The avenue which starts between stone gate-posts shows a wide gravelled road lined on either side by magnificent trees, many of which were planted at the time of the house building. At the left, standing by itself, is a wonderful oak, notable for its symmetry and its height. It is from this tree that the house derives its name "Oak Hill." The grounds at the rear of the house show a garden that covers three acres, the garden proper being geometrically laid out with a fountain in the center and a sun-dial at the end. Back of it all are arches of woodbine that make a most effective setting for the floral display, while catalpa trees, weeping mulberry, and other varieties are found scattered through the estate.

At the left one comes upon the most wonderful feature of the place. It is a large lotus pond, where during the season are found many varieties of the Egyptian lotus, there being sometimes one hundred of these marvellous blossoms open at once. Just back of the house is a lily pond, which is laid out in a decorative manner. It shows many varieties, including the Cape Cod lily, the blue, the pink, and the white.

The grounds cover an area of two hundred acres, which are laid out at the front and sides in lawns resembling those of England. The rear gives a background of flowers, while beyond sweep to the boundary line extensive grain fields and vegetable gardens. Entrance to the grounds is through carved gateways, the boundary being a well built wall of stone.

In the early days these grounds belonged to Nathaniel West, who was a very noted merchant and the owner of the ship Minerva, the first of the Salem vessels that circumnavigated the globe. Nathan West married Elizabeth Derby, one of the daughters of Elias Hasket Derby, familiarly known as King Derby and who was one of the three merchant princes that led the commerce in Salem. The house, which at the time of its building was one of the most notable ever erected, was designed by a celebrated English architect and is a type of the Adams period. Originally it was much larger than it is now, for at the death of Mrs. West two portions of the house were detached and moved away to meet present-day requirements. The parts taken were so large that one of them to-day forms a private residence on Chestnut Street in Salem.

The Rogers house is colonial in design. It is two stories in height and was built at the time when wood-carving had reached the highest degree of excellence in the historic city by the sea, and when skilled workmen had been attracted there from every part of the land. Doubtless many of them were employed by Samuel McIntire on this house which contains some of his most wonderful work. These men, with the native ingenuity and wonderful skill in the handling of tools, took great pains to execute in wood what many of the master architects across the sea were doing in stone, more particularly as regards decorative molding. In studying the work on this house, one cannot too carefully take into consideration the tools which these men had to use, and the precision with which the fine scale detail is carefully thought out, making these workmen compare favorably with those of to-day.

The house where so much fine woodwork is shown is painted white, with green blinds, and is an exceptionally good example of what the century-old architecture in and around Salem stands for, possessing character, dignity, and grace such as is seldom found. This is particularly exemplified in the front doorway, the porch being perfectly balanced, its well proportioned fanlights and sidelights giving it rare dignity and refinement. Ornamentation in the balcony shows McIntire's work in baskets of flowers picturesquely carved, while the steps are flanked with marble vases filled with geraniums, the bright blossoms giving just the right touch of color to bring out the white of the house. The flooring of the porch is tiled, and the hallway is most imposing, the stairway being lined with pictures of the old masters, including Van Dykes, and Salvator Rosas, Oliver Cromwell proroguing the Long Parliament, Diogenes with his lantern hunting for an honest man, and many others. The dado here is most unusual, being fabric painted red, while the hand-painted landscape decorations show a section of the classic Zuber wall-paper.

The front entrance displays on the inside a well planned elliptical arch over the door, with a frieze motif of reeded sections between applied rosettes tied into the cornice, the charming pattern in these sashes being brought about by iron bent against the glass. In most houses of this period, as in this, the elliptical arch of the fanlight is echoed elsewhere in the house.

The staircase cannot fail to attract notice, with its twisted newel post and balusters and the molded mahogany railing. The box stairs with panelled ends show decorative brackets. It is interesting to note the twisted portion of the three balusters on each stair, each differing, although the tops and bottoms are alike. The newel, hand-carved and turned, is a specially good specimen of its type, and with the balusters, which are also hand-carved and turned, represent a direct development of the shipbuilding industry in their likeness to the rope moldings of the ship cabins, so much used in those days.

