Capt. Nathaniel B. Palmer House
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The Capt. Nathaniel B. Palmer House is a historic house museum in
Stonington, Connecticut The town of Stonington is located in New London County, Connecticut in the state's southeastern corner. It includes the borough of Stonington (borough), Connecticut, Stonington, the villages of Pawcatuck, Connecticut, Pawcatuck, Lords Point, and W ...
, built in 1852–54. The house is a transitional style between the Greek revival and the Victorian Italianate. It was built for
Nathaniel Brown Palmer Nathaniel Brown Palmer (August 8, 1799June 21, 1877) was an American seal hunter, explorer, sailing captain, and ship designer. He gave his name to Palmer Land, Antarctica, which he explored in 1820 on his sloop ''Hero''. He was born in Stoning ...
(1799–1877), who was a seal hunter, a pioneering
Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...
explorer, and a major designer of clipper ships. The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1996. Threatened with demolition, it was acquired by the Stonington Historical Society in 1994, which operates it as a museum devoted to Palmer.


Description and history

The Palmer House is set on a point of land separating Quanaduck Cove from Lambert Cove to the north of
Stonington Borough Stonington is a borough (Connecticut), borough and the town center of Stonington, Connecticut, referred to by locals as "The Borough". The population was 929 at the 2010 United States Census. The densely built Borough of Stonington occupies a po ...
, the township's coastal village. It occupies a plot of land, all that is left of extensive Palmer family holdings. It is a roughly square wood-frame structure, three bays wide and stories in height, with a kitchen
ell An ell (from Proto-Germanic *''alinō'', cognate with Latin ''ulna'') is a northwestern European unit of measurement, originally understood as a cubit (the combined length of the forearm and extended hand). The word literally means "arm", and ...
. The roof is hipped, with a gable at the center of each facade. At the center of the roof is an octagonal cupola with windows providing a 360-degree view. The main entrance is sheltered by a flat-roof portico supported by pairs of fluted and tapered Corinthian columns, with paired paneled pilasters flanking the double door. The windows on the main facade are framed by molded cornices with consoles. Roof lines of the main roof, portico, and cupola have dentil-like consoles and brackets. The interior of the house follows a central hall plan, with four rooms on each floor. The public rooms have particularly well-executed plaster, woodwork, and marble decoration. Of particular note is the captain's study on the ground floor, which features built-in cabinetry with shelving for nautical charts with mahogany-veneered paneled doors. The house was built for Nathaniel Palmer and his brother Alexander in 1852, and was Palmer's home until his death in 1877. He died childless, and left the property to his niece and nephew-in-law; it remained in the hands of their descendants until 1976. The house was threatened with demolition in the early 1990s, and was purchased by the Stonington Historical Society in 1993. Nathaniel Palmer was born into a seafaring family, and made his first voyage at the age of 14. Stonington was a center of the seal-hunting trade, which Palmer was drawn to in 1819. In the following year he was assigned to captain a small sloop (about half the size of Christopher Columbus' ship the '' Niña'') which served as the tender and exploratory vanguard of a fleet of seven larger sealers. During an ocean voyage covering about , Palmer on November 17, 1820, sighted the
Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...
, and area that came to be called
Palmer Land Palmer Land () is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica that lies south of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This application of Palmer Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the Advisory Committee on Antarctic N ...
. Palmer's role in the discovery is further commemorated in the name of the American research station, Palmer Station. In his later years Palmer engaged in the design of faster sailing vessels, designing a prototypical clipper ship in 1843 while on a trading journey to China. Built the following year, the ''Houqua'' made the journey from New York City to Canton, China in a record 95 days.


Gallery

File:PalmerInterior1.JPG, One of the downstairs rooms of the house File:PalmerInterior2.JPG, A downstairs china closet File:PalmerInterior3.JPG, A downstairs room File:PalmerInterior4.JPG, An upstairs room File:PalmerInterior6.JPG, An upstairs room File:PalmerInterior7.JPG, An upstairs room


See also

*
List of National Historic Landmarks in Connecticut This article describes National Historic Landmarks in the United States state of Connecticut. These include the most highly recognized historic sites in Connecticut that are officially designated and/or funded and operated by the U.S. Federal Go ...
* National Register of Historic Places listings in New London County, Connecticut


References


External links

*
Welcome to the Captain Palmer House, at The Stonington Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Nathaniel Houses in Stonington, Connecticut National Historic Landmarks in Connecticut Museums in New London County, Connecticut Historic house museums in Connecticut Houses completed in 1852 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Historical society museums in Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in New London County, Connecticut 1852 establishments in Connecticut