HomeMy WebLinkAbout33 Pleasant St Yarmouth Old Homes and Gathering PlacesCaptain Isaiah House
served in the United States Naval service during
the Civil War.
When the war ended, Captain Nickerson came
home to establish himself and to buy a house
with his well earned money. Whether he returned
to the sea or stayed on land is not known, but 30
years later he was in financial difficulty. Trying to
recuperate, he took out a mortgage on his house
from the Bass River Savings Bank for $800. Four
years later the bank foreclosed on Captain Nickerson.
What eventually happened to Captain Nickerson
was not uncovered, but the ownership of the house
in the ensuing years is documented in more than
one source. An E Field, according to the 1907
atlas, probably bought the property from the
bank. After him a man named Pridgon, and then
the Woodwards, followed by Earle N. Fontneau, all
lived here.
When Mr. Fontneau became the owner about 1947,
the house was known as the Bass River Lodge and
functioned as the name would imply. Since he
relinquished claim about 16 years ago, the place
has retained the name, but much has been altered,
changed and added to.
33 Pleasant Street
1839
Federal
Captain Isaiah House
Isaiah Crowell, born in 1799, was a ship's captain
early in life. Being active in foreign trade, his
vessel was captured by the British in the War of
1812 off St. John's, Newfoundland. He and some
other sailors were exchanged and sent home. By
the 1820's his voyages had acquired him much
wealth. In 1808, he bought the "Red House or
"Witch House." After the war, he returned to sea
in the Polly, builr for'Isaiah and David Crowell by
local shipbuilder, Asa Shiverick.
Yarmouth: Old Homes and Gathering Places 129
By the 1830's, Isaiah was deeply involved in local
affairs of South Yarmouth, then called the Quaker
Village. He served on town committees and in the
state legislature between 1831 and 1834. In 1829, a
house raising was held by the Friends to erect this
home for Isaiah Crowell. In the following years, he
was president of the Barnstable Bank, was a director
of the bank for 17 years, established an oil cloth
works, formed a stock company with David K.
Akin and David Kelley and purchased a local store
originally built by Osborn Chase. When he died
in 1872, he was 86 years of age.
Isaiah's wife Abigail, who was born in 1785, is on
record as vice president of the newly formed
Library Association. She died in 1872 and both
are buried at the Friends Meeting House a mile
from their home. The homestead passed to their
son, Henry Crowell, who lived there many years.
He was actively involved in both state and local
politics, and was in business in Boston. Their son,
Peter, was lost at sea in a storm in 1841.
In the early 1900's, the Whites used this large
structure as a boarding house to which local towns-
people often went for Sunday dinner. The Field
family after them also kept this as a boarding house.
34 Pleasant Street
c. 1775
Georgian
This house, one of the oldest, larger Georgians in
the Bass River area, has had a long, well recorded
history. The house appears in a number of publi-
cations done by local historians and can easily be
traced to the last decade of the eighteenth century.
According to Daniel Wing, the "Red House," or
"Witch House,"as it has been called, was built by
Joseph Crandon. He sold it to Samuel Farris; later,
in 1808, Captain Isaiah Crowell bought it together
with a strip of land extending from the river to
that section of Main Street which later became
the site of the Owl Club.
Additional owners of the house have included Lewis
Crowell and his son, Captain Hatzel Crowell, who
was lost at sea.
The nicknames of the house have been explained
only partially. As long as anyone can remember, it
has been painted red and, hence, "Red House" was
appropriate. Why it has been called "Witch House;'
and why it has always been painted red, are questions
to which no answers seem to be forthcoming.