a few very interesting relics. There was a powder horn used by Joseph Chaffin at the battle of Bunker Hill and in several others battles of the revolution, engraved by him as follows. `For peace and Liberty an I, Joseph Chaffin, may the 12, 1775'; some timbers from Fanuel Hall and from the roofs of the Old South Church; also a gun carried by Capt. Silas Taylor of Stow in the Battle of Bennington, Aug.16, 1777; also Stephen Hosmer's sword used in the Revolution.”</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Copied from a newspaper account of the occasion, printed in 1898, and preserved by a descendant of the Hunt family…Newspaper not named in this preserved cutting, but presumably local.</div> <bR> <div> The wooden “Markers” referred to, hand carved by Reuben Reed of South Acton are now preserved under glass and may be seen on the grounds of the Liberty Tree House, the Hunt Home.</div> <bR> <div>     </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><B> <A NAME="the_lottery_houses"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></I><I><B>The Lottery Houses</B></I></div> <div> <I>History of the Town of Acton</I></div> <div> By Harold R. Phalen - copyright 1954</div> <div> Middlesex Printing, Inc. Cambridge, Mass. </div> <div> Pages 107-109</div> <bR> <div>      There are in Acton, still functioning as comfortable and imposing dwellings, four houses built during the same period and for many years designated as “the lottery houses”. Their story is unique and well worth telling. </div> <bR> <div> Previous to the Revolution and on into the first decade of the nineteenth century lotteries flourished in the Commonwealth under legislative sanction. The first of these was granted to Harvard College in 1765 for the building of a new dormitory but for some reason the lottery never went into operation. One of the most famous of these devices for the raising of funds was the lottery of 1794-1796. In 1793 the Governing Board of Harvard petitioned the General Court for the right to hold a lottery to provide for a new building. There was some opposition to the project on the ground that the virtuous National Convention of France had abolished lotteries “forever”; but Harvard obtained the desired privilege, appointed a highly respectable board of managers, which included George Richards Minot, the historian (A.B. 1778) who received five cents of the ticket sales.  The act granting the lottery in 1794 also appointed Benjamin Austin, Jr., Samuel Cooper, Henry Warren, and John Kneeland as managers.</div> <bR> <div>      Three classes of 25,000 tickets at five dollars each. 8350 of them “in the money” and a grand prize of ten thousand dollars went off very well. The drawing of the first class began November 13, 1794, the second class April 9, 1795 and the third class September 17,1795 at the Chamber of the House Representatives in Boston. These three went so well that the managers were induced to try a fourth class at ten dollars per tickets for a grand prize of twenty thousand dollars plus numerous lesser ones, scaling down at last to 3700 prizes of sixteen dollars each. Despite heroic appeals to “love of literature and the college to aid the cause: this last issue failed and the affair ended in an unseemly squabble between the winner of the grand prize, the managers who could not pay, and the Harvard Corporation. The net results so far as the college was concerned were a little in excess of eleven thousand dollars. This sum, together with eight years interest and about five thousand dollars from the general funds, completed Stoughton Hall in 1805. </div> <bR> <div>      Tickets were sold at lottery offices, which flourished like the bucket shops of a century later, and were advertised extensively in the newspapers. Prominent among the agencies were Gilbert & Deans, 79 State St.; Eben Larkin, 50 Cornhill; W. & T. Kidder. 9 Market square; Wright, Goodwin & Stockwell, 27 Union St.; and William Hilliard, Cambridge Book Store, to mention merely a few of a long list.</div> <bR> <div>      The act of 1794 forbade the selling of fractional parts at advanced prices but the practice of selling halves, quarters, and eights originated in the lottery offices was very prevalent. This scheme drew in as adventurers many who could not afford whole tickets.</div> <bR> <div>      The forgoing explanation provides the background for the tie-up with Acton. In one of the Harvard lotteries, presuming the one of 1794, Mr. Abel Conant bought a ticket for five dollars and then sold three quarters of it to neighbors at a dollar and a quarter apiece. One of these was almost certainly Dr. Abraham Skinner and another must have been John Robbins who married Sally Jones of Acton in 1791. The identity of the third is unknown to the writer. The ticket won the grand prize and with their respective shares the winners built new houses in three cases and embellished one already standing, apparently, in the fourth.