Colonial Homes and Their Furnishings

The wonderfully good collection of antiques for which Salem is noted was of great interest to me, being owned by personal friends who kindly consented to allow me for the first time to go through their homes and pick out the cream of their inheritance. If the readers are half as interested in these objects as I have become,--growing enthusiastic in the work through the valuable pieces found,--they will enjoy the pictures of colonial furnishings, many of which cannot be duplicated in any other collection of antiques. Family bits, wonderful old Lowestoft, and other treasures are included, all brought over in the holds of cumbersome ships, at the time when the commerce of Salem was at high tide.

To Mr. Charles R. Waters, Mrs. Nathan C. Osgood, Mrs. Henry P. Benson, Mrs. William C. West, Mrs. Nathaniel B. Mansfield, Miss A. Grace Atkinson, Mrs. Walter C. Harris, Dr. Hardy Phippen, Mrs. McDonald White, and Mr. Horatio P. Peirson, as well as many others in my native city, I owe acknowledgment for their kindness in opening their houses and letting me in, as well as to Mrs. George Rogers of Danvers, Mrs. D. P. Page, Dr. Ernest H. Noyes, and Mrs. Charles H. Perry of Newburyport, Mrs. Walter J. Mitchell of Manchester, Mrs. Prescott Bigelow and Mrs. William O. Kimball of Boston, Mrs. A. A. Lord of Newton, Mrs. Charles M. Stark of Dunbarton, N.H., and the late Mr. Daniel Low.

The work was commenced at first through ill health and the desire for occupation, and has met with such good results through an interest in the story of antiques, that I have to-day one of the most valuable collections of photographs to be found in New England.

MARY H. NORTHEND. AUGUST 1, 1912.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE PREFACE vii I. OLD HOUSES 1 II. COLONIAL DOORWAYS 16 III. DOOR KNOCKERS 29 IV. OLD-TIME GARDENS 41 V. HALLS AND STAIRWAYS 54 VI. FIREPLACES AND MANTELPIECES 63 VII. OLD-TIME WALL PAPERS 79 VIII. OLD CHAIRS AND SOFAS 92 IX. SIDEBOARDS, BUREAUS, TABLES, ETC. 105 X. FOUR-POSTERS 119 XI. MIRRORS 132 XII. OLD-TIME CLOCKS 145 XIII. OLD-TIME LIGHTS 159 XIV. OLD CHINA 172 XV. OLD GLASS 194 XVI. OLD PEWTER 210 XVII. OLD SILVER 223

LIST OF PLATES

I. Dodge-Shreves Doorway. Built in 1816 Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

II. The Warner House, Portsmouth, N. H. Built in 1718 8

III. Middleton House, Bristol, R. I. Built about 1808 9

IV. Indian Hill Farm, West Newbury, Mass. Begun soon after 1650 12

V. Andrew House Doorway, 1818 13

VI. Gardner House Doorway, 1804 22

VII. Doorway of Nathan Robinson House, 1804 23

VIII. Sixteenth Century Knocker, Lion type. Striker, of first type; Georgian Urn type, in use on modern houses; Mexican Knocker of the Hammer type; Hammer type Knocker, Eighteenth Century, Charles P. Waters House 32

IX. Eagle Knocker; Eagle Knocker, Rogers House, Danvers, Mass.; Medusa Head, elaborate early type; Garland type of Knocker 33

X. Whittier Garden, Danvers, Mass. 46

XI. Peabody Garden, Danvers, Mass. 47

XII. Saltonstall Hallway, about 1800 54

XIII. Hallway, Lee House, 1800 55

XIV. Hallway, Tucker House, about 1800 60

XV. Hallway of Wentworth House, 1750 61

XVI. Historic Fireplace at Ipswich, Mass. 64

XVII. Old Fireplace in Wentworth House, Portsmouth, N. H. 65

XVIII. First Hob Grate in New England, Waters House; Mantel Glass and Fireplace, showing decoration of floral basket 70

XIX. Middleton House Steeple Top Andirons, and Bellows; Southern Andirons, Atkinson Collection 71

XX. Cupid and Psyche paper, Safford House 80

XXI. Venetian paper in Wheelwright House, Newburyport 81

XXII. Roman Ruins paper, Lee Mansion, Marblehead 86

XXIII. Adventures of Telemachus paper, Nymphs Swinging 87