Historic Homes of New EnglandNorthend, Mary Harrod
History
Historic Homes of New England
Northend, Mary Harrod
Architecture, Colonial; Historic buildings -- New England
On the opposite side of the house is the parlor, which still shows the
old wall-paper intended to grace the wedding of John Hancock to Dorothy
Quincy. Here are Venuses and Cupids in vivid blue, with garlands of red
flowers, all as fresh as when first hung. The panel front of the
chimney-piece was recently removed, and the original fireplace, fifteen
feet wide, discovered. The back of this chimney is curiously bricked in
herring-bone pattern. Many interesting relics are kept in one of the
cupboards. There is a parasol which once belonged to Mrs. Hancock, a
shoe of a little son who died in childhood, a pipe filler which belonged
to John Hancock, Edmund Quincy third's baptismal robe and cap, and a
piece of the dress worn by Abigail Adams when she was presented at the
Court of St. James. On the wall hangs her portrait showing the same
gown.
[Illustration: PLATE XC.--Paper hung for Wedding of Dorothy Quincy,
Quincy Mansion.]
The chairs in this room are rare examples of Chippendale, 1791, and
Sheraton, the latter being one of the best examples of the master's
make, and showing the fan back design, which is more usually found in
the South, rather than in the North. Here, as in the dining-room, are
narrow shutters with hinged panels, which could be bolted and barred
against attacks of the Indians.
Back of the dining-room, and one step lower, is the old kitchen, built
in 1636, the most interesting room in the house, containing a great many
household articles of early colonial days. The broad, hand-hewn beams
bear the marks of the axe, and the great fireplace is flanked on one
side by larger brick ovens and on the other by a secret passage. Back of
the chimney is a ladder which leads to the secret closet above, also a
little dumbwaiter shaft, through which food and water could be sent to
the people in hiding.
In previous years, an underground passage led out of the kitchen to the
brook. Through this contraband goods were smuggled. The entrance to this
passage has now disappeared, so that the exact locality is not
definitely known.
The window glass was made at the first glass factory in America. This
was erected by a guild of Hollanders who had established themselves in
Quincy. The worthies of Quincy objected to the large families of the
emigrants, and they were driven out and moved to Maine. The first iron
foundry in this country was built beside this brook, which was sometimes
known as Furnace Brook.
[Illustration: PLATE XCI.--Chambers in the Quincy Mansion.]
Above the kitchen is the Coddington Chamber, named for the original
builder of the house and fittingly furnished with rare pieces of the
colonial period. Above this is a very low attic, lighted from the upper
panes of the chamber windows and reached by the secret passage behind
the chimney. At the further end of this attic is a trap-door connecting
with a second attic, through which one could escape by galleries below
the dormer windows, and thence reach the ground.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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