</div> <bR> <div>      The original ticket had been preserved in the Conant family since the day of the drawing and is now in the possession of Mr. Augustine B. Conant who kindly loaned it for the accompanying photograph showing the ticket and the four houses involved in the transaction. For more than a century the residences have been identified as the Conant place, the Elbridge Robbins place, the Charles Tuttle place, and the Horace Hosmer place. Mr. Conant still resides on the family homestead. The other three are now occupied by the William Hinckleys the Thomas Snows, and the Robert Davidsons respectively.</div> <bR> <div>      The Conant house has the date 1793 cut in one of the cellar stones. It would appear from this that Abel Conant had his house started when he received the lottery windfall because he was not a man of wealth and the main structure has had no additions since the original building was erected. Mr. Horace Tuttle on his map of Acton drawn in 1891 ascribes the date 1799 to the Tuttle house and the date 1800 to the Robbins house. The Hosmer house is presumably considerably older. During its occupancy by lawyer Millan about a generation ago the date 1775 was painted on the chimney. If this were authentic it would imply that the owner used his money to amplify the old mansion.</div> <bR> <div>      In connection with the affair two bits of amusing legend have come down to us. Through the Conant family we hear that Abel Conant, after due deliberation concluded that five dollars was quite a considerable sum to risk in a single plunge and hence induced the other men to put in with him. Via the late Mrs. Taylor Fletcher comes the pungent version that the four friends, being citizens of high standing in the community, and in the church in particular, were a wee bit suspicious of the attitudes of their townsmen on the subject of gambling, and concluded that the moral stigma, if any, would be less damning if shared.</div> <bR> <div>     </div> <div>  <A NAME="this_old_house"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>This Old House</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>The Abel Conant House, Main Street </B></div> <div> <B>Acton, MA.</B></div> <bR> <div> By Betsy Conant</div> <div> 1993</div> <bR> <bR> <div> We are celebrating the 200th birthday of the Conant home in Acton. In 1793 Abel Conant carved the date on a stone in front of his new cellar. But there are stories before and after that date which need telling, also. </div> <bR> <div> Before Abel Conant started on his cellar, a small house was already in existence at what is now the Conant house on Main Street. The land was the property of John Davis when Acton became town in 1735. John Davis, Jr. built a house on the land, probably for his bride Sarah Flint at the time of their marriage in 1740. This original house was likely a story and a half structure including what is now the kitchen back bedroom and first cellar of the house at Main Street. When in 1785 Abel Conant married Abigail, the daughter of John Davis, Jr., Conant was a widower from Concord with several young children.</div> <bR> <div> John Davis, Jr. was dead before the Davis-Conant wedding, and his widow died in 1789. Of their children (other than Abigail) only the bachelor Jonas was still living in the small house by 1793. Abel and Abigail and their son, Luther (born 1786), might have found it very tempting to start a new house attached to the old. By 1973 Abel's children by his first marriage were, for the most part, established in Concord.</div> <bR> <div> And so the house was begun. In 1794 fate (and the Harvard College Lottery) stepped in.</div> <bR> <div> In the last quarter of the eighteenth century, lotteries could be held to raise money if sanctioned by the legislature. Harvard College was granted four lotteries, but the one, which interests us, is the Lottery of 1794-1796. The following material is quoted directly from (1) Three Centuries of Harvard by Samuel Eliot Morison and (2) Volume XXVII, pages 122-129 of the publication of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts Transactions published December 19 April 1929. Charlton P. Burrill did the research in 1952 from which we quote only a small portion below:</div> <bR> <div> The Lottery 1794-96</div> <bR> <div> In 1793 the Governing Boards petitioned the General Court for the right to hold a lottery to provide a new building. There was some opposition on the ground that virtuous National Convention of France, on the motion   of Citizen Barlow, had abolished lotteries “forever”; Harvard obtained her desired privileged, appointing a highly respectable board of managers who received 5 per cent on the tickets they sold.</div> <bR> <div> There were three “class” of 25,000 tickets at  $5.00 each. 8,358 of them “in the money” with a grand prize $10.000. Tickets sold very well.