The Rebecca Nurse Homestead is a historic colonial house built ca. 1678 located at 149 Pine Street, Danvers, Massachusetts. It had many additions through the years, eventually being historically restored and turned into a museum in 1909. Today it is owned and operated by the Danvers Alarm List Company, a volunteer non-profit organization of Revolutionary War reenactors, and is part of the Salem Village Historic District.

Description

The house was built circa 1678 as a two-story

First Period First Period is an American architecture style in the time period between approximately 1626 and 1725, used by British colonists during the earliest English settlements in United States, particularly in Massachusetts and Virginia and later in ...

structure with central entrance and chimney. A

lean-to A lean-to is a type of simple structure originally added to an existing building with the rafters "leaning" against another wall. Free-standing lean-to structures are generally used as shelters. One traditional type of lean-to is known by its Finn ...

with kitchen was added sometime before 1720; additional extensions were made in approximately 1750, 1850, and in the early 1900s. The house remained a private residence until 1907, when it was acquired and extensively restored by the Rebecca Nurse Memorial Association. In 1926 the Association donated the house to the

Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities Historic New England, previously known as the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), is a charitable, non-profit, historic preservation organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is focused on New England ...

. In 1981 it was transferred to the Danvers Alarm List Company, an organization for the reenactment of colonial period history.

Rebecca Nurse Rebecca Nurse (February 13, 1621 – July 19, 1692) was a woman who was accused of witchcraft and executed by hanging in New England during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was fully exonerated fewer than twenty years later. She was the wife ...

, convicted and executed in the

Salem Witch Trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...

(1692), was the most notable resident of the property, though Nurse did not live in the current house. She was 71 years old at death. Her great-grandson Francis Nurse later occupied the house, marching from it to the

Battle of Lexington and Concord The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, ...

in Captain John Putnam's Danvers militia. Francis had married Eunice Putnam in the 1750s and later the

Putnam family The prominent old colonial American and Puritan Putnam family founded by John and Priscilla (Gould) Putnam in the 17th century, in Salem, Massachusetts. Many notable individuals are descendants of this family, including those listed below. John ...

purchased the property in 1784, and remained residents until 1905. Today four of the older rooms in the house are open to the public, including the original "great hall", sleeping "chamber", "lean-to" and "parlor". They have been historically restored and are augmented with period furnishings. The grounds (27 acres) also contain a variety of outbuildings. One contains the internal structure salvaged from the circa 1681 home of Dr. Zerubabel Endecott, son of Governor

John Endecott John Endecott (also spelled Endicott; before 1600 – 15 March 1664/1665), regarded as one of the Fathers of New England, was the longest-serving governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He serv ...

, before it was demolished in 1973. Details of its internal construction may be readily seen. A good reconstruction of the earliest Salem Village Meetinghouse is also on the grounds and may be toured. It was built in 1984 for the film ''Three Sovereigns for Sarah.'' The grounds also contain the Nurse Burial Ground, a shoemaker's shed, and a dairy shed. In 1885, Nurse's descendants, members of the First Church of Danvers (originally known as The Church of Christ in Salem Village), and local townspeople, dedicated the Rebecca Nurse Monument in her memory. The first memorial to anyone accused of witchcraft in North America, the granite obelisk bears an inscription by poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who lived nearby at that time. At a ceremony related to the 300th anniversary of the trials in 1992, the remains of George Jacobs were reinterred in the Nurse Burial Ground.Rebecca Nurse Homestead
/ref> He was another victim of the accusations who was executed and lived a short distance away.

References

* ''The Rebecca Nurse Homestead'', undated brochure

The Rebecca Nurse Homestead
{{Coord, 42.5582, N, 70.9504, W, type:landmark_scale:2500, display=title Houses completed in 1678 Historic house museums in Massachusetts Salem witch trials Museums in Danvers, Massachusetts Houses in Danvers, Massachusetts 1678 establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony National Register of Historic Places in Essex County, Massachusetts

Description

See also

Further reading

References