Historic shrines of America; being the story of one hundred and twenty historic buildings and the pioneers who made them notable

Front matter

Class U 1 59

Bnnic ' h 2j 2 >

COKfKICHX DEFOSEC

Foreword

CIRCULAR tours have long been popular in England. There was a time — as there will be a time again — when American visitors felt that to make the rounds of the cathedral towns or the historic castles or the homes and haunts of great men and women, was a necessary part of seeing the tight little island.

" What a pity it is that we in America have no such wealth of historic places," one returning tourist was heard to remark. " Oh, of course, there are a few spots like Independence Hall and Concord and Lexington," he went on, " but there are not enough of them to make it worth while to plan a tour such as those in which we have taken delight in England."

It was easy to point out to the traveler his mistake; most Americans know that the country is rich in places of historic interest. Just how rich it is they may not realize until they make a serious study of the landmarks of their own land, as does the European tourist of the centers noted in his guidebook.

In fact, there are in America so many houses, churches, and other buildings having a vital connection with our history that volumes would be required to tell of them all. Even a brief record of the buildings whose owners or occupants played a conspicuous part in the early history of the country would fill a large book.

It is fascinating to learn of these houses and public buildings and to delve into the biographies which tell vi FOREWORD

what happened to the people who lived in them. Fiction seems tame after connecting, for instance, the story of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler with the Ford Mansion and the Campfield House at Morristown, ]^ew Jersey, then with the Schuyler Mansion in Albany, New York, and The Grange in New York City. The heart of the patriot burns with new love for his country as he reads of Faneuil Hall and the Old South Church and Carpenters' Hall. The story of the Revolution is clothed with living interest when Washington and his generals are followed to Valley Forge and Newburgh and Cambridge and Morristown and Princeton. Fresh appreciation of the sacrifice of the pioneers comes from going with them into the garrison houses of New England, along the Wilderness Road in Kentucky, to the settlements on the Ohio, or to the banks of the Wabash where more than one Indian treaty was made.

Next comes the keen pleasure of visiting the houses and churches which, through the piecing together of these facts, have become like familiar friends. The vacation journey that includes a careful study of a few of these buildings becomes a fascinating course in patriotism.

It is the purpose of the author of " Historic Shrines of America " to tell just enough about each of one hundred and twenty of these buildings of historic interest to create a hunger for more ; to present pictures sufficiently attractive to make those who turn the pages of the book determine to visit the places described ; to arrange the brief chapters in such sequence that it will be possible for the reader to plan for successive vacations a series of journeys through the centers where historic

FOREWORD vii

buildings may be found, and, in doing this, to pass by so many structures of interest that the reader and the tourist will have abundant opportunity to discover houses and churches of which he will say, " I wonder why this was not included."

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

ONE: IN THE LAND OF THE PILGRIMS

I The Old State House, Boston, Massachusetts . 19

II Paul Kevere's House, Boston, Massachusetts

WHERE THE MERCURY OF THE REVOLUTION LIVED AND TOILED

" Take three fourths of a Paine that makes Traitors Confess (rac)

With three parts of a place ichich the Wicked don't Bless (hbl)

Joyne four sevenths of an Exercise which shop-keepers use (walk)

Add what Bad Men do, when they good actions refuse (er) These four added together tvith great care and Art Will point out the Fair One that is nearest my Heart."

Thus wrote Paul Revere, the Boston goldsmith, on the back of a bill to Mr. Benjamin Greene for " Gold buttons," " Mending a Spoon," and " Two pr. of Silver Shoe Buckles," which was made out one day in 1773 in the old house in North Square, built in 1676. To this house he planned to lead as his second wife Rachel Walker; his eight children needed a mother's care, and he wanted some one to share the joys and the burdens of his life.

Before his first marriage, in 1757, he had served as a second lieutenant in a company of artillery, in the expedition against Crown Point. Soldiering was succeeded by work at his trade of goldsmith and silversmith, learned from his father. He was a skilled engraver; most of the silverware made in Boston at this period testified to his ability. Later, when the rising patriotic tide seemed to call for lithographs and broadsides, he engraved these on copper with eager brain and active hand.

He began his patriotic work as a member of the secret order The Sons of Liberty, which had organizations in nearly all the colonies, held frequent meetings, and laid plans for resisting the encroachments of Great Britain. Once, when some three hundred of these Sons dined at Dorchester, Paul Revere was present, as well as Samuel Adams, John Adams, and John Hancock.

