Samuel Hartwell House

Last updated
Samuel Hartwell House
EXTERIOR FROM THE SOUTHWEST - Sergeant Samuel Hartwell House, Virginia Road, Lincoln, Middlesex County, MA HABS MASS,9-LIN,8-2.tif
The house in the 1960s, around ten years before its destruction
Samuel Hartwell House
General information
Location Lincoln, Massachusetts
(Concord until 1754)
Address North County Road
Coordinates 42°27′10″N71°17′28″W / 42.4527°N 71.2910°W / 42.4527; -71.2910 Coordinates: 42°27′10″N71°17′28″W / 42.4527°N 71.2910°W / 42.4527; -71.2910
Completed1733(290 years ago) (1733)
Destroyed1973(50 years ago) (1973) (fire)
Technical details
Floor count3 (including the cellar)

The Samuel Hartwell House is a historic American Revolutionary War site associated with the revolution's first battle, the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. Built in 1733, in what was then Concord, it was located on North County Road, [1] just off Battle Road (formerly the Bay Road) in today's Lincoln, Massachusetts, and about 700 feet east of Hartwell Tavern, which Hartwell built for his son, Ephraim, and his newlywed wife, Elizabeth, in 1733. The site is part of today's Minute Man National Historic Park.

Contents

The 240-year-old Samuel Hartwell House was destroyed by fire in 1973, and all that remains is the central chimney stack. [1]

History

The building, whose main façade faces south, was originally constructed as a home for Samuel Hartwell (1666–1744) and his first wife, Abigail Stearns. [1] [2] Abigail died in 1709, and Hartwell remarried three times, to Rebecca (died 1714), Margaret Tompkins (died 1723) and Experience Tarbox (who survived him). [2]

Built on land purchased in 1694 from Richard Rice (1608–1709), [2] only the central chimney of the Samuel Hartwell House still stands, amongst a basic reconstruction of the building. [3]

When Samuel died in 1744, aged 78, [4] Ephraim inherited his portion of the family farm. By 1749, the farm was one of the most productive in Concord and consisted of 141 acres. [5]

The property was part of Concord until 1754, when the town of Lincoln was incorporated.

After Samuel's grandson, also named Samuel (1742–1829), married Mary Flint in 1769, his father, Ephraim, gave him the house. [1] The Hartwells lived there until 1785. [6]

Thomas John Dee purchased the farm around the turn of the 20th century. After his death, it passed to his son, who sold the property and a few acres of its land in 1925 [7] to Marion Abbie Fitch, a Boston schoolteacher, and Jane Hamilton Poor, an architect. [8] They converted it into a restaurant called Hartwell Farm. [1]

Remains

Battles of Lexington and Concord

The battles of Lexington and Concord took form before dawn on April 19, 1775. Soldiers passed by the house on their way to Concord, and again on their way back to Boston. Three of Ephraim and Elizabeth Hartwell's children — Samuel, John and Isaac — were in the Lincoln minutemen that fought at Old North Bridge and on the battle road. All three later served in the Revolutionary War.

Paul Revere and William Dawes were detained by a British Army patrol nearby during the "Midnight Ride" to Concord of April 18. Samuel Prescott, who was also riding with them, escaped by jumping his horse over a wall and into the woods. Prescott emerged at the Hartwell Tavern, awakened Ephraim and informed him of the pending arrival of the British soldiers. [9] Ephraim sent his black slave, Violet, down the road to alert his son and his family. Mary then relayed the message to Captain William Smith, commanding officer of the Lincoln minutemen, [10] who lived a little to the west and whose home still stands along Battle Road. The minutemen received the notice in time, and arrived at Old North Bridge before their enemy. Prescott made it to Concord. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Dawes</span> American militiaman (1745–1799)

William Dawes Jr. was one of several men who in April 1775 alerted colonial minutemen in Massachusetts of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the outset of the American Revolution. For some years, Paul Revere had the most renown for his ride of warning of this event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Prescott</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Parker (captain)</span> American colonial farmer, smith and soldier

John Parker was an American colonial farmer, smith, soldier, and colonial militia officer who commanded the Lexington, Patriot, colonial militia at the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minute Man National Historical Park</span> Historic park in Massachusetts, USA

Minute Man National Historical Park commemorates the opening battle in the American Revolutionary War. It also includes the Wayside, home in turn to three noted American authors. The National Historical Park is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and protects 970 acres (392.5 ha) in and around the Massachusetts towns of Lexington, Lincoln, and Concord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buckman Tavern</span> United States historic place

Buckman Tavern is a historic American Revolutionary War site associated with the revolution's very first battle, the 1775 Battle of Lexington and Concord. It is located on the Battle Green in Lexington, Massachusetts and operated as a museum by the Lexington Historical Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battles of Lexington and Concord</span> First military engagements of the American Revolutionary War (1775)

