Plate LXXI.—Porch, Dalton House.
Entrance to the house is through a colonial porch of ample dimensions, showing dentation, which is supported by Corinthian columns; the hall is lighted by a fanlight and sidelights on either side the wide, hospitable door. The exterior is painted white, as it always has been. A feature of the house is the wide clapboards. The original small-paned windows have been kept, so that the exterior remains practically unchanged. Who the carver was is unknown. It must be remembered that in those days ship carvers were employed to work upon the ornamentation of the ships, so that it was probably some one employed by the Daltons on their vessels who designed and carried out the carving of the woodwork, both on the exterior and in the interior.
Plate LXXII.—Lower Hall, Dalton House; Upper Hall, Dalton House.
The entrance door gives into a large hall with wonderfully fine panellings on either side. Each of the three balusters has a different design. The stairs are box stairs leading by low treads to a wide landing, where a colonial window admits a flood of light to the hall. A second low flight of stairs leads to the second story, where the hall corresponds with the lower one. It is here the Hepplewhite chairs are found and also a wonderful picture of the late Tristram Dalton, painted later in life than the one already mentioned. The woodwork in this house is considered the finest to be found in any house in Newburyport. The hall is finished in panel effects, but the door-casings and the fireplaces in many instances show rich hand-carving.
The house contains twenty-five rooms, sixty cupboards, and ample halls, and yet even then was scarcely large enough to accommodate the Dalton family, their many guests, and their servants. Many of the latter were slaves, who in those days were kept in the household. One of them was buried on Burying Hill in Newburyport, and on a stone placed at the head of his grave is carved "Faithful Pompey."
Plate LXXIII.—Fireplaces, Dalton House.