In this hallway the door caps are placed above the lintel, showing no supporting pilasters. They represent different designs of McIntire, in some cases showing baskets, in some flowers, and in others garlands.

Inside this arch is a background of rich, dark red leather, on which are fastened wonderful old plates, many of them brought over by the ancestors of the owner, and without duplicates in this country. These plates are arranged to form a most artistic archway. Most of the prints on the wall are from Sir Joshua Reynolds' paintings. Upon the chimneypieces, not only in this room but also in the several others, it would seem as if McIntire had put his best work. They appear to stand out with exceptional grace and dignity, with charm of line and proportion. Here we find applied work of the most delicate nature and hand-carving that is exquisite in detail, adorning not only the moldings of cornice or frieze, but re-echoed in the pilasters of the over-mantel. The architrave of the mantelboard proper and its frieze, the capitals of the colonnettes, the edge of the shelf, and the molding that surrounds the panel over the chimney-breast, are masterpieces in bas-relief. The architectural treatment in this room convinces one of the great possibilities that lie in the white wood finish and how appropriate it is as a background for the rare pieces of old furniture that were used in our forefathers' day.

The living-room on the opposite side of the hall furnishes a most satisfactory tone for mahogany furniture in its white wood finish, there being a somber richness in the combination of the mahogany and white that is most harmonious. For instances of that, we have only to go back to our great-grandfathers' time, for a white finish was a popular fad in colonial days.

Over the mantel in this room is "Sunday Morning," a choice picture that is worthy of its setting. The casings of doorways which are often elaborated by the addition of a beautiful cornice and frieze, are further examples of McIntire's wonderful skill. Sometimes the cornice includes wonderful hand-carved molding showing between the dentiles fine spears which are supported by pilasters on each side. There are dainty grapevines and superbly modelled fruit baskets, while the door-cap frieze often shows dainty festoons and straight hanging garlands, with rosettes between. In the pilasters we find carved eagles and fruit-filled urns.

While most of these decorations are carved in wood, some of them are made in French putty and applied to the surface of the wood with glue. This idea is being carried out to-day by our leading decorators.

The morning-room is at the rear of the living-room, a large, handsome apartment opening on to the wide veranda, which is a feature of one side and approached by broad steps. The dining-room leads off the morning-room and is finished in English oak. The entire house, more especially in its interior decoration, is considered by architects all over the country to be one of the finest examples of colonial architecture that was built during the period of Salem's prosperity.

The furniture follows also the same period. Rarely in any private home does one find such a gathering of rare pieces of the three masters: Hepplewhite, Sheraton, and Chippendale. Most of these pieces, in fact practically all, are heirlooms which have descended directly from generation to generation, for this family has the distinction of being one of the oldest connected with Salem's early history.

It is fitting that McIntire should have put his best work into a house like this, where one finds no plain spaces, no wide panels without decoration, and no simple pilasters, for there is a dignity and a charm both in exterior and interior bespeaking not only wealth but good taste.

While the house does not contain as much old-time paper as do many of the residences of that day, yet the pieces that are shown are exceptional and comprise subjects such as one can seldom find. It is refreshing to find such a house as this, where great taste has been shown in the selection of furnishings, and where there is so much harmony in surroundings.

CHAPTER VI

The celebrated Lee mansion, erected in 1768, is of the purest colonial type, and was the most costly residence ever built in this seaport town. Many traditions relate that the timber and the finish were brought over in one of the colonel's trading ships as ballast. However that may be, the material used was pine, such as was known in the old days as pumpkin pine. The trees of that species sometimes allow for boards four feet in width, and the fact that boards of this width are found in the Lee mansion is claimed by many to refute the idea of English wood, as the pines in the old country did not produce boards of such width when Jeremiah Lee commenced to build.

