{"nrhp_refnum":"00000569","name":"Caryl, Benjamin, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"107 Dedham St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dover","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.248130711000044,"lon":-71.27102591599999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-06-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, center-chimney Colonial house at 107 Dedham Street in Dover, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, traditionally dated to 1777. It was built for Rev. Benjamin Caryl, the town's first settled minister, and sits within Caryl Park.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is a well-preserved example of New England's best-known house type, with its structure and ornament largely intact. It also documents rural life in Massachusetts through four generations of one family's ownership. It is argued significant locally under Criteria A and C.","narrative":"Set back from Dedham Street in Dover, Massachusetts, this two-story Colonial house was built for Rev. Benjamin Caryl, the town's first settled minister, and is traditionally dated to 1777. It follows the classic center-chimney form, with a symmetrical five-bay facade, a paneled front door beneath a pediment, and a fieldstone foundation. Inside, the parlor has a fully paneled fireplace wall, and the rear rooms keep feather-edged paneling and exposed framing. Ells added in 1933 and 1942 provide caretaker housing and modern conveniences, but the house has seen little remodeling, and a 1959 observer described it as in wonderfully untouched condition. It stayed in the Caryl family for generations, passed to George Ellis Chickering in 1898, and was bequeathed to the town in 1920 along with the surrounding farmland, now Caryl Park. The Dover Historical Society runs it as a museum. Its architecture and its record of rural life account for its local significance.","period_of_significance":"1777-1898","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Owned by the town since 1920 and operated as a historic house museum by the Dover Historical Society; furnished to represent a late 18th and early 19th century period. A caretaker's apartment is in the rear ell.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.653867-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/94/7963/63796394/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/00000569.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000569/b39c912836-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000569/b39c912836-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tim Pierce","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_Caryl_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Pierce</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_Caryl_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796394","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Caryl_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4888381"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/caryl-benjamin-house-00000569/"}