Atwood-Higgins Historic District
| Atwood-Higgins Historic District | |||
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| National Register of Historic Places | |||
| Historic District | |||
 The eponymous Atwood-Higgins House in the district |
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| location | Wellfleet , Massachusetts , United States | ||
| Coordinates | 41 ° 57 '20.5 " N , 70 ° 3' 58" W | ||
| surface | 24 acres (9.7 ha ) | ||
| Built | 1730 to 1960 | ||
| NRHP number | (original entry) [1] 10000508 (extension) 76000154 (original entry) 10000508 (extension) | ||
| Data | |||
| The NRHP added | July 30, 1976 | ||
| Declared as HD | July 28, 2010 | ||
The Atwood-Higgins Historic District is a Historic District in Wellfleet in the state of Massachusetts of the United States on the Cape Cod peninsula . The district is part of the Cape Cod National Seashore .
The 24 acres (9.7 hectares ) Atwood-Higgins Historic District is located on the south side of the former Bound Brook Island and is the central element of a total of 192 acres (77.7 hectares), which also includes 38 acres (15.4 ha) large salt marsh . The entire area was transferred to the National Park Service in July 1961 by George and Katharine Higgins . The buildings in the district registered in the NRHP were constructed between 1730 and 1960 and represent the local history of colonial settlement, agriculture in the 18th and 19th and tourism in the 20th century.
In view of the historical significance of the Atwood-Higgins House, it was first registered as a monument in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on July 30, 1976 . On July 28, 2010, the entry was expanded to include additional buildings, landscape features and archaeologically significant sites to form a Historic District. The eponymous house is now the heart of the district.
history
Thomas Higgins built the first house on this site around 1730. Archaeologists have been able to prove that human settlements had existed in the area 7,000 years earlier. A stone, triangular projectile point - known prehistorically as the Levanna Triangle - was found near the district's main house in the 1980s and dated to be between 445 and 1,600 years old. The area was already used for agricultural purposes by the first colonists in the 1640s and had little forest, which led to significant soil erosion as early as the middle of the 18th century . The expansion of Bound Brook Island into an important coastal settlement eventually led to the founding of Wellfleet.
Around 1730, the eastern half of the first part of the Atwood-Higgins House, which was built by Thomas Higgins (1704–1789) from pine wood, was built. The building was originally believed to have been constructed in the mid-17th century, but recent research has disproved this view. Thomas married Abigail Paine (1707-1743) in 1727 and had a total of six boys and two girls with her from 1727 to 1743. The front of their house, which was kept very simple for religious reasons, faced - as with all other houses on Cape Cod from this period - to the south, while the roof ridge ran from east to west. There were two main reasons for this: First of all, the fireplace on the south side of the houses was only used on special occasions - e.g. a visit from a pastor or a wedding party or funeral - so that the settlers were dependent on the warming sun for most of the year. Second, the position of the sun could be used to derive the approximate time of day; For example, at lunchtime the sun was shining at full strength through the windows on the front of the house.
Around 1771 Wellfleet - which was then still called Billingsgate - had around 1000 residents and 30 ships that used the city as their home port. Twenty families lived on Bound Brook Island, and the island was also the site of salt works , windmills and whale watching posts . In 1837 Wellfleet had 37 salt works and a strong fishing industry specializing in oysters , cod , herring and mackerel . Freight and mail were carried to and from Boston by boat , and the community was an important location for Methodist camps.
One of the captains at Wellfleet was Solomon Higgins, war veteran and son of Thomas Higgins. When his father died in 1789, he inherited the house and the property on it. Since the house was expanded considerably between 1775 and 1790, it is now assumed that Solomon had lived in the house with his parents for some time. In 1796, he inherited the house to his eldest son Solomon, who expanded it to its present size in 1805, which is roughly double the original area.
On February 9, 1805, Thomas Atwood and his wife Abigail Hatch acquired the Atwood-Higgins House from Solomon Higgins for $ 53.62 (around $ 1,200 today). They lived there with their seven children and some slaves. Thomas Atwood, Jr. acquired Atwood-Higgins House on April 15, 1825 for $ 150 (approximately $ 4,000 today).
In the 1850 census results, Thomas Atwood is credited with a $ 400 real estate property (approximately $ 13,500 today). At that time, Duck Harbor was becoming the center of local shipping, so many Wellfleet families built their homes on the islands of Bound Brook, Merrick and Griffin. In 1830 a new quay was built at the mouth of Duck Creek to supply the population, which has now increased to 2046, and the local industries.
However, with the construction of the Cape Cod Railway and the increasing siltation of Duck Harbor, the island's importance steadily decreased in the 19th century. Therefore, the city center was quickly relocated south to the mouth of Duck Creek, where a better infrastructure was available with Wellfleet Harbor. Many moved away from Bound Brook Island by return of mail, not infrequently taking their houses with them. In 1873 Thomas Atwood, Jr. died after living in his home for nearly 50 years. This then stood empty for most of the time until it was acquired in 1919 by George K. Higgins - a descendant of the first owner. He freed it from wild growth and made the house habitable again. In the decades to come, he and his wife Katharine expanded the former island into a modern holiday resort.
See also
literature
- Lohr, Edison P .: National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. ( PDF ) National Park Service , July 13, 1973, accessed October 7, 2015 .
- Donaldson, Emily; Laham, Lauren H .; Brown, Margie C .: Atwood-Higgins Historic District. Cultural Landscape Report and Outbuildings Historic Structures Report. National Park Service , 2010, accessed October 7, 2015 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Entry Thomas Atwood House in the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed June 15, 2016
- ↑ a b Entry Atwood-Higgins Historic District in the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed June 14, 2016
- ↑ a b cf. Donaldson et al., Pp. Ix.
- ↑ cf. Donaldson et al., P. 14.
- ↑ a b c cf. Donaldson et al., P. X.
- ↑ cf. Donaldson et al., P. 16.
- ↑ cf. Donaldson et al., P. 17.
- ↑ cf. Donaldson et al., P. 18.
- ↑ cf. Donaldson et al., P. 19.
- ↑ cf. Donaldson et al., P. 20.