The Octagon House

The Octagon House, 1920

The Octagon House, 1920

As Emily Drew tells us in the card file she created to describe the lantern slides she used to illustrate lectures on Kingston history

East side South Street, near Wapping Rd. Built by Josiah Cook in [1854] when there was a fashion for six- and eight-sided or round houses and barns. The rooms inside are attractive with corners cut off. View from S. or S.W. An older, earlier house, built in ____ had stood for many years in or close by the driveway (south). When the present house was finished, the older one was demolished and the driveway built. In the background may be seen the house recently occupied by the Varneys and some time before that by [Howland?] Sampson. See #106.

And here is #106.

The Octagon House, 1920
The Octagon House, 1920

Emily’s notes for this lantern slide:

(East side South St. near Wapping Rd.) Now owned by Clarence Ertman. House was built close by a much older one by Josiah Cook. Octagon and round houses were fashionable at that time (see #83) More comprehensive view than #83, shows more of farm buildings. This view is from the N. or N.W.

And finally, here’s a more recent view.

The Octagon House, 1998
The Octagon House, 1998 (photo courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Commission)

For more on octagon houses including floor plans and interior views of Kingston’s own, take a look at this Inventory of Older Octagon, Hexagon and Round Houses.

New Exhibit: “Historical relics”

Beginning in 1912, the U.S. Treasury decided to get rid of all of the Confederate currency that had been hanging around for 50 years or so. They didn’t just shred it: they sent sample sets to libraries, museums and other collecting institutions.

Confederate $20 bill, 1863
Confederate $20 bill, 1863

As Franklin MacVeagh, Secretary of the Treasury (and creator of the buffalo nickel) wrote to “Librarian” at the Frederic C. Adams Public Library on February 8, 1913,

“As your Library will no doubt be interested in receiving specimens of notes issued by the Confederate States of America, for exhibition purposes, I take pleasure in sending you an assortment of the same.

“These notes came into the possession of the Union Army about the close of the Civil War, and were turned over by the War Department to the Treasury of the United States in the year 1867.

“The Treasury Department has no complete series of the notes, and in presenting such specimens as are now in its custody the Department feels assured that proper disposition will be made for their safe-keeping so as to render them of permanent value to your Library as historical relics.”

Added to the historical collection by Kingston’s first public librarian Jennie McLauthlen and kept safe by her successors in the Local History Room, they are now on exhibit as items of permanent value for your viewing pleasure.

Confederate $20 bill, 1863
Confederate $20 bill, 1863