It was necessary to have a trusted messenger to carry tidings of moment from place to place, and Paul Revere was one of those chosen for the purpose. His first important ride was at the time of the destruction of the tea in Boston harbor. He had a leading part in bringing together the patriots who gathered on November 29, 1773, first at Faneuil Hall, then at Old South Meeting House, to protest against the landing of the tea from the ship Dartmouth, and he was one of the men who, on December 16, in Indian disguise, threw £18,000 worth of tea into the harbor. In preparation for the rallying of the men of the tea party at the " Green Dragon," the following ditty was composed:

" Rally Mohawks! bring out your axes, And tell King George we'll pay no taxes

On his foreign tea.

His threats are vain, and vain to think To force our girls and wives to drink

His vile Bohea!

Then rally boys, and hasten on To meet our chief at the Green Dragon.

" Old Warren's there, and bold Revere, With hands to do, and words to cheer,

For liberty and laws; Our country's brave and free defenders Shall ne'er be left by true North-Enders

Fighting Freedoms cause!

PAUL REVERE HOUSE, BOSTON

I-'huto by Halliday Historic Photograph Company See Page 23

HAXCOCK-CLARKE HOUSE. LEXINtiTOX, MASS.

Photo hi/ IlnUidaij Historic Photograph Company

Photo by HalUday Historic Photuaraph Company, Boston

OLD STATE HOUSE, BOSTON

IN THE LAND OF THE PILGEIMS 25

Then rally boys, and hasten on

To meet our chiefs at the Green Dragon."

Of the work done by the Mohawks on that December night John Adams wrote on December 17, 1773, " This Destruction of the Tea is so bold, so daring, so firm, intrepid, and inflexible, and it must have so important Consequences, and so lasting, that I can't but consider it as an Epoch in History,''

The enactment of the Boston Port Bill was the cause of Revere's next ride. A meeting of citizens in Boston decided to ask the other colonies " to come into a joint resolution to stop all importation from, and exportation to. Great Britain and every part of the West Indies till the act be repealed," in the thought that this would " prove the salvation of North America and her liberties."

These resolutions were given to Paul Revere by the selectmen of Boston, and he was urged to ride with all speed to New York and Philadelphia. On May 30, 1774, the Essex Gazette told of the return of the messenger, and announced, " Nothing can exceed the indignation with which our brethren of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Philadelphia have received this proof of Ministerial madness. They universally declare their resolution to stand by us to the last extremity."

Four months later another ride to Philadelphia was taken, to carry to the Continental Congress the Suffolk Resolves. Six days only were taken for the journey. When Congress learned of the protest in New England against the principle " that Parliament had the right to legislate for the colonies in all cases jvhatsoever,"- there was no question that a new nation was ready for birtli. " I think I may assure you, that America will make a point of supporting Boston to the utmost," Samuel Adams wrote, the day after Revere's message was read.

Once more during the historic year 1774 the Boston silversmith turned aside from his shop long enough to ride to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to give information of the prohibition by Great Britain of further importations of gunpowder, and to tell of the coming of a large garrison to Fort William and Mary at Portsmouth. The immediate result of the ride was the sending of a party of four hundred patriots against the fort, which surrendered at once. Little attention has been paid to this event by historians, yet it was one of the most potent of the events preceding the Revolution. One hundred barrels of gunpowder were seized at the fort, and this was a large part of the ammunition used later at Bunker Hill.

Then came April 18, 1775, the date of " that memorable ride, not only the most brilliant, but the most important single exploit in our national annals." The Provincial Congress and the Committee of Safety were in session at Concord. General Warren had remained in Boston to watch the movements of the British, and Revere had been holding himself in readiness to carry tidings as soon as there was anything of importance to be told. Now word was to be sent to John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were at the residence of Rev. Mr. Clarke at Lexington, " that a number of soldiers were marching towards the bottom of the Common, . . . and that it was thought they were the objects of the movement." Revere had foreseen the necessity for the ride, and, fearing that he might not be able to cross the Charles River, or get over Boston Neck, had arranged with patriots in Charleston that two " Ianthorns " would be shown in the North Church steeple if the British went out by water, and one if they went by land.

On the night of April 18 Revere was rowed by two friends across Charles River, passing almost under the guns of the Somerset. After conferring with the Charleston patriots, who had seen the signals, he secured a horse, and started toward Lexington, proceeding with extreme care, because he had been told that ten mounted British ofl&cers had been seen going up the road. Once he was chased by two British officers. At Medford he awakened the captain of the minute men. " After that I alarmed almost every house till I got to Lexington," the patriot rider later told the story. Messrs. Hancock and Adams were aroused. Then Revere went on to Concord, accompanied by two others, that the stores might be secured. Once more residents by the roadside were awakened. He himself was soon surrounded by four mounted British soldiers, but his companions were able to proceed. After a time he was released by his captors, and he made his way to the Clarke house, where Hancock and Adams still were.

