In pursuance of these aims, the Plymouth Antiquarian Society has established and maintains two museum Houses, the Antiquarian House 1809–30 and the Harlow House 1677. Each is arranged to give visual expression to whatever can be learned, by record, by tradition, and by the preservation of household luxuries and necessities, of the daily life of a Plymouth family at the time in which it was built. Each endeavors also, by the accumulation of notes, publications, photographs etc., to be a useful source of information on the subjects within its field.
The first undertaking of the Plymouth Antiquarian Society, was to preserve the fine old house, built in 1809 by Maj. William Hammatt, and later occupied for nearly a hundred years by Mr. Thomas Hedge and his family.
In 1920, this estate had been lately bought by the Town as a site for a Memorial Hall, and it was necessary to remove or tear down the house and its picturesque barn and outbuildings. The Society was willing to undertake their preservation, and accepted all the buildings as a gift from the Town, to be used for this purpose. They were successfully moved to their present position on Water St., and are maintained by the Society as a typical example of a prosperous Plymouth home of the early 19th century.
A few years later, the Antiquarian Society undertook the restoration and preservation of the Wm. Harlow House, long one of the Pilgrim landmarks of the town, on account of the fact that it contains beams and timber from the Fort on Burial Hill. These were granted to Serj. William Harlow for use in building his “new house” when the Fort was dismantled at the close of King Philips’s war. The Society uses this house as the background for a study of the living conditions and household industries of the last quarter of the Pilgrim century. Not only is the visitor here introduced to the spinning, weaving, dyeing, cooking, and candle-making which made up so much of the daily lives of the pioneer women of New England, but demonstrations are given, and classes held, both for children and for older students who find the knowledge of these homely arts gives a stimulating background to their study of colonial history.
The facilities of the Antiquarian Society are much used by the Plymouth Schools, and also by other schools, sometimes at a considerable distance. Both houses also give much pleasure, and a better understanding of Plymouth and New England, to the many visitors who see them each summer.
“Advance then, ye future generations! We would hail you, as you rise in your long succession to fill the places which we now fill.
We bid you welcome to this pleasant land of the fathers. We bid you welcome to the healthful skies and the verdant fields of New England. We greet your accession to the great inheritance which we have enjoyed.
We welcome you to the immeasurable blessings of rational existence, and the light of everlasting truth!”
Daniel Webster
Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1820.
