FORM A - AREA Assessor’s Sheets USGS Quad Area Letter Form Numbers in Area

21, 29, 30 Marblehead I See Data HISTORICAL COMMISSION North Sheet MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING

220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD , MASSACHUSETTS 02125

Town/City: Wenham Photograph Place (neighborhood or village): Wenham Neck

Name of Area: Wenham Neck Area

Present Use: Single-family Residence

Construction Dates or Period: ca. 1730-ca. 1910

Overall Condition: Fair to Excellent

Major Intrusions and Alterations: alterations to 10 Dodges Row

Photo 1. 201 Larch Row. Façade (south) and east elevations. (WNH.223) Acreage: 12.03 Recorded by: Stacy Spies and Wendy Frontiero

Organization: Wenham Historical Commission

Date: June 2017 Locus Map

see continuation sheet

4 / 11 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET WENHAM WENHAM NECK

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 See Data Sheet

Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.

Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION Describe architectural, structural and landscape features and evaluate in terms of other areas within the community.

The crossroads village of Wenham Neck is characterized by six 18th-century and 19th-century farmhouses, and a 19th- century Gothic Revival church at the intersection of the roads leading to Manchester, Wenham center, Hamilton, and North Beverly. The fields that once surrounded the area are now returned to woodland as is much of the surrounding land southwest of the area, which was purchased by the Salem Water Commission in the early 20th century for the Longham Reservoir. Fieldstone walls separate the properties’ grassy lawns from the roadway.

The Andrew Dodge House, 201 Larch Row (ca. 1750) (WNH.223) (Photo 1) is a substantial 2½ story, side-gable house that visually dominates the “Four Corners” intersection in the survey area. The seven bay façade takes the form of a traditional five-bay, center entrance design with an additional two bays extending to the west. Two bays deep, the building features a granite block foundation, recessed Greek Revival-style main entrance, 6/6 windows, a slate roof, and three large chimneys rising from the ridgeline. Two large 1½ story, wood-shingled outbuildings (WNH.224, WNH.225) are positioned in an L in the center of the lot, to the northwest of the house. (Photo 2) Stone walls and mature trees line the perimeter of the site.

Occupying the southeast corner of the “Four Corners” intersection, the Adeline P. Cole House, 204 Larch Row (ca. 1820; additions late 19th/E 20th c) (WNH.226) (Photo 3) is an eclectic assemblage of architectural forms and styles. The locally unusual, Federal period core of the building is a square, 2-story brick house with a five bay façade, classically-framed center entrance, and a hip roof with a clerestory monitor. Two-story, hip-roofed wood-frame additions in the Colonial Revival style extend from the west and east sides of the original block. The east ell is distinguished by a three-bay front veranda with decoratively bracketed posts. The more ornate west ell features a variety of boldly executed fenestration, including bay windows, a Palladian window, oval windows with keystone trim, and prominent cornice moldings.

The John Curtis House, 211 Larch Row (ca. 1850) (WNH.227) (Photo 4) is a large 2½ story, side-gabled house located at the northeast corner of the “Four Corners” intersection. The five-bay, center entrance design is three bays deep and rests on a granite block foundation. The recessed main entrance is flanked by rectangular sidelights and transom. Louvered wood shutters flank the 6/6 wood sash windows. Two brick chimneys rise from the ridgeline. The building is covered with clapboards with pilastered corner boards beneath gable-end cornice returns. A 2-story T-plan ell is located at the north (rear) elevation. Stone walls and mature trees line the perimeter of the site.

The Wenham Neck Baptist Church, 6 Dodges Row (ca. 1870) (WNH.111) (Photo 5) stands not at the “Four Corners” intersection, but more deferentially just to the south. The rectangular wood-frame building rises 1½ stories to a front- gable roof with prominent center tower on the façade. Well preserved, it represents a fine example of Gothic Revival institutional design in Wenham. (It is now used as a residence.) Its flushboarded façade has a four-story center tower with a polygonal spire; the five bay side elevations feature clapboard siding and long shed-roofed dormers towards the back. The building is animated by gabled pinnacles at the wall corners, lancet window and door openings with hood moldings, stained glass in the sanctuary windows, and chunky fretwork trim along the fascia at the tower and shed dormers. Standing to the south of and facing the church, the Parish House (1873) (WNH.228) (Photo 6) is a three bay by two bay structure, 1½ stories high with a side gable roof and clapboard siding. The offset entrance on its façade (north) elevation has a decoratively bracketed door hood. A 2-story addition on the street (east) elevation has a hip roof and two garage bays in its lower level.