Thus the way was prepared for Concord and Lexington. That the patriots were not taken by surprise, and the stores at Concord taken, as the British had hoped, was due to the courage and resourcefulness of Paul Revere.

Revere's rides as messenger did not end his services to the colonists. In 1775 he engraved the plates and printed the bills of the paper money of Massachusetts, and later lie built and operated a powder mill. He was made lieutenant-colonel of State artillery, and took part in the unfortunate Penobscot expedition out of which grew the charges of which he w^as triumphantly acquitted by the court-martial held at his own request. The old house in North Square was the home of the Revere family until about 1795.

Ill

FANEUIL HALL, BOSTON "THE CRADLE OF AMERICAN LIBERTY"

Andrew Faneuil was one of the Huguenots who fled from France as a result of the Edict of Nantes. By way of Holland he came to Boston. It is a matter of official record that on February 1, 1691, he was admitted by the Governor and Council of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Within a few years the refugee was looked upon as a leader both in the French church and in business. Copies of invoices of merchandise consigned to him show that he was a dealer in all kinds of supplies of food, household furnishings, and dress goods.

When he died, in 1738, the Boston News Letter said that " 1,100 persons of all Ranks, beside the Mourners," followed the body to the grave. " And 'tis supposed that as the Gentleman's fortune was the greatest of any among us, so his funeral was the most generous and expensive of any that has been known here."

Peter Faneuil, the heir and successor to the fortune and business of his uncle, was a shrewd business man who knew how to make the most of his opportunities. But he took time to think and plan for his fellow-townsmen. He was disturbed because there was no adequate public market in Boston, and he was not discouraged by the fact that numerous attempts to establish such a convenience had been received with hostility by the people, especially the farmers, who felt that they would have a better chance to sell from house to house on any day than in a fixed place on a set day.

His proposition to provide the market by gift to the town stirred up a spirited controversy. At a town meeting called to consider the proposition, held on July 14, 1740, the attendance was so large that the company adjourned to the Brattle Street Meeting House.

There the people set themselves to consider the proposition of Peter Faneuil, w^ho " hath been generously pleased to offer at his own cost and charge to erect and build a noble and complete structure or edifice to be improved for a market, for the sole use, benefit and advantage of the town, provided that the town of Boston would pass a vote for the purpose, and lay the same under such proper regulation as shall be thought necessary, and constantly support it for the said use."

The gift had a narrow escape from the 727 voters who cast the ballots. The majority in favor of accepting the market was only seven !

The average giver would have been discouraged by such a reception; but Peter Faneuil, on the contrary, did more than he had proposed. When the selectmen were told in August, 1742 — seven months before Faneuirs death — that the building was ready, there was not only a market house, but above it a hall for town meetings and other gatherings. By action of the meeting called to accept the building the hall over the market was named Faneuil Hall.

" I hope that what I have done will be of service to the whole country," was the donor's response to this graceful act.

At once the Hall became a Boston institution. The town offices were removed to the building, town meetings were held there, and a series of public concerts was given in it. The market, however, was not popular.

The fire of January 13, 1761, destroyed the interior of the building. The money for rebuilding was raised by a lottery.

Faneuil Hall began its career as a national institution on August 27, 1765, when the voters, in mass meeting, denounced the lawless acts of " Persons unknown " by which they had shown their hatred of the iniquitous Stamp Act. At a second meeting, held on September 12, the voters instructed their Representatives " as to their conduct at this very alarming crisis."

" The genuine Sons of Liberty " gathered in the Hall March 18, 1767, that they might rejoice together because of the repeal of the Stamp Act. The Boston Gazette reported that "a large company of the principal inhabitants crowded that spacious apartment, and with loud huzzas, and repeated acclamations at each of the twenty-five toasts, saluted the glorious and memorable heroes of America, particularly those who distinguished themselves in the cause of Liberty, which was ever growing under the iron hand of oppression."

What has been called " perhaps the most dramatic scene in all history " was staged in this Cradle of Liberty on the day after the Boston Massacre, March 6, 1770. The crowd was so large that it was necessary to adjourn to Old South before action could be taken requesting the governor to withdraw the troops whose presence had led to the massacre.

Then came the tea meetings. The first of these was held in the Hall on November 5, 1773. At this meeting committees were appointed to wait on the several persons to whom tea had been consigned by the East India Company, " and in the name of the town to request them from a regard to their character, and to the peace and good order of the town, immediately to resign their trust." The response made to these committees and to subsequent tea meetings was unsatisfactory, and on December 16 a number of disguised citizens gathered at the waterfront and held the " Boston Tea Party."

