  The study of old houses grows in interest with each additional discovery of good material, such as can be found in the old New England towns and cities, more especially those along the seacoast. The preservation of these old houses has done much to give us correct ideas of the interiors, though many of these, with the change of owners, have been stripped of their colonial furnishings. Most of the houses that are shown in this book are private homes which have been opened by the owners to allow pictured representations of correct ancestral furnishing. Houses such as these possess the greatest charm—ancestral homes that have descended from generation to generation in the same family since their founding. It has been a great pleasure to be allowed to visit these old mansions, which show wonderful staircases, richly carved mantels, and colonial windows, each one of which is an architectural gem. Through pictured homes like these one is given a deeper interest in the early life of our country and realizes more than ever before what the colonial period stood for in home building. I wish to acknowledge the kindness of my many friends in helping me to make this book possible, particularly Mrs. Charles M. Stark of Dunbarton, New Hampshire, for use of the old Stark mansion; the Colonial Dames of Massachusetts, for allowing correct representations in pictures of the Quincy Mansion; the New Hampshire Society of the Sons of Cincinnati, for the use of the Ladd-Gilman House; Miss Caroline O. Emmerton of Salem, for permission to show the historic House of Seven Gables; the Historical Society of Marblehead, for the use of the Lee Mansion; the Medford Daughters of the Revolution, for the old Royall House; the Dalton Club of Newburyport, who have thrown open their club-house to be pictured; Mrs. Jacob C. Rogers of Boston and Peabody; Mr. Jacob C. Peabody of Danvers; as well as many others, including Mr. John Pickering of Salem, who have allowed me access to their houses. We of New England are deeply interested in our historic homes, and it is to the lover of the colonial that I wish to show by picture and text the wonderful old mansions that are still in our midst, which have done much to bring New England into prominence in the architectural world of to-day. MARY H. NORTHEND. |
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