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FORM B BUILDING
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Photograph
Locus Map
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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
25-35-0 Dennis BRE.C,
G, J
BRE.63
Town/City: BREWSTER
Place:(neighborhood or village): West Brewster
Address: 648 Stony Brook Road
Historic Name: Higgins, Allen and Sally House
Uses:Present: Residential
Original: Residential
Date of Construction: ca. 1859
Source:Deed research
Style/Form: Federal
Architect/Builder: Unknown
Exterior Material:
Foundation: Unknown
Wall/Trim: Wood shingles/ Wood
Roof: Asphalt shingles
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures:
Garage, shed, barn (2002)
Major Alterations (with dates):
None on record
Condition: Good
Moved: no yes Date: Mid-19th century
Acreage: 1.30 acres
Setting: This house is set on the south side of Stony
Brook Road. The surrounding area is residential and rural in
nature with both historic and more recent houses, most set
on large parcels. In general, the historic dwellings are set
closer to the street than later houses. This house is set
relatively close on a parcel that slopes down slightly from
the street. The house is surrounded by lawn with a few
mature deciduous trees. A two-bay garage and shed are set
to the west of the house by the street, and a barn is located
at the south end of the parcel.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 648 STONY BROOK ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
BRE.C, G, J BRE.63
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.
The main two-story block of this building has the appearance of a Federal-style dwelling. This style was employed during the first
decades of the new nation, from ca. 1790 to ca. 1820. Character-defining features for this house include the two-story form with
low-slung hipped roof, the five-bay wide by two-bay deep scale, the (relatively) symmetrical arrangement of windows and
centered entrance, and the use of wood, double-hung 6/6 windows. The house has very little of the kind of refined
ornamentation sometime found on more “high style” Federal houses, but the door surround of the front entrance does have
transom lights that are characteristic of that style and period. A one-story ell with a high stud wall on the front elevation and a
saltbox roof form extends from the right side of the main block. The roof of the main block has a molded box cornice, and the
roof cornice of the right ell has dentil (teeth-like) molding. A brick chimney rises, slightly off-centered, from the main roof ridge,
and a tall, narrow brick chimney rises from the roof ridge of the ell.
As noted above, this house has the “appearance” of a Federal-style house. It does not appear to have actually been built during
the Federal period. According to oral history cited in the 1980 version of the Building Form, this building might have originated as
a barn and was moved to this site, and possibly set on the foundation of a former school. One clue on the outside is the lack of
symmetry to the ranking of windows on the first story of the front elevation – symmetry was a hallmark of Federal period house
design, even modest examples. In addition, interior framing, indicating a large door and traps doors, is cited as evidence of the
building having started as a barn. Based on oral history in the 1980 Form B, the house might have come from “the old mill.”
While it is not possible to verify these speculations, it is clear that the intentions were for this house to have the appearance of a
modest Federal-style dwelling.
The property includes three outbuildings; a two-bay hipped-roof garage set on a concrete block foundation, a small gable-roofed
shed, and a 30’x30’ barn.
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.
This house is located in West Brewster, on a road that was originally part of Old King’s Highway. Laid out in 1665, Old King’s
Highway, also historically referred to as King’s Highway and County Road, was the region’s major east/west corridor. In
Brewster, the original route followed Stony Brook Road, avoiding the wetlands and marshes associated with Quivett Creek and
Stony Brook. By the mid-19th century, causeways and bridges were built across tidal and wetland areas allowing for the
straightening of Old King’s Highway, including northwest of this house near the Dennis town border. Mill sites on Stony Brook
became an important economic engine and led to early development in West Brewster, including extant residential resources
from the 18th and 19th century along Stony Brook Road. The name “Stony Brook Road” was in use by the early-20th century.
The 1985 version of this Form B correctly states that this was originally the site of a school house. In 1859, a two acre parcel
was sold by Nathaniel Winslow to Allen and Sally A. Higgins (Book 68/Page 543). This deed states that this was “the Lot on
which Stucket School House formerly stood.” The 1985 Form B speculates that the house foundation may be the foundation of
the school house, and also states that the house may have begun as a barn and references framing of a large door on the right
side of the front elevation as evidence, along with trap doors inside, possibly for haylofts. It further states that the hip roof is
newer than the rest of the house. The Form B cites various oral history sources that the house came from an old mill,
presumably from Stony Brook.
What is clear is that Allen and Sally Higgins built a house here. Allen married Sally Phinney in 1849 and they had three children.
He was listed as a mariner and seamen in the 1855 and 1865 State Census, respectively, and by 1870, was working as a
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET BREWSTER 648 STONY BROOK ROAD
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD,BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
BRE.C, G, J BRE.63
laborer. They sold the property in 1873 to Isaiah F. Newcomb, by which time the deed references a dwelling house and barn
(Book 115/Page 331). The Higgins moved to Providence, where Allen worked as a night watchman.
Isaiah F. Newcomb (1824-1895) was born in Brewster. He married Jane Chase in 1857. Isaiah worked as a fisherman, and they
had two daughters both of whom, while still living with their parents as young adults, worked as school teachers (ironic given the
origins of this property). Isaiah died in 1895, and the family kept this house until 1906, when the heirs of Isaiah Newcomb sold
this property to Harry M. Alexander of Brewster (Book 278/Page 335).
Harry Alexander (1881-1974) was born in Brewster and in 1902 married Brewster-born Jessie P. Howland (1883-1873). Harry
worked as a laborer, including farming and odd jobs, and was a Herring Warden for many years. They had one son, Kenneth,
who lived with them into his late 30s and worked as an auto mechanic. Following both Harry and Jessie’s deaths, the house
passed to Janice A. Holton who, in 1977, sold the house to the current owners, Peter and Peggy Farber of Brewster (Book
2453/Page 323).
This property is located within the Old King’s Highway Regional Historic District (adopted 1973) and the house is a contributing
resource in the Stony Brook/Factory Village National Register District (listed 2000). The District also lists the barn and a coop as
contributing resources. It is unclear if this refers to the barn at the rear of the property.
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
Hay, John, The Run, Beacon Press, 1979.
www.ancestry.com - Vital records, US Census (1870, 1880, 1910, 1920, 1930), State Census (1855, 1865)
Brewster Assessor sketch.
Photo 2. View looking southeast.