At the North Bridge affair in February, 1775, when Colonel Leslie’s troops met armed resistance from the Salem citizens, one of the leading spirits on the patriot side was ‘Major’ Joseph Sprague. It was for him that this house was erected, later passing into the hands of the Stearns family, connections of the Major by marriage. Colonel Sprague, as he later became, died in 1808, since which time this has been known as the Stearns house. THE TIMOTHY ORNE HOUSE Belonging to the same period as the Stearns house, but a few years earlier in origin, having been built in 1761, the Timothy Orne house at 266 Essex Street makes a somewhat more painstaking attempt at decoration than most of those of the time. It has balustraded roof, quoined corners, and ornamental cornice; its chimney-stacks taper at the top; while the handsome porch presents a center toward which the eye naturally reverts as the keynote of the whole. The activities of the Committee of Safety just prior to the Revolution are well-known, as is the fate which commonly befell those persons who were suspected of Royalist leanings. Tarring and feathering was the usual method of exhibiting patriotic distaste for such proclivities; and Timothy Orne, owner of the house in question, seems to have fallen under the ban, inasmuch as some old-time correspondence relates that he narrowly escaped this humiliating ordeal, being released on condition of good behavior. The Orne house possessed a ‘decked’ roof--the original purpose of which was to afford the Salem merchant an elevated platform from which through his glass he might scan the horizon for his incoming ships. This type of roof is found upon many of the houses of that period. The ‘belvedere,’ a small balustraded platform at the center of the roof at the summit, was a variation of the cupola idea, both of these as found upon Salem houses having their origin in utility--a lookout-place rather than an architectural feature. Nevertheless, as on the Baldwin-Lyman and Pickman-Shreve-Little houses and others, a gratifying decorative effect was secured. THE CROWNINSHIELD-DEVEREUX-WATERS HOUSE Crowninshield, in early days pronounced ‘Grounsell’--was a great name in Old Salem. The house of George Crowninshield stood on the present location of the Custom-House, its cupola surmounted by a weather vane in shape of a man with a telescope. This George, a famous ship-owner, was the father of three sons, Benjamin, member of Congress and Secretary of the Navy under Presidents Madison and Monroe; Jacob, also a Congressman; and Captain George, owner of Cleopatra’s Barge, one of the first pleasure yachts ever built in America. Clifford Crowninshield in 1805 erected a house after designs by McIntire at 72 Washington Square, East. This building was square, with a long L at the side, an enclosed porch being placed in the angle formed by the two buildings.