Frank Cousins

Old Manse South Parlor, Concord, Massachusetts

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The south parlor at the Old Manse in Concord, probably around 1890-1910. Image courtesy of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, Frank Cousins Glass Plate Negatives Collection.

The room in 2023:

These two photos show the south parlor at the Old Manse, a historic home that was built in 1770 as the home of the Reverend William Emerson and his wife Phebe Bliss Emerson. The house served as the parsonage, or “manse” for Emerson until his death in 1776, and it was subsequently the home of his successor, the Reverend Ezra Ripley, who married his widow Phebe in 1780.

However, the house is best remembered for its association with two prominent 19th century writers. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a grandson of William and Phebe, lived here from 1834 to 1835 and wrote one of his earliest works, the essay “Nature,” in his upstairs study here in the house. Then, from 1842 to 1845 the house was rented to Nathaniel Hawthorne, who lived here with his wife Sophia and their infant daughter Una.

The floor plan of the house is typical for late 18th century homes. It features a hallway and staircase in the center of the house, with parlors on either side of it on the ground floor. As was often the case, the north parlor was the more formal one, where its expensive furnishings would be better protected from sunlight, while the south parlor—shown here in these two photos—was a less formal space that would have been used by family members and close friends. This room has a door connecting it to the main hall, and it also has a door to the kitchen, as shown on the left side of these photos.

By the time the top photo was taken, the house was over a hundred years old and had become a famous landmark, thanks in part to the title of one of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s early works, Mosses from an Old Manse, which he wrote while living in the house. It was still owned by descendants of the Ripley family, and many of its furnishings dated back to when Emerson and Hawthorne lived here.

Perhaps the most famous object in the top photo is the stuffed owl on the mantle. According to legend, the owl was brought to the house by Harvard students after they fled Cambridge at the start of the American Revolution. Regardless of how it ended up here, though, Hawthorne discovered it in the attic when he moved in. He brought it downstairs to the parlor and named it “Longfellow” after his Bowdoin College classmate Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Hawthorne’s wife Sophia was somewhat less enamored with the owl, and the family left it here when they moved out in 1845. The owl is still here in this room today, although it is now in the corner behind where these two photos were taken from.

The house was owned by Ripley descendants until 1939, when Ezra and Phebe’s great granddaughter Sarah Ames died. Her husband then donated the house and its contents to the Trustees of Reservations, which has owned and preserved the house ever since. The room was decorated for Christmas when the second photo was taken, but otherwise it does not look much different from when the top photo was taken. The house remains an important literary and historic landmark, and it is open to the public for guided tours.

Old Manse Main Staircase, Concord, Massachusetts

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The main staircase at the Old Manse in Concord, probably around 1890-1910. Image courtesy of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, Frank Cousins Glass Plate Negatives Collection.

The scene in 2023:

These two photos show the view looking up the main staircase from the front door at the Old Manse in Concord. This house, which was featured in more detail in an earlier post, was built in 1770 as the home of William and Phebe Emerson. William was the pastor of the church in Concord, but he died in 1776 while serving as a chaplain in the Continental Army. His widow Phebe subsequently remarried his successor, the Reverend Ezra Ripley, and the house would remain in their family well into the 20th century.

During this time, the house had several notable residents. William Emerson’s grandson was the prominent Transcendentalist writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, and he lived here for about a year from 1834 to 1835. He was not yet a famous author at this point, but he wrote one of his early works, the essay “Nature,” here in this house, in his study at the top of the stairs on the right side of the hall.

Ezra Ripley died in 1841, and his son Samuel inherited the house. However, he did not immediately move in, and instead rented the house to Nathaniel Hawthorne and his newlywed wife Sophia. They spent their wedding night here on July 9, 1842, and they lived here for the next three years. Like Emerson before him, Hawthorne was an aspiring yet largely unknown writer. He also used the same upstairs room for his study, and he wrote a number of short stories there, which would later be published in 1846 as the book Mosses from an Old Manse. However, Hawthorne struggled financially during this time and was unable to pay rent for the house, so he and his family ultimately moved out in 1845.

Another prominent resident here was Sarah Bradford Ripley, wife of Samuel Ripley. She and her husband moved into the house after the Hawthornes left in 1845, but Samuel died just two years later. Sarah was a self-taught scholar and educator, and after her husband’s death she earned an income by tutoring Harvard students here at the house.

Sarah Ripley died in 1867, but the house remained in her family for several more generations. The top photo was taken sometime around the turn of the 20th century, during the ownership of Sarah’s daughter Sophia Thayer. By this point the house was already a famous landmark, largely because of its association with Emerson and Hawthorne, and it had become known as the “Old Manse” because of the title of Hawthorne’s book that he wrote here.

In 1914, Sophia Thayer’s daughter Sarah Ames inherited the house. Sarah was the great granddaughter of Ezra and Phebe Ripley, making her the fourth consecutive generation to own the property. She died in 1939, and her husband subsequently donated the house, including all of its contents, to the Trustees of Reservations, a nonprofit conservation and historic preservation organization.

Today, the house still looks largely the same as it did when the Ripley family and their descendants lived here. The wallpaper here in the stairway hall has changed since the top photo was taken, in order to reflect the style of wallpaper that was here earlier in the 19th century. Otherwise, though, not much is different from the top photo, and even the sofa appears to be the same in both photos. The house is still owned by the Trustees, and it is open to the public for guided tours.

Ichabod Tucker House, Salem, Massachusetts

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The house at 28 Chestnut Street in Salem, probably around 1890-1910. Image courtesy of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, Frank Cousins Glass Plate Negatives Collection.

