Dexter Pratt House
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The Dexter Pratt House is a historic house in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
. It is remembered as the home of Dexter Pratt, the blacksmith who inspired the poem "
The Village Blacksmith "The Village Blacksmith" is a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, first published in 1840. The poem describes a local blacksmith and his daily life. The blacksmith serves as a role model who balances his job with the role he plays with his family ...
" by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and '' Evangeline''. He was the first American to comp ...
.


History

The house was built in 1808 and added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1973. It was built for blacksmith Torrey Hancock, who sold the home in 1827 to fellow blacksmith Dexter Pratt. Pratt worked there until his death in 1847; his widow lived there until her death in 1858.Nathans, Sydney. ''To Free a Family: The Journey of Mary Walker''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012: 303. It was then passed on to the couple's married daughter Annie Louise Pratt Smith. Dexter Pratt was the village blacksmith that inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "
The Village Blacksmith "The Village Blacksmith" is a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, first published in 1840. The poem describes a local blacksmith and his daily life. The blacksmith serves as a role model who balances his job with the role he plays with his family ...
". Longfellow published the poem in 1841 as part of ''Ballads and Other Poems'', which also collected "
The Wreck of the Hesperus "The Wreck of the Hesperus" is a narrative poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, first published in ''Ballads and Other Poems'' in 1842. It is a story that presents the tragic consequences of a skipper's pride. On an ill-fated voyag ...
". The poem proved to be popular. It mentioned a "spreading chestnut tree" where Dexter Pratt worked and, when a plan for Brattle Street to be widened was enacted in 1870, the tree was threatened. Initially, the road was built such that the tree was standing in the middle of the street.Petronella, Mary Melvin (editor). ''Victorian Boston Today: Twelve Walking Tours''. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2004: 217. This set-up did not last long and when the tree was cut down, the children of Cambridge raised money to have the wood converted into an armchair and presented it to Longfellow in 1879, inspiring him to write a poem in gratitude titled "From my Arm-Chair". After Pratt, the home was owned by Mary Walker and her family. Walker was born into slavery in North Carolina in 1818 and escaped to freedom in 1848. After the passing of the
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was a law passed by the 31st United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers. The Act was one ...
, she moved to
Milton, Massachusetts Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Milton is an immediate southern suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Milton is located in the relatively hilly ...
before settling in the Pratt House in 1870, which was purchased from the daughter of Dexter Pratt. She lived here with her family for about 40 years. Annie Louise Pratt Smith had by then moved to
Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence, Massachusetts, Florence and ...
, with her husband George. The purchase of the $4,500 house on June 1, 1870, was subsidized by activist James Murray Howe, who deeded it to Mary Walker the next day. In the 1930s, the Pratt House was remodeled into a fashionable
tea house A teahouse or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only ser ...
by local women in Cambridge who employed refugees who had escaped Nazi occupation in Europe. It eventually became a restaurant called the Cock Horse Inn. It was then purchased in 1947 by a group of women including Elsa Brändström Ulich as the new location of The Window Shop, which hired refugees and immigrants, and may have been the first business in Harvard Square to employ African American women. Ulich personally persuaded the group to choose the Pratt House as their location, though it was then in disrepair and its purchase necessitated raising $40,000 in loans.


Modern use

The building is now owned by the Cambridge Center for Adult Education which also owns the historic William Brattle House. The chestnut tree from the poem was commemorated in 1989 with a modern iron sculpture by Dimitri Gerakaris, whose anvil and other tools were incorporated into the metalwork. An engraved stone marks the spot where the tree once stood. In 2014, the CCAE received a Preservation Award from the
Massachusetts Historical Commission The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) is a review board for state and federal preservation programs for the United States state of Massachusetts. It consists of 17-member panel of appointed representatives from state and private agencies a ...
for its restoration efforts of the house.Past MHC Preservation Award Winners
Massachusetts Historical Commission


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts This is a list of sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachuse ...


References


External links


The Window Shop
Harvard Square Business Association {{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts Harvard Square