Quick History Stops: Cambridge, MA | Part 1
Back in August 2023, I visited Cambridge, MA for a history adventure. My main three stops during the trip were Longfellow House Washington Headquarters, Cooper-Frost-Austin House, and Harvard Art Museums, but I had plenty of quick history stops along the way. In Part 1 of this three-part miniseries, I visited historic homes in the Brattle Street area, a part of Cambridge once called Tory Row, and used walking tours from History Cambridge (formerly Cambridge Historical Society) as my guide, including Loyalist Women of Cambridge and The Work of the Revolution in Cambridge.
Elmwood
The first house on my tour was Elmwood, also known as Oliver-Gerry-Lowell House, a three-story Georgian style mansion with a spacious green lawn and covered with scaffolding, as the building was undergoing renovation. Thomas Oliver, a British Loyalist and the final royally appointed lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, and his wife Elizabeth Vassell Oliver, who had grown up in what is now Longfellow House Washington Headquarters, commissioned well-known local architect John Nutting to built the house in 1767. The Oliver family had earned their money through plantations using enslaved labor in the Caribbean, and Thomas owned enslaved people throughout his life. During the American Revolutionary War, the Oliver family fled to England, where Elizabeth died. John Nutting moved to New Ireland (now part of Maine) and then to Nova Scotia, where he continued to work as an architect. Other famous residents of Elmwood include politician Elbridge Gerry for whom gerrymandering is named, poet and diplomat James Russell Lowell, and staff members of Harvard University, including several of its presidents. This house has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1966.
Ruggles-Fayerweather House
Loyalist George Ruggles built this house in 1764 using money from the family plantations in the Caribbean where enslaved people harvested sugar cane. You may begin to notice a pattern as to where the money was coming from for these wealthy families. When the family fled during the Revolution, Ruggles sold the home to merchant Thomas Fayerweather to earn enough money for paying off his debts. The Fayerweather family lived in their Oxford, MA home while the Continental Army used the property as a hospital, and then moved in with their enslaved people after Evacuation Day.
Hooper-Lee-Nichols House
Now the headquarters of History Cambridge, the original part of Hooper-Lee-Nichols House was constructed by Richard and Elizabeth Hooper in 1685. After the property had changed hands several times, loyalist merchant Joseph Lee purchased and enlarged the property together with his wife Rebecca Phips Lee, whose father was the lieutenant governor at the time. Like other loyalists on the street, they moved in with their enslaved staff and were threatened during the Revolution. However, the Lee family managed to keep their home and returned to Boston after Evacuation Day. The building has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.
William Brewster House
Ornithologist, or bird expert, William Brewster grew up on this property during the mid 19th century. Brewster was the youngest of four in a wealthy banking family, but his three older siblings died young. This tragedy inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to write the poem “The Open Window” about walking down the street with his own son and seeing the empty nursery. Brewster visually impaired and had difficulty reading, so he struggled to complete lessons in high school and was not able to attend college. Perhaps because of these negative associations with his childhood home, Brewster tore down the building and constructed the current mansion in 1887. During his career, Brewster served as the first president of the Massachusetts Audubon Society and worked with lawmakers to protect wild birds. (His love of birds bears a striking similarity to Senator George P. McLean (R-CT), who I learned about during a webinar hosted by United States Capitol Historical Society and through reading a recently published biography.) Due to his work, Brewster receive honorary degrees from Amherst and Harvard.
Worcester House
You likely know of Merriam-Webster Dictionary, which self-proclaims as “America’s Most Trusted Dictionary”, but did you know about its original rival? Lexicographer Joseph Emerson Worcester built his house in Cambridge in 1843 while several years into the “dictionary wars” with Noah Webster. Worcester published his first dictionary in 1827. Before building his home, he had rented a room at what is now Longfellow House George Washington Headquarters, moving out only because Longfellow’s father-in-law, Nathan Appleton, had purchased the home for his daughter and son-in-law. As for the dictionary wars, I agree with Worcester’s approach that English spellings should be standardized across the Atlantic, and that some of Webster’s phonetic-focused reforms went too far.
Henry Vassall House
Loyalist Colonel Henry Vassall constructed the house around 1746 with money from his plantation in Jamaica and moved in with his wife, Penelope Royall Vassall, along with their enslaved staff. Henry died in 1769, avoiding the troubles of the Revolution. When Penelope fled in 1774, the Continental Army used the home as medical headquarters and hospital. Both Henry and Penelope are buried in a crypt beneath Christ Church Cambridge.
Brattle House
Now in a downtown shopping complex, Brattle House was built in 1727 for Major-General William Brattle. While the Brattle family had no Caribbean plantations, they did own enslaved people. Furthermore, Brattle was considered traitorous during the Revolution, beginning as a Patriot, then became a Loyalist, and then was forced to flee in 1774 like the other wealthy homeowners on his street. After Evacuation Day, Brattle was exiled to Nova Scotia and died soon after the trip. The property is now owned by the Cambridge Center for Adult Education (CCAE). This building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973.
Dexter Pratt House
Built by blacksmith Dexter Pratt in 1808, a generation or two later than many of the other historic buildings in the area, the house became famous because of its association with the poem “Village Blacksmith” by Longfellow. Like nearby Brattle House, this property is now owned by CCAE and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973.
Queen Anne Stick Style House
Among the newest of the old houses is the 1881 Queen Anne Stick Style mansion built for Sarah Gray Cary and Emma Cary. While these sisters were not famous in their own right, their sister Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz was a scientist, founded Radcliffe College, and became one of the first female members of the American Philosophical Society. The wealthy Cary family was considered one of the Boston Brahmin through marriage to members of even wealthier families.
