The Macy–Colby House is a historically significant

saltbox house A saltbox house is a gable-roofed residential structure that is typically two stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional New England style of home, originally timber framed, which takes its name from its resemblance to a wood ...

at 257 Main Street in

Amesbury Amesbury () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is known for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which is within the parish. The town is claimed to be the oldest occupied settlement in Great Britain, having been first settl ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. It is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that is preserved as a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of ...

and has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

since 2008. In addition to its great age, it is notable for its association with Thomas Macy, an early settler of

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island in the state of Massachusetts in the United States, about south of the Cape Cod peninsula. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck Island, Tuckernuck and Muskeget Island, Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and Co ...

and the subject of a poem by

John Greenleaf Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet ...

, and for its long association with the locally significant Colby family.

History

The Macy–Colby House was originally built by Thomas Macy, probably about 1649, and sold to Anthony Colby in 1654. The saltbox structure was extensively modified by Obadiah Colby (1706–1749) in the early 1740s. Thomas Macy was Amesbury's first town clerk; he held many town offices, and was involved in numerous land transactions. He left Amesbury in 1659 after years of conflict with local

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

leaders, most notably over giving shelter to Quakers in this house. He became the first European settler to establish his family on the island of

. Macy became the subject of a poem by the 19th-century poet

entitled "The Exile", depicting the plight of

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

in the religiously intolerant Puritan society of

colonial Massachusetts Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French colonial architecture * Spanish colonial architecture Automobiles * Col ...

. Anthony Colby (1605–1660/61) came to America with the Winthrop

fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles * Fishing fleet *Naval fleet * Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles * Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada * Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England * The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Be ...

in 1630. He first settled in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, and was in

Salisbury, Massachusetts Salisbury is a small coastal beach town and summer tourist destination in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The community is a popular summer resort beach town situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of Boston on the New Hampshire borde ...

, by 1640. He was one of the first settlers of the new town of Amesbury in 1650. He was active in town affairs, served in various offices, and was part owner of a local sawmill. Anthony Colby's descendants owned the Macy–Colby property for 245 years; nine generations of Colbys lived in this house. In 1899, Moses Colby (1822–1901) donated the house and property to the Bartlett Cemetery Association as a memorial to the Colby and Macy families, and to the people of Amesbury, Massachusetts. The property is maintained by the Friends of the Macy–Colby House Association, and is open to the public on Saturdays during the summer. This house dates to ca. 1745 according to the Massachusetts Historical Commission/ Massachusetts Cultural Resources Information System.

References

External links

Macy family informationColby family informationAmesbury Treasures
umbrella organization for historic societies in Amesbury {{DEFAULTSORT:Macy-Colby House Houses completed in 1652 Historic house museums in Massachusetts Saltbox architecture in Massachusetts Museums in Essex County, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Amesbury, Massachusetts Houses in Essex County, Massachusetts Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Essex County, Massachusetts 1652 establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

History

See also

References

External links