The Romance of Old New England Rooftrees — John Shaqi
The Romance of Old New England RooftreesCrawford, Mary Caroline
History
The Romance of Old New England Rooftrees
Crawford, Mary Caroline
Historic buildings -- New England; New England -- Biography
The second American general to be attracted by the luxury of the Royall
mansion was that General Lee whose history furnishes material for a
separate chapter. General Lee it was to whom the house's echoing
corridors suggested the name, Hobgoblin Hall. So far as known, however,
no inhabitant of the Royall house has ever been disturbed by strange
visions or frightful dreams. After Lee, by order of Washington, removed
to a house situated nearer his command, General Sullivan, attracted, no
doubt, by the superior comfort of the old country-seat, laid himself
open to similar correction by his chief. In these two cases it will be
seen Washington enforced his own maxim that a general should sleep among
his troops.
In 1810, the Royall mansion came into the possession of Jacob Tidd, in
whose family it remained half a century, until it had almost lost its
identity with the timid old colonel and his kin. As "Mrs. Tidd's house"
it was long known in Medford. The place was subsequently owned by George
L. Barr, and by George C. Nichols, from whose hands it passed to that
of Mr. Geer, the present owner. To be sure, it has sadly fallen from its
high estate, but it still remains one of the most interesting and
romantic houses in all New England, and when, as happens once or twice a
year, the charming ladies of the local patriotic society powder their
hair, don their great-grandmother's wedding gowns and entertain in the
fine old rooms, it requires only a slight gift of fancy to see Sir
William Pepperell's lovely bride one among the gay throng of fair
women.
MOLLY STARK'S GENTLEMAN-SON
Of the quaint ancestral homes still standing in the old Granite State,
none is more picturesque or more interesting from the historical
view-point than the Stark house in the little town of Dunbarton, a place
about five miles' drive out from Concord, over one of those charming
country roads, which properly make New Hampshire the summer and autumn
Mecca of those who have been "long in populous city pent." Rather oddly,
this house has, for all its great wealth of historical interest, been
little known to the general public. The Starks are a conservative, as
well as an old family, and they have never seen fit to make of their
home a public show-house. Yet those who are privileged to visit
Dunbarton and its chief boast, this famous house, always remember the
experience as a particularly interesting one. Seldom, indeed, can one
find in these days a house like this, which, for more than one hundred
years, has been occupied by the family for whom it was built, and
through all the changes and chances of temporal affairs has preserved
the characteristics of revolutionary times.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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