Standing back from the street behind a granite curb and iron paling is the old mansion, its dimensions being sixty-four feet by forty-six feet, and containing fifteen large rooms. The exterior was built of brick, over which were placed huge, bevelled, wooden clapboards, more than two feet in width, and one and a half in height. From a distance the observer might mistake the gray of the exterior for stone, as the block style of construction was employed, the wooden cube being painted and sanded to resemble dark gray rock.

In the early part of the eighteenth century Jeremiah Lee came to this country and settled at Manchester-by-the-Sea. The little that can be learned of him shows him to have been a keen trader, who took care to make his savings increase his income. In 1760 we find him living in Marblehead, prominent in town affairs and serving on important committees, being one of the Board of Fire-wards in the first fire department of the town. He was also one of the building committee that had charge of the construction of the powder house erected about that time.

Originally Lee was a Loyalist, but he later became a patriot and was foremost in all the movements that kindled the spirit of independence in the colonists. Before the struggle had fairly commenced, his career was cut short by an early death; otherwise he would have been as well known to posterity as was his intimate friend and fellow-townsman, Elbridge Gerry. As a member of the Province Committee of Safety and Supplies, which held a meeting on April 18, 1775, at Weatherby's Black Horse Tavern, situated on the highway between Concord and Lexington, he was among the number who decided to spend the night at the tavern rather than to go on to Lexington. The advance guard of the British troops was sighted in the early morning, and the colonel and his friends hastily dressed and escaped by a rear door, the colonel thereby contracting a cold from which he died.

During Lee's life in Marblehead he entertained royally in this mansion, which was erected at a cost of ten thousand pounds. Within a few steps of this mansion there was also a cooking-house, the same building being used to shelter the carriages of the family. Originally the large brick building now used for the store was made his slaves' quarters. Not long ago was found inside the house a small brass button, bearing the coat of arms of the Lee family, which was doubtless once worn on the livery of one of his slaves.

In the flagging that leads to the side door has lately been uncovered a central stone bearing the date of the erection of the house.

As the ponderous front door swings open, one enters a grandly spaced hall, wainscoted waist high in solid mahogany. At the right is a deeply recessed window, and a door on either side of the hall leads into rooms beyond. Above the casing of these entrances runs the classic egg and tongue molding. The feature of the hallway is the wall-paper. This represents scenes of Grecian ruins, such as shattered columns, temples, landscapes, coats of mail, each set in a separate panel, handsomely carved. It is finished in soft tones of gray, beautifully blended, doubtless the highest development of early decorative art.

In this hallway at the time of Lafayette's visit to the house, the banquet tables were set. The ever-loyal ladies of Marblehead sent for the entertainment some of their choicest belongings: table-cloths of wonderful damask brought from over the seas, rare old silver, and choice English glass.

At the right of the hallway is the drawing-room in white and gray. Two Corinthian pilasters flank the fireplace, rising to the molding and following the line of the wall. The whole chimneyside of this room was panelled in huge white slabs. This was the living-room of the house, and here were doubtless entertained the members of the Secret Council.

In the former days scriptural texts and marble tablets were placed over the mantel in one of the chambers. One of these, a representation of Susannah and the Elders, was purchased from the family and is now found in the Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Great care as to detail has been exercised in the finish of every room. Notwithstanding the talk of secret stairways and mysterious trap-doors, there is nothing at all uncanny about the place, which was built for comfort and good living.

It is easy to be carried back in imagination to the days when Colonel Lee and Mistress Martha, noted for their open-handed hospitality, dwelt in this mansion. Its great rooms echoed with the laughter of the gallants of the day, who in short clothes, silver buckles, and laces, made love to the stately dames in trailing gowns and powdered hair and danced in the state chamber over the parlor, used then as a dance hall.

In this house the venerable Marquis de Lafayette accepted the hospitality of the Lees, when he came to America in 1824 at the invitation of Congress, accompanied by his son, George Washington Lafayette. It was during this visit that he danced a minuet in the great southwest room. An old letter, discovered recently by Miss Dixie, of Marblehead, discloses the fact that her mother led the dance with the gallant Frenchman.