The occupation of Boston by the British interrupted the Faneuil Hall town meetings, but soon after the evacuation of the city the people turned their steps thither for public gatherings of many sorts. Fortunately the building had not been seriously injured. When Washington entered the city he spoke with feeling of the safety of the structure that had meant so much to the people.

It was fitting that, in the stirring days that preceded the War of 1812, meetings to protest against the acts of Great Britain should be held here. Historic gatherings followed during this war, as also during the War of 1861-65.

Three times Faneuil Hall has been rebuilt since its donor turned it over to his fellow-citizens. The first reconstruction came after the fire. In 1806 the building was enlarged and improved. Again in 1898 it was

32 HISTOKIC SHRINES OF AMERICA

completely rebuilt and made fireproof, though, wherever possible, original materials were used. While it is much larger than in the early da^^s, the general appearance is so similar that the structure w^ould be recognized by such an ardent lover of the early structure as Lafayette, who, when he was in Boston in 1824, said :

" May Faneuil Hall ever stand, a monument to teach the world that resistance to oppression is a duty, and will under true republican institutions become a blessing."

IV Three Historic Churches Of Boston

THE STORY OF OLD NORTH, OLD SOUTH, AND KING'S CHAPEL

The First Church of Boston would have been large enough for all its members for many years longer than they worshipped together, if they had been of one mind politically. But the differences that separated people in England in the troublous days of Charles I were repeated in Boston. For this reason some of the members of the First Church thought they would be better off by themselves, and in 1650 they organized the Second Church. Later the church became known as North Church, by reason of its location. As it grew older the name Old North was applied to it.

From its organization Old North became known as the church of spirited reformers, a real school for patriots. Increase Mather, one of its early pastors, was responsible for developing and directing the peculiar genius of its organization. At the time of the Revolution the British officers spoke of the church as "a nest of traitors."

Many mass meetings to protest against the acts of Great Britain were held in this church. The corporation used it for a time as a fire house and a public arsenal, and when signals were given by the direction of Paul Revere on the night of his famous ride the lanterns were hung in the steeple of Old North.

The original building of 1652 was burned in 1673. The second building was also burned, but by the British, who tore it down and used it for firewood during the cold winter of the occupation of the city.

After the destruction of the building the members of New Brick Church, an offshoot of Old North, invited the congregation to worship with them. The invitation was accepted, and soon the congregations came together, under the name Old North. The building occupied ever since by the reunited congregation was erected in 1723. Ralph Waldo Emerson served as pastor and conducted services in this structure.

In 1669 there were many earnest people who felt that the teachings of the older church were not liberal enough for them, and they decided to have a church after their own heart. They felt that all who had been baptized might be citizens of the town; they were unwilling to be associated longer with those who insisted, as the General Synod of Massachusetts recommended, that all citizens must be church members, as formerly. So permission to organize was asked of the other churches. On their refusal appeal was taken to the Governor. The next appeal, to the selectmen of Boston, was successful.

The new church, which was called the South Meeting House, was built on the site of Governor Winthrop's house. In 1717 the people began to call the church " The Old South," to distinguish it from another church [Which was still further south.

In 1685 Governor Andros insisted that the Old South building should be used for the Church of England service, as well as for the services of the owners of the building. For two years Churchmen and Congregationalists occupied it harmoniously at different hours on Sunday.

On a Fast Day in 1696 Judge Sewall stood up before the congregation while they heard him read his prayer for the forgiveness of God and his fellow-citizens for any possible guilt he had incurred in the witchcraft trials.

Ten years later, on the day he was born, January 17, 1706, Benjamin Franklin was baptized in the church, though not in the present building.

The building made famous by the series of town meetings before and during the Revolution was erected in 1730. When Faneuil Hall was too small to hold the crowds that clamored for entrance, Old South was pressed into use. On June 14, 1768, at one of these meetings, a petition was sent to the Governor asking that the British frigate be removed from the harbor. John Hancock was chairman of this committee. The Boston Tea Party followed a mass meeting held here.

Burgoyne's cavalry used Old South Church as a riding school. Pigs were kept in one of the pews, while many of the furnishings were burned.

Since March, 1776, when the church was repaired, it has been little changed. Services were discontinued

OLD NORTH CHURCH, BOSTON

OLD SOUTH CHURCH, BOSTON

IN THE LAND OF THE PILGEIMS 35

in 1872. After the great fire the building was used as a post-office.

