The Daniel Webster Family Home, also known as The Elms, is a historic house off South Main Street in

West Franklin, New Hampshire Franklin is a city in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 8,741, the least of New Hampshire's 13 cities. Franklin includes the village of West Franklin. History Situated at the confluence of the ...

. The house has been designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

for its importance as the summer home of

Daniel Webster Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison, ...

(1782–1852), who owned it from 1829 until his death.

History

Daniel Webster's father,

Ebenezer Ebenezer may refer to: Bible * Eben-Ezer, a place mentioned in the Books of Samuel People * Ebenezer (given name), a male given name Places Australia * Ebenezer, New South Wales * Ebenezer, Queensland, a locality in the City of Ipswich * Ebene ...

, bought the property in 1800, while Daniel was a student at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

. The property passed in 1806 to Daniel and his older brother Ezekiel, and Ezekiel alone in 1813. Ezekiel died in 1829, at which time Daniel inherited it. The Elms served as an "experimental farm" and "vacation retreat" for Webster while he lived in

Marshfield, Massachusetts Marshfield is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on Massachusetts's South Shore. The population was 25,825 at the 2020 census. It includes the census-designated places (CDPs) of Marshfield, Marshfield Hills, Ocean Bluf ...

, and the land was a gravesite for his parents, as well as several brothers and sisters. and The property was sold by Webster's son Fletcher in 1855 to Rufus Tay, a merchant, who added the three-story portion of the building in 1858. In 1871, the property was purchased to serve as an

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

, and was used for that purpose until 1958. The property is now part of the Webster Place Recovery Center, a substance abuse program of Easter Seals New Hampshire, which treats those recovering from alcohol and drug addiction."History of Webster Place", Webster Place Recovery Center
/ref> It was declared a

in 1974.

Description

The main block of the house is a -story wood-frame structure, sheathed in clapboards, and topped with a

gable roof A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The pitch of a gable roof ca ...

. It is five bays wide, with a center entry that is flanked by pilasters, and topped by a five-pane

transom window In architecture, a transom is a transverse horizontal structural beam or bar, or a crosspiece separating a door from a window above it. This contrasts with a mullion, a vertical structural member. Transom or transom window is also the customary U ...

and cornice. The interior of the house consists of two rooms on each floor, divided by a central chimney, whose top has been removed (and thus does not project above the roof anymore). The downstairs left room was divided to provide a kitchen space. The older part of the house is dominated visually by a large addition on the east side of the building, which was probably added when the property was adapted for use as an orphanage.

References

External links

Daniel Webster Birthplace State Historic Site
west of "The Elms" along

New Hampshire Route 127 New Hampshire Route 127 (abbreviated NH 127) is a north–south state highway in central New Hampshire. The highway runs from Hopkinton in Merrimack County northward to Sanbornton in Belknap County. The southern terminus of NH 127 is at U.S. ...

Webster Place Recovery Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Daniel, Family Home National Historic Landmarks in New Hampshire Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Houses completed in 1800 Franklin, New Hampshire Houses in Merrimack County, New Hampshire National Register of Historic Places in Merrimack County, New Hampshire Family Home

History

Description

See also

References

External links