Newell Farm is a historic farmhouse at 243 Main Street in

West Newbury, Massachusetts West Newbury is a New England town, town in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Situated on the Merrimack River, its population was 4,500 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History Originally i ...

. It was built in 1846 and 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 1978.

History

The Newell Farm in West Newbury, Massachusetts, was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Researchers for the Massachusetts Historical Commission have found the house significant for two reasons. First, the house is built in a

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

Federal Style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

tradition. Second, a portion of the materials used in the construction of the house were salvaged from the demolition of buildings in 1845 on Beacon Hill in Boston to make room for an addition to the

Massachusetts State House The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the New State House, is the List of state capitols in the United States, state capitol and seat of government for the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, lo ...

. Colonel Moses Newell built the 25 room house now standing at 243 Main St. in 1846. His father Joseph Newell was a Sargeant in Captain William Rodger's Third Company, a local West Newbury unit, 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 Newells owned at that time a house which stood closer to the street by the well on the property. The original house was moved across the street to make room for the present house. Moses Newell shuttled the building materials including mantels, inside shutters, windows, panelling, doors, and lintels from Boston after he sent loads of butchered meat from the farm to the Charlestown Navy Yard. Bricks were made in a local

brickyard A brickyard or brickfield is a place or yard where bricks are made, fired, and stored, or sometimes sold or otherwise distributed from. Brick makers work in a brick yard. A brick yard may be constructed near natural sources of clay or on o ...

in West Newbury, close to where Pentucket Regional High School now stands. The brick walls are three layers thick with no insulation. The main body of the three story house is square with a peaked roof. It has five bays on the front and sides, four chimneys, granite footings and door lintels, sandstone window lintels and sills, and granite steps. There is a two-story narrower extension of the main building with a side entrance. The main building has fret work at the cornices and under the eaves. The main house has eight feet of cellar space beneath it. The interior originally had 25 rooms plus main halls running east–west and side halls running north–south. There were eight fireplaces in the main building. All twenty-three windows in the major rooms of the main building had wooden interior shutters (six or eight panels per window) with various types of hinges made by J. Clark & Son of

Wolverhampton, England Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

Moses Newell

Moses Newell played an active role in civic affairs in the town, almost from the date West Newbury was incorporated as a town on February 18, 1819. He was on the board of Selectmen intermittently from 1822 to 1860, and served as moderator at town meetings at various times during those years. His son, Captain Richard Newell, traveled for most of his life on ships, but he lived in the house after his retirement. A member of the Marine Society of Newburyport, Richard Newell was born in 1834 and went to sea as a young boy of 15, according to an account he wrote himself in the chronicles, "The Marine Society of Newburyport".

History

Moses Newell

References

See also