Five years later there was talk of destroying the historic structure that the valuable lot might be used for business purposes, but the efforts of patriotic women were successful in preserving the relic. Since that time it has been kept open as a museum.

While Old North and Old South were organizations expressing the will of the people, the third of the famous churches of Boston was the expression of the will of King James II of England. During more than sixty years of the city's history there had been no congregation of the Church of England; members of that body were required to attend service in the existing parishes. A minister and a commission sent from England to arrange for the new church were received with scant courtesy by the churches when request was made that opportunity be given to hold Church of England services in the building of one of them.

Not satisfied with the offer of a room in the Town House, Governor Andros demanded that Old South make arrangements to accommodate the new body. On the refusal of the trustees to do as the Governor wished, the sexton of the church was one day ordered to ring the bell and open the doors for the Governor and his staff, and those who might wish to attend with them. Then the trustees submitted to the inevitable.

This was in 1687. The first chapel was built for the new congregation in 1689, on land appropriated for the purpose, since no one would convey a site willingly. This building was enlarged in 1710. The present striking structure dates from 1749-53. Peter Faneuil was treasurer of the committee that raised the necessary funds. The expense was but £2,500, though granite from the new Quincy quarry was used. The colonnade surrounding the tower was not built until 1790.

King's Chapel, as the new church building came to be called, was known as the abode of loyalists, just as Old North and Old South were famous as the haunts of patriotic worshippers. The presence on the walls of the insignia of royalty and varied heraldic devices seriously disturbed the minds of those who felt that a house of worship should have no such furnishings.

During the Revolution the building was respected by the British as well as by the citizens of the town. When the war was over, the congregation of Old South was invited to use the chapel because their own church needed extensive repairs in consequence of the use the British had made of it.

Since 1787 King's Chapel has been a Unitarian church. The change was made under the leadership of Rev. James Freeman.

ELMWOOD, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

WHERE JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL WAS BORN, AND WHERE HE DIED

When Thomas Oliver, Lieutenant Governor and president of George Ill's provincial council, built his house in Cambridge about 1767, he did not dream that within nine years he would have to abandon it because of his allegiance to the same George III. But so it proved. He was a Tory, and his neighbors would not suffer him to remain among them. On September 2, 1774, he wrote his resignation of the offices he held, adding the statement, " My house at Cambridge being surrounded by five thousand people, in compliance with their command, I sign my name." At his request, made to General Gage and the admiral of the English fleet, troops were not sent to Cambridge, according to plan. " But for Thomas Oliver's intercession," Edward Everett Hale says, " Elmwood would have been the battleground of the First Encounters."

After his summary departure the house was used as a hospital by the Continental Army. When the government sold it at auction it became the property first of Arthur Cabot, then of Elbridge Gerry, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Governor of Massachusetts from 1810 to 1812, and Vice-President under Madison.

The next occupant was Rev. Charles Lowell, pastor of the West Church of Boston. He bought the property just in time to make it ready for his son, James Russell Lowell, who was born February 22, 1819.

As a boy James never wearied of rambling over the old house and the ten acres of ground, all that was left of the original ninety-five acres. Many of his poems contain references to the memories of these early years. " The First Snowfall," " Music," and " A Year's Life " are, in part, autobiographical. Lines on " The Power of Music " told of the days when he was his father's companion in the chaise, on the way to make a Sunday exchange of pulpits with a neighboring minister:

** When, with feuds like Ghibelline and Guelf, Each parish did its music for itself,

A parson's son, through tree-arched country ways, I rode exchange oft in dear old days, Ere yet the boys forgot, with reverent eye. To doff their hats as the black coat went by, Ere skirts expanding in their apogee Turned girls to bells without the second e; Still in my teens, I felt the varied woes Of volunteers, each singing as he chose, Till much experience left me no desire To learn new species of the village choir."

Life at Elmwood was interrupted by college days, but he returned to the Cambridge house with his wife, Maria Lowell. The oldest children were born here. Here, too, came the first great sorrow of the parents, the death of their first born. At that time Mrs. Lowell found comfort in writing " The Alpine Sheep," a poem that has helped many parents in a like time of bereavement.

The next great sorrow came during the Civil War, when the death from wounds was announced first of General Charles Russell Lowell, then of James Jackson Lowell, and finally of William Lowell Putnam, all beloved nephews. In the Biglow Papers, Second Series, the poet referred to these three soldiers. Leslie Stephen called the lines " the most pathetic that he ever wrote " in which he spoke of the three likely lads,

"Whose comin' step ther' 's ears thet won't, No, not lifelong, leave off awaitin'."