</div> <bR> <div> The drawing of he first class began Nov. 13,1794 at the Representatives' Chamber in Boston. The drawing of the second class began April 9,1795 in this class there were 15,000 tickets issued at $5.00, the largest prize being  $10,000 and the chance of winning some prize being the customary one in three….</div> <bR> <div> The Act of 1794 expressly forbade the selling of fractional parts an advance (premium), but the practice of selling halves, quarters, and eighths originated in the lottery offices and prevailed in most of the lotteries including the Harvard College Lottery of 1806.</div> <bR> <div> Since the winning ticket shown above is obviously for one-fourth share. It would appear that fractional tickets had been sold. This was not so, as becomes obvious when one realizes that four shareholders were neighbors in Acton, One ticket had been bought, but the prize was shared. There have always been two theories about this. The first was that four neighbors got together and Abel Conant, going to market in Cambridge, bought what turned out to be the winning ticket for the group prearranged. The second was that Abel Conant bought the ticket on his own and then, worried either about the expense or the guilt of gambling decided to split either the expense or the guilt with his neighbors. Whichever way, the four shareholders used their winnings to build new houses or, in Abel's case, to ad to a house under construction. All four houses still exist in Acton, although one has been moved.  The shop called the Village Belle was formerly located on the southwest corner of Great Road and Brook Street. The other houses are on Great Road and Nagog Hill Road. </div> <bR> <div> A good look at the Conant House at Main Street makes the architectural historian stake his degree that it is not of 1793 vintage. He may have a point. The house was so altered in 1880 that in 1920 Luther Conant (1831-1922) wondered if there was an original board left in the house. So what did the Conant lottery House look like in its 87 years? We have only a partial answer.</div> <bR> <div> Uncle Luther (Luther Conant 1872-1971) was a boy of 8 or 9 when the remodeling was begun. In the 1960's he wrote down a little of what he could remember of the way the house looked before then. The following is a pastiche of some of his comments:</div> <bR> <div> The house had a center chimney (it must have been huge to a small boy, and if the base in the cellar today is any indication it was huge.) It must, wrote Luther, “ have taken up most or all of what is now the center hall. The chimney was about 7 feet square at the attic floor. The chimney did not begin to flare until it reached the attic and it was based on granite slabs on the ground floor. (And perhaps it wasn't quite as big as I thought.) “ He remarked that they spoke of the front “entry” not a hall. He could not recall what the end of the present hall looked like. He thought that there was a storeroom. Taking up also what is now the little washroom. In the first floor room, which we call parlor and he called the sitting room “was a huge marble coal stove 5 ft. high and nearly 2 ft. in diameter. We used to have our baths there in cold weather. The living room and parlor and the bedrooms on the second floor were wallpapered. The parlor (ed. Note: 1993 den) was almost never used as I remember. There was something reverential about it. My father wanted to keep it, as it was when he remodeled. (He did not prevail in this.) A large part of the attic was unfurnished but I think there must have bee a couple of room for the hired men to sleep. </div> <bR> <div> “There were no porches, just a spread out V over the front door and an iron scraper set in a single stone to get the mud off boots. I am not sure that shoes were in vogue then…..The road came close to the house or people drove close (there was no lawn) for a brief chat out the door of window.”</div> <bR> <div> In the room off the kitchen “practically all the space over the woodshed was a `vinegar' room. Ten or more huge casks. Evidently father supplied the neighbors (at a very modest price.) I don't like to think how cold those rooms were for the hired men. My father was a wonderful provider for food. He went to Boston once a week and has a whole side of beef shipped out by express, also 4 firkins of good butter, and 4 big barrels of sugar, four or six of flour. -These I need not say every week. But if the hired men's room were cold so were my brothers and mine. Frost ½ inch thick on the windows. I remember trying to melt a little spot by breathing so that I could see the barn.”</div> <bR> <div> That, unfortunately is all we know of the house from 1793 to 1881.</div> <bR> <div> 1881 was the year of the big changes. The way we heard the story, the men who built the Reformatory in Concord in 1880 were not anxious to return to Boston. They started going door to door in the Concord area, offering to modernize old houses. Their specialty was bay windows, which would bring much more light into the house. The Conant's decided to try it.