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FORM B BUILDING
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Photograph
Locus Map
N
Recorded by: Eric Dray, Preservation Consultant, for
Organization: Brewster Historical Commission
Date (month / year): June 2017
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
57-62-0 Dennis G,I BRE.336
Town/City: BREWSTER
Place:(neighborhood or village):
Address: 667 Lower Road
Historic Name: Freeman, Solomon House
Uses:Present: Residential
Original: Residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1800 (poss. 1820s)
Source:Old King’s Highway National Register nomination,
vital records
Style/Form: Federal/ Full Cape
Architect/Builder: Unknown
Exterior Material:
Foundation: Brick (foundation under ells unknown)
Wall/Trim: Wood clapboard and wood shingles/ Wood
Roof: Asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Two-bedroom cottage, 1973 Assessor date (see Photo 3)
Barn
Major Alterations (with dates):
Front dormers added (date unknown)
Condition: Good
Moved: no yes Date:
Acreage: 2.95 acres
Setting: This long narrow parcel is located on the north
side of Lower Road and bordered by Robbins Hill Road to
the west. This stretch of Lower Road is sparsely developed,
with large tracts on both sides of the street held in a
conservation trust. To the east and north is the large Sears
Point condominium development. This house is set
relatively close to street on a slight rise. The property is
largely open with a broad lawn and a few deciduous trees.
A driveway leads past the east side of the house to a long,
one-story cottage and a barn. A wood picket fence, with an
unusual design, extends along the street.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 667 LOWER ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
G, I BRE.336
Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:
Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community.
This is an unusually large example of a Federal-style Full Cape that has a series of rear ells/additions. This is Cape still has the
broad and deep footprint of Colonial-era Capes but has higher stud walls where the windows no longer abut the roof entablature
on the front elevation, and the house has more elaborate ornamentation. The main block of the house rests on a slightly-raised
brick foundation. The walls are clad in painted wood clapboard on the front elevation, weathered wood shingles on the side
elevations of the main block, and painted wood shingles on the rear ells. The roof is clad in asphalt shingles and has a projecting
box cornice on the front elevation and narrower two-part trim boards on the side elevations. The frieze board below the cornice
on the front elevation is decorated with dentil (teeth-like) molding – a detail found on some Federal-style houses. Two evenly-
spaced brick chimneys rise from near the edges of main roof – this is an unusual feature for a Full Cape and is an indication of
its unusual size; in almost all cases these Capes would have a centered chimney around which the rooms are arranged. The
front roof slope has two large, modern dormers, and the roof is surmounted by a modern version of a widow’s walk.
The front elevation of the main block is characteristic of the Full Cape form, with a centered entrance flanked by two evenly
ranked windows on each side. However, due to the scale of this house, the windows are set farther away from the entrance. The
elegant front entrance has an unusual multi-paneled door with two windows that have elaborate muntin patterns. The door is
flanked by tapered, pilasters that reach up to the roof entablature, and above the door is a transom with Bull’s eye glass.
Fenestration consists mostly of wood 6/6 windows set in projecting molded frames. The 6/6 muntin pattern would be consistent
with the pattern found on Federal-style Capes. Small, square 2/2 windows are located close to the roof eaves on the side
elevations and, unusually, another 2/2 window is set high in the gable peaks (this detail is also found on the Colonial-era Full
Cape at 2851 Main Street (BRE.165).
The property includes a long, one-story, two-bedroom cottage with an Assessor date of 1973 (see Photo 3).
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the
owners/occupants played within the community.
Lower Road was the site of residential development starting in the 18th century. Interestingly, through the 19th century, residential
development occurred exclusively on the north side of the road. Many of the original parcels were quite large, some extending to
the bay, and both sides of the road were used for agriculture and cranberry bogs. It was not until the early-20th century that infill
residential development began, including both small and large subdivisions, but the road retains its rural character.
