Historic Homes of New EnglandNorthend, Mary Harrod
History
Historic Homes of New England
Northend, Mary Harrod
Architecture, Colonial; Historic buildings -- New England
The old-time parlor opens out of the hallway. It is now in common use,
being converted into the family sitting-room. On one side of the room
is rare and choice woodwork with panel effect, broken in the center by
a deep and wide fireplace, a dominating feature of this homelike
room. The cheery glow of the great oak logs, as they burn on the
seventeenth-century, steeple-topped andirons, fills the imagination
with pictures of the people who lived here many years ago. The furniture
could no doubt unfold many an interesting story: the Dutch table in the
center of the room, for instance, was a part of great-grandmother
Parker's wedding furniture; and the Hepplewhite card-table, designed in
1785, was a part of the first bride's furnishings.
There are Chippendale chairs, with carved rosettes, in low relief,
vis-a-vis with a child's slat-back chair. The carpet, which has always
been in this room, is one of the first ever laid in a Groveland home.
The well-lighted living-room shows many quaint windows with small paned
glass and broad sills. These, during the winter time, are used as
conservatories. Large, built-in cupboards, with glass doors, are filled
with the rarest sets of old-time china. A full set of old Lowestoft,
with the monogram of the bride, was imported from China, arriving just
before the wedding. There is Staffordshire ware of the choicest kind,
and a wealth of English glass. Not a piece has been broken since it was
brought to the house, a century and a half ago.
In this same room are many of the rarest bits of china to be found in
all New England, while in the bookcases which line two sides of the room
are many old books, some of which show the Parker bookplate.
Between the living-room and the dining-room is the den, where, on the
shelves of a built-in cupboard, are wonderful pieces of old pewter.
These date back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a period
when this metal was in vogue for household use. Many of the pieces bear
the excise stamp, a cross and a crown, showing that they are of early
make. The rarest pieces, however, show three distinct stamps.
Fortunately, even though pewter went out of fashion, and was
consequently melted, the family was one of the few who appreciated its
worth, so that not even one piece has ever been destroyed.
Rarely are found even in New England houses such a wealth of closets as
are seen here. They have been carefully built to conform with the
general breadth of construction and low stud that emphasize the interior
finish of this house. In each one is a collection such as would make a
connoisseur envious, for in handing down through the generations, there
has been no division, a fact which gives the collections additional
historic value.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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