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Cushing Homestead

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Coordinates: 42°14′25″N 70°51′45″W / 42.24028°N 70.86250°W / 42.24028; -70.86250
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Cushing Homestead
Cushing Homestead is located in Massachusetts
Cushing Homestead
Cushing Homestead is located in the United States
Cushing Homestead
Location210 East Street
Hingham, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°14′25″N 70°51′45″W / 42.24028°N 70.86250°W / 42.24028; -70.86250
Builtc.1678 (MACRIS)[2]
NRHP reference No.73000326[1]
Added to NRHPJune 4, 1973

The Cushing Homestead is a historic 2+1⁄2-story first Period saltbox-type house in Hingham, Massachusetts. As it stands today the residence has traces of both 17th-century English style as well as later 18th-century Georgian.

History[edit]

Hingham town clerk and magistrate Daniel Cushing (1618–1699) was granted a plot of land from the town in 1665, and later built a house there for his son Peter (Cushing) sometime in 1678.[2][3] There is "clear and visible" architectural evidence in the two front chambers and attic that the house was originally one-and-a-half stories high.[2] This one-bay depth structure was later extended (creating a lean-to) before the 1700s toward the back of the property away from the street.[4] At some point in time between the end of the 17th century to the early 18th century the house was raised to it's current height.[2] Evidence from this transition include a second set of rafters visible on the second floor.[4] The second bay was possibly added (creating the saltbox-type house) in the mid to late 1700s when the lean-to was extended back again.[4]

Both the NRHP entry and books written on the matter mention that the southwest corner of the house retains the original 17th century kitchen.[4] When this room was restored in 1936 the original painted plastered walls and timbered ceiling were also discovered.[2] Other elements that have been preserved intact include the exposed sills, girts, posts, ceiling beams, and shadow molding.[4] The kitchen also includes extremely rare original "yellow on black sponge painting" (added c.1700) that adorns the ceiling rafters.[4][5] Interior elements in the other bay of the house include pained wood-paneled ceiling beams. These are considered to be more formal decoration styles which date to the mid-1700s.[4] Although electricity and plumbing have been added, the house still retains its "stylistic integrity".[4]

Among the Cushing family members who have occupied the home since it was built was Capt. Peter Cushing (1741–1783), grandson and namesake of the first owner. A selectman and constable of Hingham, Capt. Cushing commanded a company of troops during the Revolutionary War under fellow townsman General Benjamin Lincoln.[6][7]

An elm tree on the property, a local landmark for years, was famous as the place where pastor John Brown preached to a group of Minutemen from Cohasset in 1775. The soldiers afterwards took part in the Siege of Boston under Col. (later Brigadier General) John Greaton.[8]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Cushing Homestead". Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (downloadable PDF). Retrieved February 7, 2024.
  3. ^ Lemuel Cushing (1877). The Genealogy of the Cushing Family. Montreal: Lovell Printing and Publishing Company. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Sarah Dewey (February 8, 2009). "Protecting Cushing Homestead from Development". The Hingham Journal. Archived from the original on January 26, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  5. ^ Constance Lindner. "These old houses open up". Boston.com. Archived from the original on November 11, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
  6. ^ Brock Jobe; Jack O'Brien (2009). Harbor & Home: Furniture of Southeastern Massachusetts, 1710–1850. University Press of New England. ISBN 978-0-912724-68-3. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  7. ^ Thomas Tracy Bouve; Edward Tracy Bouve (1893). History of the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts, Volume 1, Part 1. Cambridge, Massachusetts: John Wilson and Son. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  8. ^ James Pierotti (2005). Hingham. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-3781-0. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
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