This room is panelled in wood of dark finish, with exquisite designs over the fireplace, where a shelf on consoles shows over it an ornate panel made from a single board and exquisitely carved. On the opposite side of the room is the large apartment which was originally used as a chamber, probably by Colonel Lee. Here the pictures all relate to the sea,—one of them depicting Neptune and another a fish.

The Lee mansion, like many of the Marblehead houses, stands with one foot on the land and the other almost on the water, bespeaking the maritime side of the community. Within the house, the arrangement of rooms and passages suggests the troublous times in the years just before the Revolution. A secret stairway connects two of the upper rooms, while the front hall shows a trap-door which led to the cellar. This doubtless gave rise to stories of intrigue but probably was concerned only with the contents of the cellar. A small cupboard door, leading apparently into a clothes-press, gave access to a narrow secret stair leading to a bedchamber above. A smaller panel, sounding hollow, was discovered to have a pair of hinges. On being opened, this revealed an iron safe with double doors, buried in the brick work of the chimney. Doubtless it was the private safe of Colonel Lee, for according to tradition there was always plenty of money in the house.

In the early days an effort was once made to surprise the bank of which Lee was an official. A party of men came into town after the closing hour, and meeting the genial colonel, explained that they had come to collect money on a note. Without a moment's hesitation, they were escorted to the Lee mansion, where the entire sum, which was an unusually large one, was paid by him in gold. This story has been vouched for by one of the earliest inhabitants of the historic town, and the finding of the safe discounts the idea of the secret closet being used for any other purpose. In the upper floor are plainly found marks of sliding panels to mask a retreat by secret floors and false walls to reach the garret.

The kitchen fireplace has been a recent discovery. When the house was restored, the fireplace was a practical but shallow affair, not showing the generous depths found in many houses of that day. In the process of repairs it was discovered that this was a false fireplace, back of which two feet more were found, and behind them the deep oven that had not been used for cooking since Massachusetts Bay was a royal colony. This kitchen fireplace is believed to be in what was used as the family dining-room, for doubtless the cooking was done in the slave quarters, much as in the Southern homes, the food being brought into the house through a covered passageway.

In the early days, a little after the building of the house, there was a great demand for lead to make bullets for the Continental army. It has been discovered that in the upper casements of the house, in rooms which were rarely occupied, the lead weights are wanting. This leads one to believe that the old tradition of their being melted during the time of the Revolution for ammunition may be true.

In the attic is a mark which shows the house to have been built by English architects. This is an inside dormer window used in those days by architects in the motherland for ventilation. This idea is rarely if ever carried out in a house where the architects or master builders are of this country.

On the death of Colonel Lee, the house was occupied by his widow, who continued to extend hospitality to the townspeople and visitors from other places, much as during her husband's lifetime. At her death the estate passed into the hands of her son, and afterwards was owned and occupied by Judge Samuel Sewall.

A grand old landmark this colonial mansion makes, and even now the old sea captains climb to the gray cupola to scan the horizon for incoming ships, much as they did in the days of long ago.

CHAPTER VII

Here in 1752 his son, Colonel Nicholas Gilman, then only twenty-one years of age, brought his bride, Anne Taylor, a very beautiful young woman who had descended from Puritan ancestors and who was very popular with the patriots of that day. During their residency the house, considered at that period one of the best in Exeter, was enlarged to its present size, and the exterior was entirely covered with wood to correspond with the additions.

Colonel Gilman was distinguished as one of a quartet who furnished brains for the Old Granite State, being known as the Robert Morris of the province and possessing not only influence but wealth and ability. He was a close friend of Governor Wentworth who, with his son, was a frequent visitor at the house; so sincere was their intimacy that when Colonel Gilman sided with the colonists Governor Wentworth declared that instead of making a rupture in their friendship, if the Rebellion were crushed, he should save his friend. This great intimacy was also shared with Count Rumford.

