The Bidwell House Museum is a historic house and museum on Art School Road in

Monterey, Massachusetts Monterey is a small town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,095 at the 2020 census. History Prior to settlement by European-Americ ...

, United States.

The Bidwell House

The house was built in the 1760s by the Reverend Adonijah Bidwell, the first minister in what was then Township No. 1. At that time, the house was the demographic center of the

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

and was located on the route of the Boston-Albany Post Road. It is a classic Georgian

Saltbox A saltbox house is a gable-roofed residential structure that is typically two stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional New England style of home, originally timber framed, which takes its name from its resemblance to a woode ...

built around a central

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...

. Four

fireplaces A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design. ...

and two beehive ovens feed into the chimney structure, which is supported by a classical

Roman Arch Roman Arch who was an Australian bred racehorse that was foaled in 1998. (Another Roman Arch was foaled in 1995 in New Zealand.) Roman Arch was most famous for winning the 2006 Australian Cup at the odds of 60/1 with the TAB. His other group ...

in the

basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...

. The house has two additions, the Ell Addition (1820s) and a Greek Revival/Carriage Barn addition (1840s).

History

Henry Knox

Reverend Bidwell, a

patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

, was an active supporter of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Henry Knox Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806), a Founding Father of the United States, was a senior general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, serving as chief of artillery in most of Washington's campaigns. Following the ...

, famous for his leadership of the expedition that carried strategically crucial cannons from

Fort Ticonderoga Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain, in northern New York, in the United States. It was constructed by Canadian-born French mi ...

Dorchester Heights Dorchester Heights is the central area of South Boston. It is the highest area in the neighborhood and commands a view of both Boston Harbor and downtown. History Dorchester is remembered in American history for an action in the American Rev ...

, passed through Monterey on that famous mission, most likely on the post road. Historical evidence suggests that Knox may have passed through the Bidwell property on his famous journey, now the basis for books, films, and the historic

Henry Knox Trail The Henry Knox Trail, also known as the Knox Cannon Trail, is a network of roads and paths that traces the route of Colonel Henry Knox's "noble train of artillery" from Crown Point to the Continental Army camp outside Boston, Massachusetts early ...

. He may have even stopped at the house in the middle of winter, possibly to stay a night or obtain supplies.

Ownership

The Reverend died in 1784 and left the house to his son, Adonijah the Younger. Adonijah the Younger utilized the house and grounds (approximately at the time) as a family farm, before selling the house in his old age to his son, John Devotion Bidwell, for "love and affection and one dollar." In 1853, John Devotion Bidwell sold the house to the Carrington family after 103 years of Bidwell ownership. At the time, John Bidwell was a selectman, justice of the peace, and prominent personality in the newly incorporated town of

(1847). The house remained with the Carrington family for three generations and 61 years until they sold it to a lumber company in 1914. After using the house as a base for local operations, the company sold it to an Art School. It was used as a faculty house by the school until 1935. By this time it had acquired the name "Deepwood Manse." By the 1950s, the house was in an increasing state of disrepair.

Restoration

In 1960, it was purchased by Jack Hargis and David Brush, two fashion designers from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. They bought it and surrounding for the sum of $30,000 and proceeded to spend the next 25 years restoring the house. They were fortunate enough to come across the inventory of the Rev. Bidwell's estate, which listed all his worldly possessions at the time of his death. Hargis and Brush proceeded to fill the restored house with dated pieces of furniture, artwork, and other objects, many of them originally owned by the Reverend.

Today

It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1982. In 1990, the house became a museum, the result of a death request by David Brush. It is open for tours from Thursday through Monday between Memorial Day and Columbus Day, as well as for special events. It is open from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM, with guided tours of the house starting on the hour.

References

External links

Bidwell House Museum
- official site

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Saltbox architecture in Massachusetts Houses completed in 1750 Historic house museums in Massachusetts Museums in Berkshire County, Massachusetts Museums established in 1990 Monterey, Massachusetts Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire County, Massachusetts