Colonial Homes and Their Furnishings   By: Mary H. Northend

[Illustration: PLATE I. Dodge Shreves Doorway. Built in 1816.]

COLONIAL HOMES AND THEIR FURNISHINGS

BY MARY H. NORTHEND

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS

BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1917

Copyright, 1912, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO ONE THROUGH WHOSE CONSTANT ENCOURAGEMENT AND WISE ADVICE I OWE MY SUCCESS IN THE FIELD OF LITERATURE

PREFACE

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