</div> <bR> <div> A tour of the lower basements makes it clear that the whole 1793 house was raised about eighteen inches, possibly more. The center chimney as such gave way to the front staircase and two chimneys were built to either side of the old chimney space. Bay windows were added to the front and the south side of the house. Sometimes after 1881 windows were added to the north wall in the dining room, which had probably had a door and possibly one window. The parlor and the sitting room had fireplaces the other rooms had stoves. (When, 20 years or so later, central heating-a Tenney boiler system, went in, the radiators were in large part put where the stoves had been. This certainly did not provide maximum efficiency for heating.  But as Uncle Luther pointed out above, heat was never a first consideration in the household.)</div> <bR> <div> Lucille Conant Leland remembers being in Acton when the bathroom was put in upstairs circa 1904. Friends and neighbors from miles around came to view this wonder of the ages. The water tank, although removed from its original position in the attic floor, can still be seen in the attic. Also in the attic are some doubtless historic linoleum put down on 1901, and a wonderful painted floor, which looks to the writer as if it had been painted to resemble linoleum. However, Robert Nylander, an architectural historian always felt that the floor rendition probably dated from the original 1793 date.</div> <bR> <div> <I>(The kitchen was probably upgraded in 1881, but since it had its own chimney from 1740's the changes were merely cosmetic. The Brewster Conant's made the biggest changes there in the 1970's by adding a large window, opening the pantry and sheathing the chimney.)</I></div> <bR> <div> The porches started small and just grew. There is a story (c. 1890) of when there was just a stoop outside the dining room door. Uncle Gus (Circus Gus) Conant lives sporadically with his brother Luther, the moderator and grand old man of Acton. Gus had a freight man's (and circus man's) respect for train schedules. If he and Luther were going into Boston, Gus couldn't stand Luther's seeming dilatory nature about getting to the station on time. Gus would finally take off on his own towards Acton Center and the station, leaving Luther at the breakfast table. Once he was gone, Luther would call to his son; “Lutie, bring up the wagon and put the wheel on the stone.” When the wagon was in place for a fast takeoff, Luther and Lutie would take off down Brook Street where the elder Luther would wave to the train that was on his way to the station. And then he would arrive in time for the slowed-down train to join his brother who had been waiting patiently for 15 minutes or more and who never (said Lutie) figured it out.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Various pictures over the years show the porches getting to the present wrap-around style. When traffic was less, it was the front porch that was screened. When Luther Conant (1831-1922) was an old man, he used to receive callers on the porch while, often; they stayed in their carriages or touring cars out front.</div> <bR> <div> Aunt Charlotte (and her brother Augustine Bradford) made the last big changes, adding the sleeping porch and putting new floors throughout the first two floors. That flooring is a fooler. In more than one room the narrow oak flooring is only around the perimeter of a room, the center, which would be covered by a rug anyway, is still wide-board pine. And one of the more interesting locations for an electrical outlet is dead center in the dining room floor.</div> <bR> <div> When the undersigned first saw the interior of this house, it seemed <I>dark.</I>  This was partly because the planting in front of the house had grown almost to the level of the attic floor, cutting out all light from the front. Furthermore, there was almost black wallpaper in the front hall and up the stairwell. This was special wallpaper, which Charlotte had bought from France. It was amazing to find an example of it in a drawer and realize the wallpaper was really quite light originally. It had had a metallic component in the gold patterned paper that has actually tarnished.</div> <bR> <div> The house has changed much over the years and that makes it special. It is not a museum; it is a history of a family. <U>Your</U> family.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="calvin_heywood_or_david_davies_house"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Lucida Handwriting" ><B>Calvin Heywood or David Davies House, </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>Great Rd Acton, MA.</B></div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="lottery_house_has_a_new_life"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>Lottery house has a new life</div> <div> Acton Beacon </div> <div> By Marta Bennett</div> <div> 1989</div> <bR> <div> Of all the “lottery houses,” the house by Calvin Heywood, or David Davies, is perhaps the most familiar, though few realize its history as they drive by on Route 2A.