The house in 2023:

This house was built in 1800 as the home of Ichabod Tucker, a lawyer who served as clerk of courts for Essex County. Its design was typical for houses of this period, featuring three stories that were topped by a hip roof. The front façade was subsequently reconstructed in 1846 with Greek Revival features, which often happened as owners tried to keep up with changing styles and tastes.

Tucker lived here until his death in 1846, and his adopted daughter Nancy inherited the house. She lived here with her husband Thomas Cole, a teacher and microscopist who is not to be confused with the prominent 19th century artist of the same name. Nancy died in 1890 at the age of 95, and the house was later owned by the Willson family before becoming the parsonage for the First Church in Salem.

The first photo was taken around the turn of the 20th century, and very little has changed in this scene since then, aside from paving the street and adding a driveway on the right side. As with the other homes on Chestnut Street, it has remained well-preserved in its 19th century appearance. It is a contributing property in the Chestnut Street District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Nathaniel West & James W. Thompson House, Salem, Massachusetts

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The house at 38-40 Chestnut Street in Salem, probably around 1890-1910. Image courtesy of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, Frank Cousins Glass Plate Negatives Collection.

The house in 2023:

This double house was built in 1845, and it stands on the north side of Chestnut Street. It consists of two separate homes standing side by side, with 38 Chestnut on the right and 40 Chestnut on the left. It is somewhat newer than most of the other houses on the street, which generally date to the first two decades of the 19th century. As a result, while the house has many of the same Federal-style features of the earlier homes on the street, it also includes a mix of Greek Revival elements.

The original owner of 38 Chestnut was merchant Nathaniel West, although he does not appear to have actually lived here. By the early 1850s, the house was owned by another merchant, Joseph S. Andrews, who also served as mayor of Salem from 1854 to 1856. In the meantime, the house on the left side at 40 Chestnut was originally owned by the Rev. James W. Thompson, who lived here until 1859. It was subsequently the home of merchant John B. Silsbee and his wife Martha.

Both houses would have a number of other owners throughout the 19th and into the 20th centuries. The first photo was taken sometime around the turn of the century by Frank Cousins, who used photography to document many historic properties throughout the city. Very little has changed with the appearance of the house in more than a century since the first photo was taken, and it is one of the many historic homes that still line Chestnut Street today.

Francis A. Seamans House, Salem, Massachusetts

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The house at 48 Chestnut Street in Salem, around 1910. Image courtesy of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, Frank Cousins Glass Plate Negatives Collection.

The house in 2023:

The early 20th century was they heyday of the Colonial Revival architectural movement, although in many cases these buildings bore little resemblance to actual colonial-era buildings. However, this house in Salem is an exception, and it stands out as an excellent 20th century imitation of 18th century architecture. It was built in 1910, and its architect, William G. Rantoul, drew heavily from the design of Salem’s famous Derby House when designing it. The result is a convincing replica that fits in well with the historic 18th and early 19th century homes in this neighborhood.

The original residents of this house were Francis and Caroline Seamans. They were both about 50 at the time, and Francis was a business owner who sold contractor supplies. He died in 1930, and Caroline subsequently sold the house. By the 1940 census she was listed as a boarder in a house around the corner from here, at 384 Essex Street.

The first photo was probably taken soon after the house was completed, and not much has changed since then. Although much newer than its neighbors, it is nonetheless a historic property in its own right, and it stands as a good example of early 20th century Colonial Revival architecture. it is a contributing property in  the Chestnut Street District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Joseph Dean House, Salem, Massachusetts

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The house at the northeast corner of Essex and Flint Streets in Salem, probably around 1890-1910. Image courtesy of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, Frank Cousins Glass Plate Negatives Collection.

The house in 2023:

This house has been expanded and altered many times over the years, but it is said to have been built around 1706 as the home of Captain Joseph Dean and his wife Elizabeth Flint. He did not get to enjoy the house for very long, because he died in 1709, but the house would remain in his family for many years, until it was sold around 1775.

The next owner of the house was Colonel Joseph Sprague, who served in the American Revolution. He also played a role in Leslie’s Retreat, a confrontation in Salem between British redcoats and colonial militiamen that occurred a little less than two months before the battles of Lexington and Concord. He lived here until his death in 1808, and the house was subsequently inherited by his daughter Sarah.

Sarah Sprague had married Dr. William Stearns in 1781, and by the time she inherited this house they had ten children. The third floor of the house appears to have been added at some point around this time, as was the portico above the front door, which is believed to have been made by Samuel McIntire, the famous architect and builder.

The Stearns family owned the house throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. The 1880 census, for example, shows William and Sarah’s daughter Harriet—who by this point was 79 years old—living here with her nephew William and his family. This younger William Stearns was a lawyer, and he was the son of William and Sarah’s youngest child Richard Stearns. By 1880 he was 57 years old, and his family here included his wife Hannah and  their sons William and Richard, both of whom were also lawyers. The family also employed three live-in servants here.

The first photo was taken at some point around the turn of the 20th century. By then, the house had undergone further changes, including additions to the back and right side. It also had a porch on the right side, which is partially visible in the photo. William Stearns died in 1905, but his son Richard subsequently inherited the house. He was the great-great grandson of Joseph Sprague, making him the fifth consecutive generation to own the property. During the 1910 census he was living here with his wife Carrie, their five children, and two servants.

The house ultimately remained in the family until 1930, and it was subsequently converted into an inn and tea house known as the East India House. It has since been converted into apartments, with a total of eight units in the building. On the exterior, though, not much has changed in its appearance. The shutters—which would not have been original to the house—have been removed, but overall it still looks essentially the same as it did at the turn of the century. Along with the other nearby homes, it is now part of the Chestnut Street District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.