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The Elder John Bliss Homestead c1680 (Wilbur Farm)

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Whitehall c1729 - Middletown, RI

More than a home for a family, Whitehall is known to be a spark for philosophical conversations from the early years of America right up to today.

Originally from the British Isles, the purpose of George Berkeley’s adventure across the Atlantic in 1729 was to found a college in Bermuda. But, after landing and seeing the beauty of Rhode Island, Berkeley decided to stay and settled in the area outside of Newport while he waited for funding for the new college. At the time, Berkeley was renowned as a philosopher and theologian, so it was big news when he came to America.

He and his wife, Anne, purchased a farm and proceeded to enlarge the farmhouse. Along with his ideas, Berkeley brought a new sense of style to the colonies by adding a new front section to the home to make it look more like a manor house in the English style popular in 18th century Britain. Whitehall’s Palladian doorway is thought to be the first of its kind on a domestic building in America. And, the “cat slide” roof inspired Charles McKim’s Shingle Style of architecture.

For the next few years, Whitehall became a meeting place for the intellectual minds of New England, and the Philosophical Society (later named the Redwood Library and Athenaeum) was started. In 1731, the Berkeleys decided to return to England, and left their farm, land and much of his extensive library to Yale College (now Yale University).

The legacy of George Berkeley and his philosophical contribution lives on both the east and west coasts of America. His residence in Middletown is the heart of his influence on many noted thinkers of the U.S., and the scholars in residence program held every summer attracts philosophical professors, researchers and specialists from around the world.
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#berkley #ucberkeley #historichome #rhodeislandhistory #newportri by @johnblisshouse1680

Arlington House - Arlington, VA

Arlington House is the historic Custis family mansion built by George Washington Parke Custis from 1803 to 1818 as a memorial to George Washington. Currently maintained by the National Park Service, it is located in the U.S. Army’s Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia (formerly Alexandria, D.C.). Arlington House is a Greek Revival style mansion designed by the English architect George Hadfield. The Custis grave sites, garden and slave quarters are also preserved on the former Arlington estate.

George Washington Parke Custis lived at Arlington House with his wife Mary Fitzhugh Custis and their daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis. Custis built Arlington House as a memorial to his namesake, George Washington, husband of his grandmother, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington. Custis inherited the land from his father, John Parke Custis, who died at the end of the American Revolution during the siege of Yorktown. Martha Washington’s children and two of her grandchildren were raised at Mount Vernon, the nearby Washington family estate in Virginia. George Washington Parke Custis served in the U.S. Army in the War of 1812 and helped prevent the famous painting of George Washington from falling into the hands of the British.

His daughter, painter Mary Anna Randolph Custis married her childhood friend and distant cousin, then-U.S. Army Lieutenant Robert E. Lee, and all but one of their children were born there. They all lived at Arlington House together as Lee traveled as a soldier in the U.S. Army. It was there that Lee decided to resign from the U.S. Army after having been offered command of it, to eventually lead the Army of Northern Virginia in the Confederate States Army during the U.S. Civil War.
The U.S. Army of the Potomac used the mansion for a headquarters and buried Civil War soldiers in the garden by the mansion. In a gesture of unity after the war, 2,111 unknown Civil War soldiers from both sides and several battles were buried together in a vault located near the mansion.
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#arlington #arlingtonnationalcemetery #washingtondc #robertelee #georgewashington by @johnblisshouse1680

☠️ Happy Halloween from the Bliss House 👻
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#hauntedhouse #colonialhouse #newportri #oldesthouse #halloween by @johnblisshouse1680

Thank you @newportthisweek for bringing local attention to a much larger national issue! And thank you @ristatepreservation @preserveri @savingplaces for all your efforts to support our historic sites!
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#historicplaces #historicpreservation #nationaltrust #newportri #historichomes by @johnblisshouse1680

After hours at George Washington’s Mount Vernon…wow! What a special way to soak it all in. When we visited last year the restoration was in full swing, what amazing progress in a short time. Kudos to everyone involved! @mount_vernon
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#mountvernon #georgewashington #historicpreservation #alexandriava #historicbuildings by @johnblisshouse1680

Ready for Happy Hour 🍻 at Baltimore’s oldest pub @thehorsebaltimore

The Horse You Came In On Saloon, popularly known as The Horse, is a bar established in 1972 in Fell’s Point, Baltimore, Maryland. The bar’s predecessor, The fountain inn first opened for business in 1775.