The Battles of Lexington and Concord, also called the Shot Heard 'Round the World, were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Davis (soldier)</span> American gunsmith

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle Road</span> Historic road in Lincoln, Massachusetts

Battle Road, formerly known as the Old Concord Road and the Bay Road, is a historic road in Massachusetts, United States. It was formerly part of the main road connecting Lexington, Lincoln and Concord, three of the main towns involved in the American Revolutionary War. It was on Battle Road that thousands of colonial militia and British regulars fought during the redcoats' retreat from Concord to Boston on the morning and afternoon of April 19, 1775.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faulkner House</span> Historic house in Massachusetts, United States

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.

Thaddeus Bowman was the last scout sent out by Capt. John Parker at Lexington, Massachusetts, but the only one to find the approaching British troops and get back to warn the militia on the first day of the American Revolution.

Capt. John Trull (1738–1797) was the commander of the Tewksbury, Massachusetts minuteman company on the first day of the American Revolution, at the Battle of Lexington & Concord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hartwell Tavern</span> Colonial building in Massachusetts

Hartwell Tavern is a historic American Revolutionary War site associated with the revolution's first battle, the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. It is located on North County Road, just off Battle Road in Lincoln, Massachusetts, and operated as a historic house museum by the National Park Service as part of the Minute Man National Historical Park. Built in 1733, in what was then Concord, it is staffed from Memorial Day (May) weekend to October by park rangers dressed in colonial attire who offer programs daily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Revere's Midnight Ride</span> Alert to the American colonial militia in 1775

The Midnight Ride was the alert to the American colonial militia in April 1775 to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Captain William Smith House</span> Colonial building in Massachusetts

The Captain William Smith House is a historic American Revolutionary War site in Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States. Part of today's Minute Man National Historic Park, it is associated with the revolution's first battle, the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. Believed to have been built in 1692, in what was then Concord, it is believed to be the oldest house in Lincoln.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Job Brooks House</span> Historic house in Lincoln, Massachusetts

The Job Brooks House is a historic American Revolutionary War site in Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of today's Minute Man National Historic Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Whittemore House</span> House in Lexington, Massachusetts

The Jacob Whittemore House is a historic American Revolutionary War site in Lexington, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of today's Minute Man National Historic Park. It is located on Airport Road, just off Battle Road. It is the only house of the "witness" houses of the April 19, 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord to fall inside the Lexington town line; the others are in Lincoln or Concord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Brooks House (Massachusetts)</span>

The Samuel Brooks House is a historic American Revolutionary War site in Concord, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of today's Minute Man National Historic Park. It is located on North Great Road, just off Battle Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concord's Colonial Inn</span> Building in Massachusetts, U.S.

Concord's Colonial Inn is a historic inn in Concord, Massachusetts, United States. Its original structure, which is still in use, was built in 1716. It became a hotel in 1889.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Road</span> Historic road in Lincoln, Massachusetts

Virginia Road, also known as North County Road, North Country Road and Bay Road, is a historic road in Lincoln, Massachusetts, United States. It was part of Concord until 1754. Today, it is in the care of the Minute Man National Historical Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noah Brooks Tavern</span> Colonial building in Massachusetts

The Noah Brooks Tavern is a historic American Revolutionary War site associated with the revolution's first battle, the 1775 battles of Lexington and Concord. It stands, on the site of a previous home, on North Great Road in Lincoln, Massachusetts, just south of the former Battle Road, in an area known as Brooks Village. It is one of eleven houses within the Minute Man National Historic Park that still exists today.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Lincoln – Lincoln Historical Society (2003) ISBN   9780738511467
  2. 1 2 3 Hand-book of Hartwell Genealogy, 1636-1887, Lyman Willard Densmore (1887), p. 89
  3. ↑ Samuel Hartwell House site - NPS.gov
  4. ↑ Samuel Hartwell (1666−1744) at FindAGrave.com
  5. ↑ "The Hartwell Tavern and the Hartwell Family in Closer Detail" - NPSHistory.com
  6. ↑ Story of the Hartwell Homestead – www.hartwell.org
  7. ↑ Conklin, Edwin P. (1927). Middlesex County and Its People: A History · Volume 4. p. 353.
  8. ↑ The Great American Cookbook, Clementine Paddleford (2011)
  9. ↑ The Prescott Memorial, Or, A Genealogical Memoir of the Prescott Families in America In Two Parts, William Prescott (1870), p. 66
  10. ↑ Battle Road: Birthplace of the American Revolution, Maurice R. Cullen (1970) ISBN   9780856990144
  11. ↑ Fischer 1994, pp. 131–132, 144.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.