It was in 1775, several years after the house was enlarged, that Gilman was made Treasurer and Receiver-general of the State, in which office he stayed until his death in 1783. The treasury building was a room in his own house. This may in a way account for there being two entrance doors, one for family guests and the other for business purposes. The house has never been altered, with the exception of the introduction of modern improvements, since the day that it was enlarged. It is a fine, substantial building, two and a half stories in height, showing dormer windows and a six-foot chimney. The huge fireplaces are still kept intact, few if any showing hand-carving. The porches are dignified but ample in their lines of architecture, and the entire exterior shows an unusual type.

The room nearest the entrance door at the extreme left was used as a treasury, for in addition to the office of State Treasurer, Colonel Gilman held the position of Continental Loan Officer of the State, all the money being received here. In this same room the Committee of Safety used to meet, and it was here that the Battle of Bennington was discussed and planned.

Gilman was a great friend of Daniel Webster, who never came to Exeter without passing the principal part of his time in this house, the bed in which he slept being still shown in one of the large continental chambers.

The house was noted for its hospitality, a home where many gatherings, both for charity and pleasure, were held. The mistress of the household was a famous New England housekeeper, who possessed the whole art of housekeeping at her fingers' end. Beautiful as a young bride, she was even more so in after years. Her trim figure became rounded out, while her dark eyes and fresh, rich color preserved their brightness. Colonel Gilman was a striking figure, six feet tall, with an erect carriage. He wore until the day of his death a ruffled shirt-front and a cue.

It was during his occupancy that the Declaration of Independence was passed. The Legislature had not adjourned when the message came, and the President, who was in waiting, decided the documents must be publicly read. The news spread like lightning; the farmer eager to hear all dropped his scythe in the swath, the mechanic rushed from his shop, while the housewife forsook her spinning-wheel, all meeting in a general enthusiasm to hear the words that gave them freedom and a country. The document was brought into Exeter by a courier, who dashed suddenly into the village, bearing in his hand a letter addressed to the Convention of New Hampshire and signed by no less a personage than John Hancock. On, on, he rode, until he reached the Gilman house and delivered it into the hands of the host. It was read in the village square amid intense enthusiasm by his son, John Taylor Gilman, who was also destined to play an important part in our country's history.

John Taylor Gilman was then just out of his teens. He was a handsome man with magnetic power and an idol of the people. No one in the whole audience was more thrilled than was the father of the reader, who, filled with ardor, paused often to crush down the rush of sentiment that overmastered speech. Colonel Gilman was distinguished as one of those who financed the Revolution, and his son succeeded him in this service.

After Colonel Gilman's death, in 1783, the house was left to John Taylor Gilman, who inherited his father's love for political power. He, like his sire, was a most comely man, just entering into manhood when he married Dorothea Folsom, a great-granddaughter of the noted Revolutionary hero. She was only twenty-one years old when she married, being one of the belles of the village and a most estimable young lady. For sixty years she directed the affairs of her household in a most exemplary manner and was the personification of hospitality.

Directly after their marriage, the young husband, then only twenty-two years of age, gathered a company together and marched for Cambridge, where he was encamped for a short time only. Later on he acted as commissary to supply the three regiments of the State at Cambridge, for he was considered too important a person to be allowed to take a place in the field.

In 1779 he was elected a member of the New Hampshire Legislature and was called in 1780 as the only delegate to attend the gathering which was to take place at Hartford, Connecticut. Those were the days when there was no money or credit in the treasury, so that he was forced to take the journey on horseback. He was absent six weeks, paying his own expenses everywhere out of his personal income.

So popular did he become that he was elected to Congress in 1782, being one of the youngest and most popular members. Later on he became Treasurer of State, succeeding his father in this work. He was made Governor of New Hampshire, which office he held for fourteen consecutive years and later on accepted the nomination for two years more. In 1816 he declined the election, giving as an excuse that he preferred to spend his remaining days in quietness.

This Governor Gilman was a portly man, weighing two hundred pounds and standing six feet in his stockings. He was a dignified old gentleman, preserving his vigor to the very end. While the latter part of his life was spent in renewing social relations with his friends, the memories of the past were always with him, and he was never so happy as when he recalled the days of Washington, who was a personal friend. Strong and original in intellect, few men were able to foresee as he did the future of his country.