The Horse was built as the fountain inn in 1775. It is a watering hole in the historic port of Fell’s Point, and the establishment catered to miscreants, sailors and shipbuilders. It is commonly held that The Horse is the last place Edgar Allan Poe was seen before his delirium and mysterious sudden death. Howard Gerber won at Pimlico Race Course and bought the establishment in 1972. He renamed it into the Horse You Came In On Saloon. Gerber also forced a friend to dress as a cowboy and ride a horse into the building on his first day of business.
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#oldestpub #historictavern #baltimore #historicdistrict #oldpub by @johnblisshouse1680

The Robert Long House c1765 - Baltimore MD

A rowhouse in the Fell’s Point neighborhood of Baltimore. The house is the oldest known surviving urban residence within the city of Baltimore, built in 1765. It was built as the home of Robert Long, a local Baltimore merchant, and today serves as the home of the Fells Point Preservation Society, who saved it from demolition in 1969 by purchasing it and restoring it.

The house is atypical of the surrounding area, with the architecture of the house matching that of homes built in the southern part of Pennsylvania where Long was born, rather than the standard rowhouses that make up the Fells Point neighborhood. The home was originally a two-story rowhouse, with the third story added sometime in the mid- to late 1800s, covered with a mixture of tar and granite, known as “flint coat”. by @johnblisshouse1680

Abraham Scranton House c1690 - Madison, CT

The Abraham Scranton House is one of Madison’s oldest remaining structures. Built in three stages, it was under the continuous ownership of Scranton family descendants from approximately 1690 through 1978. Housewrights Christopher and Jonathan Wuerth, who restored the house in the 1970s, believe that the first structure was built in 1690 and was later developed in 1735 and in 1750, when the saltbox section was added. Their conclusion is supported by the uneven spacing of the front windows and the discovery that the eastern section of the house is made of studded walls while the western section is made of earlier plank walls. These three stages correspond to the dates of three major shifts in colonial building trends, such as “saltbox” or lean-to, additions. No doubt, these changes also correspond to the shifting needs of the Scranton family.

According to local lore, this home was once nicknamed “The Honeymoon House” because a number of newlyweds lived in a section of the house while their own new homes were under construction. The MHS cannot confirm those numbers or the names of the honeymooners.
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#historicarchitecture #saltbox #madisonct #colonialhouse #oldhouselove by @johnblisshouse1680

Look at that Chimney 😍

John Dudley House c1675 - Madison, CT

Recent deed research reveals that this charming home was built in 1675—65 years earlier than previously believed. This discovery ensures its place among the oldest remaining homes in Madison, as well as one of the earliest to be built in East Guilford. Although this pristine structure includes an added Greek Revival entablature and pilasters at the front entry, its primary characteristics call up its colonial roots. Outside, its massive center chimney and saltbox construction anchor it firmly in the pre-Revolutionary era. Inside, its huge stone fireplace and paneled walls make history tangible. Centuries of stories seem just a fingertip away.

Perhaps one of the most well-known stories regarding this ancient house is that George Washington is believed to have stopped here on April 11, 1776, for his noontime dinner. The house belonged to Captain Gilbert Dudley at that point, who had served in the Revolutionary War. During the war, Washington traveled to Boston from Virginia along the Post Road. Thus, it is plausible that he made this stop along the way, as the house served as a tavern at the time.
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#georgewashington #madisonct #historicbuildings #colonialhistory #historicbuildings by @johnblisshouse1680

The Deacon John Grave House c1685 - Madison, CT.