</div> <bR> <div> With the lottery windfall, Heywood (or Davies) built the white house now located on Great Rd. The building is now known as the Village Belle, a maternity shop, and Stride Rite children's shoe store, which recently moved from a location further down Great Road.</div> <bR> <div> According to information provided by the current owners, the house was built around 1797 and originally had an addition, later termed a “shed”. The house was built at the corner of Brook Street and Great Road, not far from Abel Conants house on Main St., and later moved to its current location.</div> <bR> <div> In June of 1969 the shed was demolished and the house moved several hundred feet down to its current location. “The demolition and then the moving was precipitated by a desire of the new landowner to construct apartments on the original site,” The Assabet Valley Beacon reported that June.</div> <bR> <div> Long before the “new landowners” uprooted the historic building, it had already changed hands several times and over the years several prominent members of Acton Society owned the house. Though it is difficult to pin down the exact dates of ownership, it appears the house was occupied by a member of Captain Isaac Davis' company of minutemen, Solomon Smith, Jr. and much later by Horace Hosmer, a pupil of Henry David Thoreau. </div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="john_robbins_house"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Lucida Calligraphy" ><B>John Robbins House, Great Road Acton, MA.</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> By Robert H. Nylander</div> <div> 1989</div> <bR> <div> Listed on  National Register of Historical Places~ July 25, 2003</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="33e06d00.jpg" border=0 width="262" height="208" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> The John Robbins house, Great Road, Acton, Mass., built in 1799-1800 is the town's most fully developed example of the Georgian style. It is a four-square house with hip roof and two chimneys. Giant order pilasters define the corners, and the center entrance of the principle facade is framed with generously proportioned “frontispiece”; both pilasters and doorway are in a simplified Ionic order. Essentially all exterior details are original, except on the west side which was reclapboarded about 1850 and where a lean-to and piazza connecting the main house with the woodshed ell was reduced in size in 1922 and returned to its original size and configuration in 1967.</div> <bR> <div> Interior detail is likewise virtually unaltered. The front hall and rooms completed in 1800 exhibit some of the most elaborate late Georgian woodwork to be found in town. The well executed details of the main staircase; mantelpieces and cornices derive from William Pain's <I>The Practical Builder</I> (Boston edition 1792). Two rooms completed in about 1830 have simple Federal trim and elaborate Federal mantels. One room was finished about 1850 with very simple Greek revival trim. The front hall retains stenciling of the 1830's done by the itinerant artist Moses Eaton (fragments of whose work have been found in other local houses).  One of the Federal mantels retains its original marbleized paint finish.</div> <bR> <div> The Robbins house is one of Acton's four “Lottery Houses”, so-called from having been built with the winnings of a single ticket purchased by four neighbors in the 1794 Harvard College lottery. All four houses remain though three of them have been altered to a greater or lesser degree, and one has been removed from its original location. The Robbins house was apparently the most elaborate of the four. A description written about 1875 says of it, “When built, it was by far the best house in Acton and its excelled by very few even now.”</div> <bR> <div> John Robbins, Esq. (1762-1836), for whom the house was built, was a prominent figure in Acton's town affairs and social life. His record of public service began at the age of 13 when, as the son of the Captain of Acton's East Militia Company, he was the messenger who carried the alarm of the British march to Concord, 19 April 1775, to the Captain of Acton's Minutemen Company and to the acting Captain of the West Militia Company. From 1793 to 1830 he filled various town offices: Town Treasurer for 15 years; Town Clerk, 1 year; Selectman, 12 years; and for 8 years Town Meeting Moderator, a position for which his stentorian voice seemed admirably suited. He was also a Justice of the Peace, the Treasurer of the Town's private Social Library in the early nineteenth century and active in the preparation for the Town's centennial celebration in 1835. His wife Sally (Jones) and daughters were active in the organization of Acton's Evangelical (now Congregational) Church in 1832.