It is said that the night before his death he was brought downstairs by a faithful old negro retainer to spend his last evening with his family. He had a clear realization that his time was drawing near, and he gave full instructions to his family concerning his burial and the manner in which they should cherish his memory. He requested particularly that no one should wear mourning for him—"Spend upon the living, not the dead," he said. After a short time he was reminded that he was getting very tired, and he left the room remarking: "I have no disposition to leave this precious circle. I love to be here surrounded by my family and my friends." He commended them to God, saying: "I am ready to go and I wish you all good night."

The brothers of this noted man also held positions in State affairs and in the militia. His brother Nicholas at one time lived in this house. He occupied the position of lieutenant, captain, adjutant, and adjutant-general in the Revolution, being also a member of Congress. He took his seat in the United States Senate on March 3, 1797, and came out in views a solid Federal.

Governor John Taylor Gilman, who succeeded his father, Colonel Nicholas, had eleven children, many of whom were married in the State Room of this house, which is so closely connected with the political events of the Revolution and where so many distinguished guests have been entertained.

The Gilmans were one of the most distinguished families in Exeter, coming up from Massachusetts to join Reverend John Wheelwright's little colony. Their enterprise, energy, and thrift made them natural leaders in the community. If there was a meeting-house to be erected, there was always a Gilman on the committee. Should there be a military company to be enlisted, there would always be a man of that name in the ranks. When the commissioners, seven in number, distributed the common lands in 1739, there were four of this family among the band. Little wonder then that their name is allied with the principal events of history.

The hallway of this home is found to be a small and unpretentious one, with a winding flight of stairs at one side that leads to the second-story floor. At the left of the side entrance is the Treasury Room, where, during the lifetime of Gilman, important meetings were held and State secrets were often discussed. The furniture from this room has long since been gone, but the white pine walls with their coat of paint are still as fresh as they were the day they were built. The huge fireplace without tiles bespeaks plainly the days of prosperity. At the right of the hallway is a large, square room that was used in the olden times as a dining-room. There are no secret closets in this house, with the exception of a sliding panel in the Grill Room, which when lifted gives access to the wine closet below. Beyond that is the old kitchen, which is now used as a dining-room. It still shows the old brick oven, where during Governor Gilman's occupancy the baking was done, and also the Dutch oven, where the meat was roasted in the governor's day. On the mantel over the old fireplace are displayed some fine bits of old pewter, while the windows of this house still retain the small panes.

The room at the right of the family entrance is known as the State Room. It is a dignified room, large enough to have held easily the notable assemblages that must have met there during his occupancy. The fireplace has no mantel, but a wide panelling, such as is found only in houses of that period. The only ornamentations are the elaborate columns that define the fireplace and panelling. The room is finished in wood panels. The huge beams have been cased in, and the windows with their wooden shutters remain as they were first built. The furnishing is all of the colonial period, showing slat-back chairs and cane-seated ones. A feature of this room is the wonderful old mirror, one of the largest ever made and so tall that an opening had to be made in the ceiling, that it might be set up. It is a room typical of the period and shows woodwork that has never been replaced. The andirons are painted in brilliant colors, showing the Hessian soldiers,—a kind that were in use directly after the Revolution.

The chambers have each an old four-poster, while their fireplaces are unlike many of that period, being finished in stone instead of wood. In the middle chamber is a fine example of a field bed, which was used by Daniel Webster. In this room also is a queer little mahogany piece that, when the cover is lifted, shows a foot-bath that was taken by Governor Gilman to Washington during his term of service there. In addition to this there is a quaint little trunk of leather, which was used by the governor to transport his belongings to and fro,—not a very elaborate wardrobe if it all went into the one trunk.

The Middle Chamber, as this is familiarly known, has also one of the old fireplaces without a mantel. Every room in the house shows the wide-beamed ceilings that came into use about that period.

Probably the most interesting room is a small one at one side which was used as a prisoner's room. Here the windows are very small and were formerly barred over. In this room the poor debtors were kept until released by their friends.

