Historic Homes of New England

by Mary Harrod Northend

This room is panelled in wood of dark finish, with exquisite designs over the fireplace, where a shelf on consoles shows over it an ornate panel made from a single board and exquisitely carved. On the opposite side of the room is the large apartment which was originally used as a chamber, probably by Colonel Lee. Here the pictures all relate to the sea,—one of them depicting Neptune and another a fish.

Plate XXX.—Chamber, Lee Mansion; Four-poster, Lee Mansion.

The Lee mansion, like many of the Marblehead houses, stands with one foot on the land and the other almost on the water, bespeaking the maritime side of the community. Within the house, the arrangement of rooms and passages suggests the troublous times in the years just before the Revolution. A secret stairway connects two of the upper rooms, while the front hall shows a trap-door which led to the cellar. This doubtless gave rise to stories of intrigue but probably was concerned only with the contents of the cellar. A small cupboard door, leading apparently into a clothes-press, gave access to a narrow secret stair leading to a bedchamber above. A smaller panel, sounding hollow, was discovered to have a pair of hinges. On being opened, this revealed an iron safe with double doors, buried in the brick work of the chimney. Doubtless it was the private safe of Colonel Lee, for according to tradition there was always plenty of money in the house.

In the early days an effort was once made to surprise the bank of which Lee was an official. A party of men came into town after the closing hour, and meeting the genial colonel, explained that they had come to collect money on a note. Without a moment's hesitation, they were escorted to the Lee mansion, where the entire sum, which was an unusually large one, was paid by him in gold. This story has been vouched for by one of the earliest inhabitants of the historic town, and the finding of the safe discounts the idea of the secret closet being used for any other purpose. In the upper floor are plainly found marks of sliding panels to mask a retreat by secret floors and false walls to reach the garret.

The kitchen fireplace has been a recent discovery. When the house was restored, the fireplace was a practical but shallow affair, not showing the generous depths found in many houses of that day. In the process of repairs it was discovered that this was a false fireplace, back of which two feet more were found, and behind them the deep oven that had not been used for cooking since Massachusetts Bay was a royal colony. This kitchen fireplace is believed to be in what was used as the family dining-room, for doubtless the cooking was done in the slave quarters, much as in the Southern homes, the food being brought into the house through a covered passageway.

In the early days, a little after the building of the house, there was a great demand for lead to make bullets for the Continental army. It has been discovered that in the upper casements of the house, in rooms which were rarely occupied, the lead weights are wanting. This leads one to believe that the old tradition of their being melted during the time of the Revolution for ammunition may be true.

In the attic is a mark which shows the house to have been built by English architects. This is an inside dormer window used in those days by architects in the motherland for ventilation. This idea is rarely if ever carried out in a house where the architects or master builders are of this country.

On the death of Colonel Lee, the house was occupied by his widow, who continued to extend hospitality to the townspeople and visitors from other places, much as during her husband's lifetime. At her death the estate passed into the hands of her son, and afterwards was owned and occupied by Judge Samuel Sewall.