Historic New England: Jackson House

On Day 2 of my adventure to Amesbury, MA and Portsmouth, NH in September 2023, I visited Jackson House, the oldest extant home in New Hampshire, now owned by Historic New England (HNE). This was my 37^th HNE house out of the 38 properties in the collection. Jackson House resembled other post-medieval houses north of Boston, including Boardman House in Saugus, MA; Coffin House in Newbury, MA; Gedney House in Salem, MA; and Browne House in Watertown, MA. The property has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1965.

Richard Jackson built his family home around 1664 and included architectural features now familiar to old house enthusiasts and readers of this blog: summer beams with chamfered edges and lamb’s tongue stops; casement windows with diamond shaped panes of glass; and a tall attic space that served as a sleeping area. Jackson died in 1718, but the property was not divided among his heirs until nine years later in 1727. From then on, the house was mostly owned by descendents named Nathaniel Jackson, while brothers and mothers occasionally received a share. The Nathaniels added additions to the house until it reached its present shape. William Sumner Appleton, founder of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA) was an eighteen or nineteen-year-old first year college student at Harvard when he took his first tour of Jackson House in 1893, and members of the Jackson family still lived in the house. Thirty-one years later, in 1924, Appleton asked the last of the Nathaniels, along with his mother Mary Jackson Brown, to sell him the property, which they did.

At the time of sale, the Tilley family the house, while the Jackson family lived next door. Clarence and Isabelle “Belle” Tilley were African American, and local legend claimed that Belle arrived in New Hampshire via the Underground Railroad. While Appleton was known for his low tolerance of American cultures other than those with Anglo-Saxon ancestry, he did allow the family to remain on the property for the rest of their lives. Belle died in 1947, and the building stopped serving as a residence.

Appleton renovated the house in his usual method by stripping away all modern plaster, carpets, wallpaper, and paint to expose the bare walls and wooden frame. Jackson House was built with a timber frame similar to houses built in England during the same time period, with diagonal supports holding up the gunstock posts at the corners of the house. However, visitors can see prominent saw marks on the ceiling. Large sawn boards were a uniquely American method of construction since the American colonies had more available wood than England. In the kitchen, the house had a large, red brick stove with built-in bread ovens. The cellar had a dirt floor and a flagstone foundation. One unique feature of the house was a “door to nowhere” in the parlor, which opened onto a wall.

Jackson House is admittedly not as exciting as some other historic house tours, especially to those who are not obsessed with old buildings, so this is not a good tour for families with children under twelve. The Jackson family lived a quiet life, and the building is fairly standard for a post-medieval structure. People who enjoy visiting the “oldest thing” in each state will enjoy the opportunity to tour the building. Like most historic houses, the tour is not accessible to those using a wheelchair or with limited mobility. No virtual tour is available at this time. Jackson House is only open the second and fourth Saturdays of the regular HNE tour season from June through October. Tours start on the half hour, 11:30 a.m. through 2:30 p.m., rather than the hour. Tickets are standard HNE small house pricing at $10 for adults, $9 for seniors, $5 for students and children, and $0 for HNE members (like me!). HNE owns the house adjacent to Jackson House and uses it as a rental property; please do not peek in the windows. All in all, this is a great bucket list check-off for those intensely interested in American and architectural history.

Abby Epplett’s Rating System

Experience: 7/10

Accessibility: 5/10