General Artemas Ward House
Last Saturday, I took my first daytrip of the 2024 museum season. For the first stop, I visited General Artemas Ward House in Shrewsbury, MA. This historic house museum has been owned and maintained by Harvard University since a member of the Ward family donated a much larger property in 1925. The hour-long house tour follows multiple generations of this family, beginning with General Artemas Ward himself, who briefly served as the commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and as second-in-command under George Washington. The house has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976.
The family contained multiple Artemases, making the family tree somewhat confusing. Artemas Ward, son of the General, was a captain in the militia and later became a successful politician. During his lifetime, his older brother Thomas Walter Ward, Sr. expanded the house, turning it into a duplex with two front doors. The house passed through several more generations. Thomas Walter Ward, Jr. owned the home and passed ownership to his nephew, a third Artemas Ward, even though his daughters Elizabeth and Harriet Ward lived in the house. Later, granddaughters Ella, Florence, and Clara Ward lived in the house while the third Artemas remained the owner. He donated the house upon his death, although Florence still lived in the house and remained there until 1949. This was not uncommon among wealthy New England families in the early 20th century, as a similar story played out at several Historic New England properties I visited in the last two years.
Florence Ward was instrumental in the preservation of the Ward House, its artifacts, and the history of the family, much like the Articulate Sisters of Quincy House in Quincy, MA; Emily and Elise Tyson of Hamilton House in South Berwick, ME; Jane Tucker of Castle Tucker in Wiscasset, ME; and Constance Bowen Holt of Roseland Cottage in Woodstock, CT. Unfortunately, once the property passed out of her care upon her death in 1949, Harvard made poor decisions concerning its usage and preservation. Most of the land was sold to become a public park and a housing development. The walls were covered with off-the-shelf wallpaper in vaguely colonial design, and the floors were covered in off-the-shelf carpet. Only in one room has the carpet been replaced to resemble a possible design for the time period.
Many possessions of the Ward family were similar to those of people from the same social circle of that period. Fire buckets, poster beds, a spinning wheel, a tiny bathtub, and handmade quilts all appeared as part of the usual fare for historic houses. The building did have a few unusual architectural features. Near the desk on the first floor was a hole cut into the second floor, ostensibly so the father could yell at the children. A wall on the second floor could be swung up to the ceiling, a more extreme version to the two-section wall separating the men’s and women’s side of the Quaker Meeting House in Jamestown, RI. The prized pineapple teapot had been removed from the home by Harvard for a special exhibit in Cambridge, although the curators did not touch the Victorian hair memorial, an embroidery made of human hair. I last saw hair art at John Greenleaf Whittier House in Amesbury, MA, and before that a hair bracelet at Custom House Maritime Museum in Newburyport, MA, experiences which unfortunately have made me a low level expert on the subject.
Ward House maintains an extensive website, allowing visitors from around the world to virtually tour the house, learn about the family, and explore the collections. This is especially helpful because, like most historic houses, the property is not accessible to those who use wheelchairs or have limited mobility. The house is unlit and difficult to see on cloudy days. No photography is permitted inside. The museum is free to the public and open from April 15 through November 30, Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Plenty of parking is available in the lot behind the house and beside the barn. If you live in the Shrewsbury area and are looking for an easily understood introduction to historic house tours, or if you are dedicated to visiting every historic house in the region, this is a good stop for you.
Abby Epplett’s Rating System
Experience: 6/10
Accessibility: 7/10