The Captain William Smith House, Minute Man National Historical Park: Historic Structure Report

Rockmore, Marlene; Carroll, Orville

Building Location and Identification Numbers The Captain William Smith House is located in the town of Lincoln, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It stands approximately 325 feet north- northwest of the intersection of North Great Road (Route 2A), Virginia Road, and Bedford Road (fig. 1). Its approximate location on the UTM grid system is Z19 E657, 078 N528, 710. The Smith House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and is included in the National Park Service’s List of Classified Structures as no. 06553. The Minute Man NHP Building Number designation is 221. Statement of Significance The William Smith House, a prominent colonial- period house with a rare cove cornice, stands along North Great Road (Route 2A) in Lincoln, Massachusetts. The house achieves its distinction due to its architectural merits and its historical associations. The house appears to have been built ca. 1692, and is a good example of late 17th- century colonial architecture. The cove cornice, which presumably was constructed to protect the walls below, is an architectural feature found primarily in houses built in the first quarter of the 18th century. Abbott Lowell Cummings in his recent study The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, 1625- 1725 pointed out that no examples of this feature earlier than 1690 are known, and only three unrestored examples remain in Massachusetts: the Rea- Putnam- Fowler House in Danvers (ca. 1700), the Parker- Orne House in Marblehead (ca. 1711), and the Whittemore- Smith House in Lincoln.1 The William Smith House is believed to be the oldest house in Lincoln. The Smith House has also received recognition because of its historical associations. On April 18- 19, 1775, it was occupied by the captain of the Lincoln Minutemen, William Smith, and his wife Catharine Louisa.2 William Smith, the son of Reverend William Smith of Weymouth, was also the brother of Abigail Smith Adams, John Adams’ articulate and influential wife. This seemingly simple patriotic pedigree, however, is complicated by two major mysteries concerning Captain William Smith. First, Smith was a recent arrival to Lincoln at the time of the Revolution, yet he inexplicably rose to become the captain of the local company of Minutemen. Second, he lost personal control of his farm in 1780, and disappeared from the historical records completely after 1783.

The Captain William Smith House, Minute Man National Historical Park: Historic Structure Report

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