Museum is Located at
108 East Main Street
(On Rte 133, across from the Elm St and East Main St intersection)
(Note: This is not the Postal Mail Address -
see
(Go To Main Page) for mailing information)
|
|
For Times
and Dates When the Museum may be visited see the Calendar Page
(Go to Calendar)
|
|
|
The Brocklebank-Nelson-Beecher house is a
First Period structure believed to have been built in the late 1600s. The land on which
the house stands was granted in 1661 to Samuel Brocklebank a surveyor who had come from
England to Rowley as a child in 1638. It is thought that Captain Brocklebank built the
house shortly after his marriage to a woman named Hannah in 1668. The site was chosen near
a brook where Samuel had kept cattle penned previously. The area is known to this day as
“Penn Brook.” Brocklebank, a captain in the militia, was killed with his
entire company in Sudbury in 1676 in a skirmish with Indians during King Philip's War. The
house remained in the Brocklebank family until 1754, when it was acquired by Dudley Tyler
for use as a tavern. Solomon Nelson who purchased the property in 1767 also kept a tavern
here for many years. In 1858 the house was bought by Rev Charles Beecher, brother of
Harriet Beecher Stow and a controversial figure in his own right. He was the pastor of The
Second Parish Church which once stood opposite of the house. In 1880, the house was
acquired by M.G. Spofford and subsequently passed to furniture manufacturer Everett
Spaulding, a tenth generation Brocklebank descendant, in 1931. He sold the property to the
Society in 1975. The original house was added to several times in the early years
and it is described in the 1990 Georgetown Historic Resource Survey as a gambrel roofed,
5-bay, center chimney dwelling of early eighteenth century appearance.
Several artifacts help to make the Brocklebank
Museum unique. Upon entering the old Tavern Room, one encounters a restored
"walk-in" fireplace which is said to be one of the largest in New England. The
“Haunted Meal Chest” sits against one wall of the same room. Local legend holds
that a young servant girl found that the large meal chest moved mysteriously whenever her
skirt brushed up against it. The phenomenon lasted only a few weeks but made a lasting
impression on all who witnessed it. The chest, which had passed hands to the House Of
Seven Gables in Salem was returned to its original hometown in the 1970s. Next to a
stairway hangs the original tavern sign which features a red-coated soldier on horseback.
Looking closely, the visitor notices several musket ball holes reportedly put there by
Minutemen returning from the Battle of Lexington. In another room, visitors can look down
through a viewing panel to the cellar where a secret "slave hole" was built
during the days of the Underground Railroad. This room is believed to have been
constructed by the Reverend Beecher who was a fervent abolitionist . Also on display is an
original slave collar similar to those worn by captured run-away slaves.
In addition, there are hundreds of mementos of
Georgetown's past in the museum from the original railroad depot sign to china used
in the famous old Baldpate Inn. The memory of the shoe industry is kept alive through
numerous displays including a small back yard shoe shop which was a part of a cottage
industry in Georgetown for generations. |
|
BACK TO
MAIN PAGE |
|