Faulkner House | |
Location | Acton, Massachusetts |
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Coordinates | 42°27′32.5″N71°27′10.8″W / 42.459028°N 71.453000°W |
Built | 1700 |
Architectural style | Colonial |
NRHP reference No. | 71000080 [1] |
Added to NRHP | June 13, 1986 |
The Faulkner House is the oldest colonial-era structure still standing in Acton, Massachusetts. The Faulkner House was purchased in 1964 by 'Iron Work Farm in Acton, Inc.', a Massachusetts non-profit corporation with a charter "to acquire and preserve the tangible landmarks of the area historically known as Iron Work Farm", now part of Acton. The Faulkner House is now being preserved under its stewardship.
The Faulkner house was originally built for Ephraim Jones (1679–1710), the founder in 1702 of an early textile business and other mills that formed the nucleus of the present town of Acton. Being the largest and most central house of this settlement, it served as the local garrison house for protection during Indian raids made along the Massachusetts frontier during Queen Anne's War (1702–1713). [2]
Ammi Ruhamah Faulkner rented the house and mills in 1738, then purchased them in 1742. For 202 years, the Faulkner House was the homestead for six generations of the Faulkner family. The family carried on the processing of woolen cloth at the fulling mill across the road from the house; the mill was said to have been one of the earliest attempts in the United States to manufacture woolen cloth on a large scale.
The Faulkner homestead served as a garrison for the South Acton Militia during the American Revolutionary War. As Paul Revere rode to raise alarm on April 18, 1775, he found that he would need more riders to continue the message. In Lexington, Revere found, and enlisted the help of, Dr. Samuel Prescott. Dr. Prescott was sent to Concord, and then to Acton. Prescott, after informing Captain Joseph Robbins, Isaac Davis, and Deacon Simon Hunt of the news, went to South Acton and then to the Faulkner house.[ citation needed ] Upon receiving the news, Major Francis Faulkner fired off three shots, the signal alarm, and soon the militia of Acton had assembled at the house. From Acton, a man named Edward Bancroft carried the message on towards Groton and Pepperell.
The Faulkner House and Jones Tavern are two historic properties in South Acton that are owned by Iron Work Farm in Acton, Inc., a non-profit, historical Massachusetts corporation with a charter to study the documents and preserve the tangible landmarks connected with the village of [South] Acton. Exchange Hall is another historic property in South Acton that is in close proximity to both Jones Tavern and the Faulkner House.
Paul Revere was an American silversmith, military officer and industrialist who played a major role during the opening months of the American Revolutionary War in Massachusetts, engaging in a midnight ride in 1775 to alert nearby minutemen of the approach of British troops prior to the battles of Lexington and Concord.
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Samuel Prescott was an American physician and a Massachusetts Patriot during the American Revolutionary War. He is best known for his role in Paul Revere's "midnight ride" to warn the townspeople of Concord, Massachusetts, of the impending British army move to capture guns and gunpowder kept there at the beginning of the American Revolution. He was the only participant in the ride to reach Concord.
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The Battles of Lexington and Concord was the first major military campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in an American victory and outpouring of militia support for the anti-British cause. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy, and Cambridge. They marked the outbreak of armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Patriot militias from America's thirteen colonies.
Acton, Massachusetts is a small town west of Boston in an area that has records of human habitation which stretch back 7000 years. Acton citizens had a significant role in the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the prelude to the American Revolution. Acton's history reflects the major events that were occurring in Massachusetts, New England, the United States, and the world.
Isaac Davis was a gunsmith and a militia officer who commanded a company of Minutemen from Acton, Massachusetts, during the first battle of the American Revolutionary War. In the months leading up to the Revolution, Davis set unusually high standards for his company in terms of equipment, training, and preparedness. His company was selected to lead the advance on the British Regulars during the Battle of Concord because his men were entirely outfitted with bayonets. During the American advance on the British at the Old North Bridge, Davis was among the first killed and was the first American officer to die in the Revolution.
The Lexington Battle Green, also known as Lexington Common, is the historic town common of Lexington, Massachusetts, United States. It was at this site that the opening shots of the Battles of Lexington and Concord were fired on April 19, 1775, starting the American Revolutionary War. Now a public park, the common is a National Historic Landmark.
Simeon Wheelock was a blacksmith from Uxbridge, Massachusetts, who served as a minuteman in the Massachusetts militia during the battles of Lexington and Concord in the American Revolutionary War. After the war he was killed while on militia duty protecting the Springfield Armory during Shays' Rebellion.
The Taft family is an American political family of English descent, with origins in Massachusetts. Its members have served in the states of Massachusetts, Ohio, Rhode Island, Utah, and Vermont, and the United States federal government, in various positions such as representative (two), governor of Ohio, governor of Rhode Island, senator (three), secretary of agriculture, attorney general, secretary of war (two), acting secretary of defense, president, and chief justice.
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The Bacon-Gleason-Blodgett Homestead is a historic house at 118 Wilson Road in Bedford, Massachusetts. Built about 1740, it is the town's only surviving example of a brick-end colonial-period house, with long association to a nearby gristmill. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1977, and included in the Wilson Mill-Old Burlington Road District on August 18, 2003.
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