Believed to be one of the first homes built in the eastern settlements of Guilford. A unique aspect of the property is that it housed nine generations of the Grave family, all the way until 1978. A logbook kept until 1797 by the first four generations of this productive clan provides fascinating details about the transactions made by the family—their debts, their household inventories, and other important records of their lives and occupations.

The house, built on land deeded to John II by his father, John I, has served a variety of purposes over the course of three and a half centuries. First and foremost a home for his large family, John Grave II also used the house as a tavern/inn from 1703-1715, thus placing the property as a social center for the town. When John II began to teach school in 1707, offering lessons to his two sons and seven other male children, the classes may have been held in the house, but that detail is not documented. Two inhabitants, John Graves III and his son Elias Graves, served as Justice of the Peace, and they used portions of the house as a courtroom and judgment room. The house served briefly as a hospital for wounded soldiers in the French and Indian War, as well as a storage space for military supplies. Slaves, servants, and boarders are all among the hundreds of people who lived and worked in this remarkable home.

A unique architectural feature of the house is the small, hidden compartment built in its attic. Located on the north side of the house at the back of the central chimney, the purpose of this space is uncertain. Access to the area, which measures about 8 feet x 5 feet, requires the removal of loose boards. Also notable is the home’s massive chamfered summer beam with lamb’s tongue stops.
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#madisonct #earlyamerican #historicpreservation #saltboxhouse #colonialhome by @johnblisshouse1680

The Meigs–Bishop House c1690 - Madison, CT

One of the town’s oldest surviving buildings. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Located in Madison’s central business district. Its main facade is five bays wide, with a slightly asymmetrical placement of sash windows around a nearly centered entrance. The entrance is simply framed, with a six-light transom window topped by crown moulding. Original interior features include wide floorboards, exposed posts and beams in the front rooms; the fireplace surrounds in these rooms are later alterations.

The house was built in stages, the oldest portion being a single three-bay pile dating to c. 1690. A second pile was added in the early 18th century, with the addition of the rear leanto c. 1725 to give the house a saltbox appearance. There were further additions in the late 19th century. It is believed to be Madison’s second oldest house. Its initial construction was by Janna Meigs, who represented what was then Guilford in the colonial assembly. It was later owned by Phineas Meigs, who served in the American Revolutionary War, and was killed defending the area from a British raid.
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#americanrevolution #madisonct #colonialhouse #historicpreservation #earlyamerican by @johnblisshouse1680

William Mansfield House C1793, 1826 - Newport RI @nptrestoration

The house at 12 Dennison is a one-and-one half story, gambrel-roof cottage built sometime between 1793 and 1826 and is on the original site, although we are not certain exactly when this building appeared on the property.

Early architectural features of the house include the chimney, the mantelpiece, and some elements of interior trim work. The restoration process included incorporating features from a stock of architectural salvage.

In 1812, Robert Robinson purchased this land at auction which included “buildings hereon used as a Spermaceti Works and the apparatus therein.” The house at 12 Dennison today may or may not be one of those buildings. It is likely that the “dwelling house” that was on the property when it was acquired by Robinson Potter in 1826 was either this house or the one at 16 Dennison. For all but about 6 years, 12 Dennison and 16 Dennison were sold as one lot from the earliest recorded deed in 1793 until NRF purchased this house in 1968 and restored it in 1970.

This property is tied into key moments in Newport’s history as part of the trans-Atlantic trade system in the 18th century and the change in the labor industry in the 19th century. From 1803 to the 1820s, the 12 and 16 Dennison lot lists an “oil works” referring to the manufacturing of candles from spermaceti, the oily head matter of sperm whales. This was a significant industry for Newport: in the 18th century this city produced half of all of the spermaceti candles used in the 13 colonies.
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#newportri #historicpreservation #colonialhouse #whaling #newengland by @johnblisshouse1680