This house has an historic marker with the date 1799, and the Old King’s Highway National Register nomination dates the house
to 1800. This house is most closely associated with Capt. Solomon Freeman (1800-1877), but if the construction date is
accurate, then it was built by his father, the Hon. Solomon Freeman II (1770-1820). Solomon Freeman II married Abigail Clark in
1793. They had nine children, of which Solomon was the third son. According to William Cutter’s Historical Homes and Places,
Genealogical and Personal Memoirs, Vol. IV, “He was like his father prominent in public life and held various positions of trust
and honor. He was a state senator” (p. 1499). This property passed to his son, Solomon who, according to Images of America,
Brewster “became financially independent at a relatively young age, he retired to his hometown. As with many former
commanders of tall ships, he served several terms as a representative to the general court” (p. 50).
Their daughter Cordelia (b. 1826) married Samuel D. Keith in Bridgewater in 1854 and she moved to Bridgewater. Interestingly,
from 1855 through 1865, her sister and brother-in-law, Olive (Freeman) and Willard Higgins lived with them. Samuel Keith
(1816-1896) was a shoe cutter, and Willard became a master mariner. Upon Capt. Solomon Freeman’s death, his homestead in
Brewster and other holdings were bequeathed to his grandchildren, Samuel and Cordelia Keith’s children, Austin and Isabel
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 667 LOWER ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
G, I BRE.336
Keith. In 1881, they sold their bequest to Olive C. Winslow of Brewster (Book 146/ Page 175). The deed stated that it conveyed
what was bequeathed to them by their grandfather, including “All real estate in Brewster and Dennis, including his homestead
dwelling house, barn and outbuildings together with the land adjoining, also all cranberry swamps in Brewster and all the
woodland, about eighteen acres more or less. Also all the household furniture, farming utensils, carts, wagons, harnesses, cows
and poultry.” The fact that the house was referred to as Capt. Solomon Freeman’s homestead indicates that the house may
have been built by him and not his father, which would mean the house possibly dates to the 1820s.
In 1889, Olive Winslow sold the Brewster property to Charles Walmsley and Martha Rich of Hyde Park, MA (Book 179/ Page
585). Walmsley subsequently sold his interest to Rich (Book 186/ Page 221). The following year, Martha and her husband,
Andrew J. Rich, were living in Brewster when they sold this property to Augustus Thorndike of Brookline (Book 190/ Page 74).
Thorndike assembled large tracts of land on both sides of Lower Road, including the house at 593 Lower Road (BRE.216).
Augustus Thorndike (1861-1922) married Cora Nickerson in Brookline in 1885. Cora was the daughter of Captain Frederick
Nickerson who lived in the summer at 1861 Main Street (BRE.19), at the corner of Main Street and Lower Road. Augustus was
listed as a real estate agent in the 1900 US Census. By 1910, they had moved to the Back Bay in Boston and he was listed as a
lawyer. This property stayed in the family until 1957, when the estate of Cora Thorndike sold the property to Leslie and Mabel
Beaton of Rye, NY (Book 971/ Page 405). In 1979, the property was sold to Ray W. Robinson of Brewster and it remains in their
family.
This property is located within the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District (adopted 1973) and the house is a contributing
resource in the Old King’s Highway National Register District (listed 1996).
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
1858 Map, Map of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, & Nantucket, Walling, Henry.
1880 Map, Atlas of Barnstable County, Boston, MA: George H. Walker & Co., 1880.
1910 Map, Atlas of Barnstable County, Boston, MA: Walker Litho. & Publishing Co., 1910.
Barnstable County Registry of Deeds
Brewster Historical Society, Images of America, Brewster, Arcadia Publishing Co.: Charleston, SC, 2002.
Cutter, William R., Historical Homes and Places, Genealogical and Personal Memoirs, Vol. IV, Lewis Hill Publishing Co.: New
York, NY, 1908.
Old King’s Highway National Register District nomination
www.ancestry.com - Vital records, US Census (1870), State Census (1855, 1865)
Brewster Assessor sketch.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 667 LOWER ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 3
G, I BRE.336
Photo 2. View of front elevation.
Photo 3. View looking northeast, cottage shown on left side of photograph.