The Samuel Dexter House is a historic house at 699 High Street,

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest b ...

. It was built, beginning in July 1761, by

Samuel Dexter Samuel Dexter (May 14, 1761May 4, 1816) was an early American statesman who served both in Congress and in the Presidential Cabinets of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Dexter was an 1881 graduate of Harvar ...

, a member of the

Massachusetts Provincial Congress The Massachusetts Provincial Congress (1774–1780) was a provisional government created in the Province of Massachusetts Bay early in the American Revolution. Based on the terms of the colonial charter, it exercised ''de facto'' control over the ...

. Dexter purchased the property on which the house stands on March 18, 1761. The house was next door to the parsonage of the

First Church and Parish in Dedham First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

, where he grew up. The house was the childhood home of the Secretary of the Treasury

. Dexter hosted Governor Thomas Hutchinson at the house in 1771. The building was remodeled in 1901 following the design of

J. Harleston Parker J. Harleston Parker (1873 - May 5, 1930) was an American architect active in Boston, Massachusetts. Parker was born in Boston, graduated from Harvard University in 1893, then studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and, af ...

, using

Colonial revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

elements. The Samuel Dexter House is a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

to the Dedham Village Historic District, added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

in September 2006.

Other uses

The home was the site of the funeral of

Faith Huntington Faith () Huntington (January 25, 1742 - November 24, 1775) was an early American woman. Early and personal life Huntington was born in 1743 in Lebanon, Connecticut, the daughter of Governor Jonathan Trumbull and his wife, Faith . She was the sis ...

, who had been living there, on November 28, 1775. The house served as the headquarters of General George Washington for a night following the

evacuation of Boston The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. New England militiamen prevented the movement by land of the British Army, which was garrisoned in what was then the peninsular tow ...

. Washington paid £9.18.7 for use of the home on April 4 to 5, 1776. Dexter had retired to Connecticut by this point, but his fellow Governor's Councilor

Joshua Henshaw Joshua Henshaw (1746–1823) was a member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council. He was living in the Samuel Dexter House when George Washington spent the night on his way to New York following the Evacuation of Boston. Biography Joshua Henshaw ...

was living at the house. The house also contained all but two books of records from the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds. They had been removed from Boston to protect them during the

military occupation Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...

of the capital.

References

Works cited

* * {{Dedham Buildings and structures in Dedham, Massachusetts History of Dedham, Massachusetts Houses in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Norfolk County, Massachusetts 1761 establishments in the Province of Massachusetts Bay

Other uses

See also

References

Works cited