The Lafayette–Durfee House is a historic house located at 94 Cherry Street in

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

. The house was originally located at the site of the old Fall River Superior Courthouse now the Fall River Children's Museum on 441 North Main Street, and owned by Judge Thomas Durfee. While the exact date of its construction is not known, it is estimated to have been built before 1750. The large property which the house was originally situated on stretched from the shore the Taunton River all the way to North Watuppa Pond. However, Thomas Durfee mortgaged all of his land to help finance the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. His son Joseph, became a colonel and served with the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revolutio ...

at the

Battle of White Plains The Battle of White Plains was a battle in the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War, fought on October 28, 1776 near White Plains, New York. Following the retreat of George Washington's Continental Army northward f ...

, New York and also in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

; Joseph also commanded a company of men at the

Battle of Fall River The Mount Hope Bay raids were a series of military raids conducted by British troops during the American Revolutionary War against communities on the shores of Mount Hope Bay on May 25 and 31, 1778. The towns of Bristol and Warren, Rhode Island ...

. The Durfee's would host Lafayette at their home in the summer of 1778, as well on other occasions.This is anecdotal. About 1872 the house was moved to its current location on Cherry Street. It was owned by members of the Lewin family until 1936. In 1973, with the help of Caroline Durfee, a descendant of Thomas Durfee, a group was formed to preserve the house. During the

United States Bicentennial The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...

year of 1976, a time capsule was placed in the base of one of the fireplaces.The Lafayette Durfee House
/ref> The house 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 ...

in 1982. Today, a non-profit group the Lafayette Durfee Historical Foundation, Inc. maintains the house and gives tours usually during Fall to Spring.

References

Houses in Fall River, Massachusetts Historic house museums in Massachusetts History of Bristol County, Massachusetts Museums in Bristol County, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Fall River, Massachusetts Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Bristol County, Massachusetts {{Massachusetts-museum-stub

See also

References