As Wakefield’s oldest home greets the spring and summer months, we look back on a busy year and forward to many challenges in the months to come.

2006 saw the 325th anniversary of “this old house,” since most estimates place the date of its construction at about 1681. In retrospect, it is almost amazing that it is still standing. When the Town of Wakefield purchased the house in 1929, it had just survived a near conflagration when the icehouses behind it on Hartshorne Meadow were consumed in a dramatic blaze. The cork-filled walls of the structures used to store ice harvested from Lake Quannapowitt made them especially vulnerable to fire. The little house on Church Street, perched perilously close to the blaze, was then owned by the ice company of J. Reed Whipple and John G. Morrill.

The house was then called the “Lafayette House,”and for a long time it was popularly believed that the Marquis de Lafayette had stayed in the house during his 1824 visit to the United States. (He actually never set foot in the town!) In its hard-working past, the house had grown from its beginnings as a farm house to the home of a coppersmith to usage as an inn and a public house, with a banquet room on the second floor, making it the home of meetings of the Mount Moriah Lodge of Masons. It was in this time that the appellation “Lafayette House” originated, named by its owner, Revolutionary War veteran Dr. John Hart in honor of Lafayette. Had Lafayette visited in 1824, he would have found not an inn, but the home of Colonel James Hartshorne and his brood of 13 children and his busy shoemaking business.

After the Hartshorne family’s ownership of the house, it fell into disrepair, and was eventually purchased by the Ice Company as a tenement for icehouse workers. In this ca. 1894 photo, the house is clearly showing its age.

Thirty-six years later, when the house was rescued by Town Meeting action to be restored for the 1930 celebration of the Commonwealth’s 300 anniversary, one can imagine that its condition was even worse.

In the 77 years of the Col. James Hartshorne House Association’s stewardship of the house, we have faced many challenges, but many more await. We have recently engaged the services of a Preservation Consultant, John Leeke, to help guide our future preservation efforts. After a careful inspection, several problems have been uncovered, including a problem with the east wall, a serious drainage issue and electrical problems. We are taking action to identify problems and to plan repairs. We’ll be keeping you posted on our progress.

At this time, we would like to extend our gratitude for your ongoing support of the house -- with your help, we look forward to being able to tackle the house’s problems and to safeguard Wakefield’s oldest home for future generations. Thank you for your continued support!