In the capacity of Treasurer of State, Colonel Gilman had his office in the house, and here he affixed his signature to the paper bills of credit to which the State and country were obliged to resort in order to carry on the war. It was a duty, however, that still permitted him to devote part of his time to military service, holding the position of colonel of the Fourth Regiment of Militia and aiding in the capture of General Burgoyne. Within the walls of this mansion were born his children, three of whom became conspicuous in the history of the State.

John Taylor Gilman, who succeeded his father, held many offices of trust and in 1814, at the alarm of Portsmouth, he took personal command of a large detachment of militia stationed by his order in that vicinity.

Nicholas Gilman, Jr., who resided in the house until the age of twenty-one, became senior Deputy Adjutant-general of the Continental army on the staff of General Washington and participated in all the important battles and campaigns in which, under Washington, the army engaged. In 1787 Captain Nicholas Gilman and John Langdon were chosen delegates to the Federal Convention of States, which assembled at Philadelphia and framed and adopted the Constitution, the delegates signing in the order of States. The signatures of Langdon and Gilman followed immediately after that of General Washington, as President of the Convention. Gilman was one of the youngest members of that body, that combined patriotism, experience, and character.

The third son, Colonel Nathaniel Gilman, succeeded his father Colonel Nicholas Gilman, Sr., in the treasury department—The Continental Loan Office—as early as 1783. From 1818 to 1824 the mansion was occupied by Captain Nathaniel Gilman, son of Colonel Nathaniel Gilman and grandson of Colonel Nicholas Gilman, Sr.

The house itself is in an excellent state of preservation. The partially panelled walls, the quaint windows with wide sills, the large and cheerful fireplaces in which the original dogs still do duty, belong distinctively to colonial days. The small, high windows fitted with wooden shutters show the great thickness of the house wall, and the whole surroundings impress one with solidity and comfort.

CHAPTER VIII

Near the foot of the hill, at the parting of four roads, was a lot of land that he bequeathed to his wife, with ten pounds yearly. The grant of land later on was divided into several house lots, one of which was the home of William Longfellow, the emigrant ancestor of the Longfellow family in America, who married Anne Sewall. This shows the connection through marriage of the prominent families who settled in this region.

Captain Abraham Adams was born in Newbury, May 2, 1676. He followed the sea in early life, sailing first to the West Indies, and soon rose to the command of a vessel, making fourteen trips to England, besides many coastwise trading voyages. In 1703 he married Anne Longfellow. She was a niece of Judge Samuel Sewall, and lived on the part of the old Sewall grant then known as "Highfield," which name was given to the estate that Abraham Adams' father gave to him at the time of his marriage, although the deed was not passed until two years afterwards. Upon this land Captain Adams built his mansion, an unpretentious house following the lines of that period. It stood in the midst of the tract which at that time was much larger than it is to-day, although even now it is still possible to walk a mile in a straight line from the homestead on ancestral ground covered with heavy timber and showing broad meadows.

Stone walls were not then built to define boundaries, and the highway was a mere bridle-path running by the door and on between the houses of Henry Sewall and William Longfellow to the ford over the brook, at that time a considerable stream. The captain, who took kindly to farming, greatly improved the land, and on the grant are still found small apple-trees that grew from those set out by him in 1706. The seeds for these trees were brought by Captain Adams when he returned from one of his voyages. Tradition relates that while bringing them from the ship his oxen stopped in the ford at Cart Creek, and the captain, in a discouraged mood said: "I would rather dump the seeds in this cart into the creek than to put them in the ground." He changed his mind, however, and became a very successful farmer.

After Captain Adams' marriage to Anne Longfellow, he promised to give up his life on the sea and devote his time to farming. Whether with this he made a mental reservation is not known, but in his shipyard half a mile away he afterwards built several vessels and engaged in a coasting-trade. Unlike the other farmers of the day, the products of his farm were carried to New Orleans and other ports and bartered for rice and molasses. The old shipyard can still be seen, but the vessels have long ago disappeared. The narrow river winding to the sea shows little space for shipping, and even in its most prosperous days it was necessary to launch the rudely built ships sidewise.