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MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 See Data Sheet

14 Dodges Row (before 1856) (WNH.230), (Photo 7) has also been noted as owned by Abraham Dodge, is located at the northern lot boundary and faces east toward Dodges Row. The main block is 5 bays wide with an off-center entrance, perhaps indicating that it was constructed in more than one phase. The building rests on a fieldstone foundation. A full- width dormer runs the length of the façade (east) elevation. The house was remodeled and a large 2-story addition added to the rear of the house in 2013. These changes have altered the proportions of the building. Windows throughout the building are 6/6 sash. A hipped-roof screen house (early 20th c.) (WNH.231) is located south of the house near the road, atop a small rise. (Photo 9)

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Explain historical development of the area. Discuss how this relates to the historical development of the community.

The Wenham Neck area, also known as Four Corners, has been the center of community at the eastern “neck” of the town since the 18th century. The village grew at the crossroads of the road to Manchester (Larch Row and Grapevine Road) and the roads to Beverly and Hamilton (Dodges Row and Walnut Road). The agricultural village had a saw mill on the Miles River at Dodges Row by 1795. Cranberry bogs were plentiful in the Longham meadows west of Dodges Row and south of Larch Row until the end of the 19th century. The agricultural community was very active through the 19th century. Beginning at the turn of the 20th century, the large farms became attractive to wealthy businessmen and their families as summer or retirement properties, as did many inland and coastline properties on the “Gold Coast” north shore of Boston.

201 Larch Row is the oldest house in the village1 and was the residence of Andrew Dodge (1791-1876) and his wife, Anna, whom he married in 1817. Census data indicates that Dodge was living at this address as early as 1855. Andrew Dodge worked as a farmer, according to census data, and as a justice of the peace, according the 1870 city directory. Susan Dodge, a daughter of Andrew and Anna Dodge, married farmer Charles Wilkins (1829-1910). Charles and Susan Dodge Wilkins and their children lived with her parents at 211 Larch Row during the 1860s and 1870s, according to census data. The 1900 census includes 71-year-old Charles Wilkins living in the Neck with his daughter Adaline, three boarders, and a hired hand. The 1910 map indicates that this property, as well as 201 Larch Row, were both the property of the “Heirs of S. Wilkins.”

The Adeline P. Cole House at 204 Larch Row was known later as the Cole family’s Brooksby Farm. The house appears on the 1856 map as the residence of farmer Nicholas Dodge. Nicholas Dodge had extensive landholdings; the 1850 census agricultural schedule reported that Dodge had 145 acres of improved land and 10 acres of unimproved land. In 1872, the house was identified as that of farmer Francis (Frank) Macomber Dodge. Adeline Cole (1865-1959) was the daughter of Frank Dodge and Sarah Philbrick Dodge and was born and raised at this property. Adeline married Edward B. Cole in 1887 and moved to Brookline. The couple returned permanently to the farm in 1896, and Adeline became a fixture in the Wenham community throughout the first half of the 20th century. In addition to being an active local historian and author of Notes on Wenham History in 1943, Ms. Cole was active in the Village Improvement Society, served on the school committee from 1907 to 1922, and founded the Visiting Nurse Association of Hamilton-Wenham. Ms. Cole also directed vital community preparedness projects during both World Wars, including hosting a canning factory at her home farm to preserve vegetables.2

1 A plaque on the house states that the house was constructed ca. 1732 for Nathaniel Waldron and expanded ca. 1840 by Andrew Dodge. Research is required to corroborate these statements. 2 Wenham in Pictures and Prose: 94-95.

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MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 See Data Sheet

The John L. Curtis House, 211 Larch Row was the residence of John Curtis (1803-1870) and wife Lydia Dodge Curtis, whom he married in 1847. A farmer, Curtis worked 70 acres of improved land and 10 acres of unimproved land, according to the 1850 census. Curtis died in 1870; of note is his death record indicating “mulatto.” Lydia Curtis continued to live here through the 1880s, as noted in maps, census data, and city directories. The 1880 census notes that she shared the house with farmer Zachariah Cole, his wife, Lucy, and their adult children. By the time of the 1900 census, retired banker Amos Kidder lived at 211 Larch Row with his wife and a staff of four. Kidder lived there through the 1910s.

The Wenham Baptist Church, 6 Dodges Row (1860) is the second Baptist church on this site and was constructed after the original church burned in 1859. Wenham Neck teacher Rebecca Goldsmith is credited with bringing the denomination to the area by organizing meetings beginning around 1826. At the time the original meetinghouse was dedicated in 1831, 25 people left the First Baptist Church in Beverly and became members here at the First Baptist Church of Wenham. The church was not only the center of the religious community in the Neck, but was also its social center. Membership waned during the second half of the 20th century and in 1969, the church merged with the Beverly Farms Baptist Church. Meetings continued to be held in this church until 1978. In 1979, the church was sold and became a private residence.

