          |
 |
 |
|
|
|
    |
 |
 |
|
A House from Ipswich Comes to Washington In 1963, two years had passed since the last resident, Roy Scott, moved out of the house at 16 Elm Street. The town of Ipswich planned to replace the house with a parking lot. But members of the local historical society thought the old place must have some value and called the Smithsonian. Smithsonian staff decided to collect the building as an example of early New England building practices. As the house was dismantled, a specialist in historic restoration made careful measurements and drawings, took photographs, and marked the pieces. The house was trucked to Washington and, in 1966, reassembled in the National Museum of American History. Saving this one house saved more than a dozen family stories and 200 years of American history. |
 |
...that Helen Lunt and other concerned Ipswich residents saved this house on the day it was scheduled for demolition in 1963? When a backhoe arrived at the site to begin tearing down the house, they paid the crew chief to hold off while they called the Smithsonian. When the Smithsonian agreed to take the house, the contractor, A. B. C. Mulholland, donated it to the museum. Mrs. Lunt is shown here with historic restoration specialist George Watson. |
|
|||||||||
 |
  |
 |
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||
