The General Rufus Putnam House (also Bliss–Murray–Putnam House) is 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 ...

at 344 Main Street in

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

Worcester County, Massachusetts Worcester County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 862,111, making it the second-most populous county in Massachusetts while also b ...

, US.

History

The two-story wood-frame house was built between 1760 and 1765 by John Murray, a Scots-Irish

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

. Murray became a

Mandamus Councillor (; ) is a judicial remedy in the form of an order from a court to any government, subordinate court, corporation, or public authority, to do (or forbear from doing) some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do (or refrain fro ...

, who enforced the tax laws and was only responsible to the governor and king. On August 24, 1774, an angry mob forced him to flee his home. He escaped to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and later to

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, never to return. Murray's daughter had married Daniel Bliss. They were also

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

and lived in the house. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

confiscated the property.Hubbard, Robert Ernest. ''General Rufus Putnam: George Washington's Chief Military Engineer and the "Father of Ohio,"'' pp. 80-3, 203, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina. . On May 24, 1781, General

Rufus Putnam Brigadier-General Rufus Putnam (April 9, 1738 – May 4, 1824) was an American military officer who fought during the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. As an organizer of the Ohio Company of Associates, he was instrumental ...

purchased the property from the government for 993 pounds and lived there until 1788. He left to settle the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

as a leader of the

Ohio Company of Associates The Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company whose members are today credited with becoming the first non- Native American group to permanently settle west of the Allegheny mountains. In 1788 they establis ...

. There he helped found

Marietta, Ohio Marietta is a city in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Ohio, United States. It is located in southeastern Ohio at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, northeast of Parkersburg, West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, Mar ...

and built a new home, also NRHP listed. 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 ...

and designated a

in 1972, in recognition of its association with Putnam. The home is currently operated as a

bed and breakfast Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...

Description

The house is a wood-frame two-story house sheathed in clapboard, with a hipped roof and two interior brick chimneys. A two-story addition was added to the rear of the house early in the 20th century. The house front is five bays wide, with a center doorway that is flanked by pilasters and topped by a transom window and flat pediment. The interior of the main block consists of four rooms on each floor, surrounding a central hallway with stairwell. The second-floor bedrooms have retained much of their original woodwork, including pine wainscoting and paneling. Some of the first-floor rooms have had floors replaced using floorboards taken from the attic.

References

External links

Rufus Putnam House Official Site

Historic American Buildings Survey - Drawings, Photos and Data, c. 1934
* {{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Houses completed in 1760 National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts Irish-American culture in Massachusetts Scotch-Irish American history Scottish-American culture in Massachusetts Rutland, Massachusetts Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Worcester County, Massachusetts

History

Description

See also

References

External links