The house at 14 Dodges Row appears on the 1872 and 1884 maps as the residence of Abraham Dodge. Local historian Louis A. Dodge (1886-1968) grew up in Wenham Neck and spoke of the common occurrence of several branches and generations of the local Dodge family sharing the same first name. Without genealogical research it is difficult to ascertain which Abraham Dodge constructed and lived in this dwellings. The 1910 map indicates that at that time, this property, as well as 201 Larch Row, were both the property of the “Heirs of S. Wilkins”

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Beers, D.G. & Co. Atlas of Essex County, Massachusetts. 1872. City Directories. 1870, 1888, 1901, 1909, 1918, 1925, 1932. Ancestry.com. Cole, Adeline P., compiler. Notes on Wenham History: 1643-1943. Wenham Historical Association, Newcomb and Gauss Printers. 1943. Janes, Annette V. with the Wenham Museum. Images of America: Wenham. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2011. Massachusetts Birth indices. Ancestry.com Massachusetts Death indices. Ancestry.com Massachusetts Marriage indices. Ancestry.com United States Census for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940. Ancestry.com. Walling, Henry Francis. A Topographical Map of Essex County, Massachusetts... Smith & Worley, 1856. Walker, George H. & Co., Atlas of Essex County. Boston: George H. Walker & Co., 1884. Walker Lithography and Publishing Company. Atlas of the Towns of Topsfield, Ipswich, Essex, Hamilton and Wenham, Essex County, Massachusetts. Boston: Walker Lithography & Co., 1910. Wenham Historical Association & Museum, Inc. Wenham in Pictures and Prose. Wenham: Wenham Historical Association & Museum. 1992. (See Conant photographs on pages 96, 97, 100) Wenham Tax Assessor records.

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MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 See Data Sheet

AREA DATA SHEET

Assessor’s MHC # Street Address Historic Name Construction Style Acre # Date 0021-0002- WNH.223 201 Larch Row Andrew Dodge House Ca. 1750 Georgian 2.00 000A WNH.224 Barn Late 19th c No style WNH.225 Barn Late 19th c No style 030-0005 WNH.226 204 Larch Row Adeline P. Cole House Ca. 1820; late Federal, Colonial 2.00 19th/early 20th c Revival 021-0022 WNH.227 211 Larch Row John L. Curtis House Ca. 1850 Federal 8.10 029-0007 WNH.111 6 Dodges Row Baptist Church 1860 Gothic Revival 0.49 WNH.228 Parish Hall 1873 Italianate 029-0006 WNH.229 10 Dodges Row Abraham Dodge House Before 1856 No style 7.34 3 sheds 1900 No style 029-0008 WNH.230 14 Dodges Row Abraham Dodge House Before 1856 No style 1.1 WNH.231 Screen house Early 20th C No style

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MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 See Data Sheet

Sketch Map

Continuation Sheet 5 INVENTORY FORM A CONTINUATION SHEET WENHAM WENHAM NECK

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 See Data Sheet

SUPPLEMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHS

Photo 2. 201 Larch Row. Outbuildings. Photo 3. 204 Larch Row. Façade (north) elevation. View looking southwest.

Photo 4. 211 Larch Row. West and façade (south) elevations.

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MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 See Data Sheet

Photo 5. 6 Dodges Row. Former First Baptist Church of Wenham. Photo 6. 6 Dodges Row. Parish House.

Photo 7. 14 Dodges Row. Façade (east) elevation. Photo 8. 14 Dodges Row. Screen House.

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MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area Letter Form Nos. 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125 See Data Sheet

National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form

Check all that apply:

Individually eligible Eligible only in a historic district

Contributing to a potential historic district Potential historic district

Criteria: A B C D

Criteria Considerations: A B C D E F G

Statement of Significance by____Stacy Spies______The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.

Consisting of well-preserved domestic and ecclesiastical designs dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, Wenham Neck is associated with the development of Wenham from a rural manufacturing and agricultural community. This crossroads village was established during the Colonial Period at the intersection of the Beverly to Hamilton road (Dodges Row and Walnut Road) and the Wenham to Manchester Road (Larch Row and Grapevine Road). Agriculture and animal husbandry were the main occupation of Wenham residents and grain and corn were the primary production. Scattered mills are reported to have been in operation in Wenham Neck, including the Josiah Dodge grist mill and the John Dodge saw mill on the Miles River at Dodges Row. During the early 19th century, the village expanded with the construction of the First Baptist Church. The agricultural community was active through the 19th century with large farms surrounding the village. Beginning at the turn of the 20th century, the large farms became attractive to wealthy businessmen and their families as summer or retirement properties, as did many inland and coastline properties on the “Gold Coast” north shore of Boston.

It is recommended that the Wenham Neck Historic District include the following properties:

Assessor’s # MHC # Street Address Historic Name 0021-0002- WNH.223 201 Larch Row Andrew Dodge House 000A WNH.224 Barn WNH.225 Barn 030-0005 WNH.226 204 Larch Row Adeline P. Cole House 021-0022 WNH.227 211 Larch Row John L. Curtis House 029-0007 WNH.111 6 Dodges Row Baptist Church WNH.228 Parish Hall

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