The Elijah Burt House is a historic house at 201 Chestnut Street in
East Longmeadow, Massachusetts
East Longmeadow is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States situated in the Pioneer Valley region of Western Massachusetts. It had a population of 16,430 at the 2020 census. East Longmeadow is southeast of downtown Springfield, pa ...
. Built sometime between 1720 and 1740, it is believed to be the oldest surviving building in the town, and a station on the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...
. The house was listed on 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 1976.
Description and history
The Elijah Burt House is located south of the center of East Longmeadow, on the north side of Chestnut Street roughly midway between Shaker Road and Prospect Street. It is a -story wood-frame structure, five bays wide, with a side-gable roof, clapboard siding, and a central chimney. The main entrance is at the center of the front facade, flanked by pilasters, and topped by a corniced entablature.
Its interior retains original wide pine floors, fireplaces with beehive ovens, and gunstock posts in the corners. Part of the interior includes a secret passage that may have been used to shelter escaping slaves as part of the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...
.
[
The house was built sometime between 1720 and 1740, and is believed to be the oldest house in East Longmeadow. It served in early days as a stop on stagecoach routes. In the years before the Civil War, an abolitionist owner is said to have harbored fugitive slaves in the basement, with a tunnel providing an escape into nearby woods.][
]
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Hampden County, Massachusetts
East Longmeadow, Massachusetts