Peak House Heritage Center is a historic site located in

Medfield, Massachusetts Medfield is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,799 according to the 2020 United States Census. It is a community about southwest of Boston, Massachusetts, which is a 40-minute drive to Downtown Bos ...

. According to tradition, the original house was built in 1651 by Benjamin Clark, was burned during the

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...

on February 21, 1676, and was rebuilt ca. 1677–1680 by Benjamin Clark, the owner of the original house. The current Peak House, however, was built in 1711 as an ell to the rebuilt house, and was moved to its current location in 1762 when the rebuilt house began to deteriorate. It is one of the oldest houses in Medfield and one of the earliest surviving examples of post-medieval English (Elizabethan) architecture in the United States. Some of the original panes of imported English glass in the windows can still be seen today. The building was 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 ...

in 1975 and has the highest pitched roof on record in Massachusetts for a colonial American house. On October 18, 1924, the Peak House was deeded to the Medfield Historical Society by its then-owners, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Mason Smith, after which the house received a down-to-the-frame restoration. The house has served both as a dwelling and an historical site, as well as an artist's studio and workshop. On January 1, 2019, a ten-year Property Management Agreement was signed by the Medfield Historical Society and the Peak House Heritage Center which now has complete autonomy for facilities, operations, and programs.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Houses completed in 1680 Houses in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Medfield, Massachusetts Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Norfolk County, Massachusetts 1651 establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony 1680 establishments in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

See also

References