</div> <bR> <div> His house was the center of a large farm, about 200 acres composed of the adjoining estates of his father and his wife's grandfather.</div> <bR> <div> From John Robbins, the property passed successively to his son Elbridge Robbins (1810-1891) and grandson Chauncy Bowman Robbins. It is said that in the decade prior to the Civil War the house was one of the three in the neighborhood that served as a hiding place for slaves escaping via the  “Underground Railway”. The house and the land immediately surrounding it were sold out of the Robbins family in 1913; it has changed hands four times since.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <A NAME="the_john_robbins_house"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>The John Robbins House</B></div> <div> By KATHERINE MINTON TATUM</div> <bR> <div>       It's hard to imagine in today's world a craftsman taking one hundred days to carve by hand the decorative finish. The wall cornice and fretwork in a mantel of a room, but this was the case in The Parlor of the John Robbins House, one of Acton's four "Lottery Houses." (See "Beacon" 8/2/79)</div> <bR> <div>      According to tradition, penned in 1901, this craftsman received one hundred dollars that's a dollar a day, for his efforts. That was considered to be a very good wage for his time, the year l800 </div> <bR> <div>      This is but one example of the interesting architectural features in the John Robbins House, located on Route 2A, in Acton. </div> <bR> <div>       A newspaper article published in 1876, round by Robert H. Nylander, one of the current inhabitants of the house, stated: </div> <bR> <div>      "The residence of Mr. Elbridge Robbins was built by John Robbins about 1800. When built it was by far the best house in Acton and is excelled by very few even now." </div> <bR> <div>     The John Robbins House is typical of the Late Georgian period of architecture with its square shape, hipped roof, two chimneys, and Roman Doric corner pilasters evident on the outside. Its center entrance front doorway, opening into a front hall or "broad alley," is also representative of this style of architecture.</div> <bR> <div>      According to Nylander, these and other architectural features originated from William Pain's Practical Builder, a book which was published in Boston in 1792. Pain was an Englishman and his book became a popular source for American builders of that period.</div> <bR> <div>      The house was built over a period of fifty years. Begun in 1799 and finished in 1800 were the rooms to the south of the center entrance hallway the rooms to the north were finished around 1830 to 1835 however, one bedroom was not completed until around 1850.</div> <div>   </div> <div>      John Robbins, the original owner and the man from whom the house gets its name, was born in April 19, 1762. At the age of two, he became a wealthy "man" for his time since he received from his grandfather, Nathan Robbins, a legacy of almost seventy dollars. In coinage terms of 1764, that was thirteen pounds, six shillings and eight pence. John was the youngest son of Captain Joseph and Ruth (Bacon) Robbins.</div> <bR> <div> On April 19. 1775, John Robbins celebrated his thirteenth birthday on the day he also warned Captain Davis and Lieutenant Hunt, two of Acton's Minutemen, of the advancing British march In Nylander's words, "Dr. Prescott's rapping's on the side of the house awakened John II from his bed in the garret; he jumped "father's old mare" and galloped off" to spread the alarm.</div> <bR> <div>       In 1791, John Robbins married Sally Jones; at who was the daughter of Samuel Jones of Jones' Tavern (See "Beacon" 8/23/79) They had ten children and only one of the ten died in fancy Almost all of them, as well as their offspring, lived in their parents'large house.</div> <bR> <div> John Robbins was extremely active in the town of Acton's affairs, serving at various times in public office as town treasurer, from 1793 to 1807 and as town clerk, from 1807 to 1820 He also oversaw two farms, his own and his father's, operated a sawmill, and served as a justice of the peace</div> <bR> <div>      Furthermore, Robbins also served many times the moderator of the Acton town meeting. An anecdote passed down over the years shows him be both a generous soul and a man who knew w to keep his wits about him When lightning fire to a barn on his father's property, upon living on the scene, he is said to have yelled to fire brigade. "Boys, save your fingers there's plenty of timber in the woods where this one from" That was in the year 1830.</div> <bR> <div> John Robbins died July 24, 1836. He was remembered as the "venerable magistrate" His wife died November 10, 1839.</div> <bR> <div>      Robbins son, Elbridge, inherited half of his father's farm upon his death and the rest upon thee death of his mother and his niece, Sarah Louisa Fletcher in 1847. The house was eventually sold out of the Robbins family in 1918.</div> <bR> <div>      Toda