{"nrhp_refnum":"02001614","name":"Wilson, Capt. John, House and Bates Ship Chandlery","other_names":["Cohasset Historic Society Museum"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"4 Elm St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cohasset","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.23384891400008,"lon":-70.80056087299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-12-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Commerce","Maritime History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-building museum complex at 4 Elm Street in Cohasset center, Massachusetts: the 1810 Captain John Wilson House and the mid-18th-century Bates Ship Chandlery, which was moved to the site in 1957.","why_significant":"The Bates Ship Chandlery is described as the last relatively unaltered structure from Cohasset's early commercial maritime era and the only known extant 18th-century building expressly built as a chandlery in Massachusetts. The Wilson House is a Federal-era house tied to a sea captain's career and to the later commercial evolution of the village center. It also became the first home of the Cohasset Historical Society and the town's first historical museum.","narrative":"Two historic buildings share a lot at 4 Elm Street in the center of Cohasset, Massachusetts, and both now serve as museums. The Captain John Wilson House, built in 1810, is a 2½-story Federal-style wood-frame house with twin interior chimneys and a rear second-story addition of about 1830. Its first floor was reportedly used for commerce while the family lived upstairs. Wilson was a ship master who sailed fishing and trading schooners and made voyages to Spain, the Caribbean and France. Next door, the Bates Ship Chandlery dates most likely to the mid-18th century and was built by Samuel Bates as a supply store and office for his wharf and schooner fleet. It was moved to Elm Street in 1957 and restored. Its exposed post-and-beam frame and king-post roof trusses survive. It is described as the only known extant 18th-century structure built expressly as a chandlery in Massachusetts. The Wilson House was donated to the Cohasset Historical Society in 1936.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Samuel Bates (Chandlery, most likely constructed by him); William Hamilton McGaw is named only as a later owner and contractor","architectural_style":"Early Republic: Federal; Colonial/Georgian","criteria":[],"status_note":"Both buildings are owned by the Cohasset Historical Society and used as museums; the Wilson House has interior deterioration from water and insect damage.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.310081-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/76/7962/63796276/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/02001614.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001614/919640eb68-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02001614/919640eb68-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Wwoods","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wilson_House_and_Bates_Chandlery;2009-08-21.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Wwoods</a>, <a href=\"http://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:Wilson_House_and_Bates_Chandlery;2009-08-21.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796276","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capt._John_Wilson_House_and_Bates_Ship_Chandlery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5036447"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/wilson-capt-john-house-and-bates-ship-chandlery-02001614/"}