{"nrhp_refnum":"66000792","name":"Whittier, John Greenleaf, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"86 Friend St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Amesbury","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.85557365300008,"lon":-70.93519127466412,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1962-12-29","areas_of_significance":["Literature"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2-story frame house at 86 Friend Street, corner of Pickard Street, in Amesbury, Massachusetts. The original Cape cottage dates from about 1811 and was later enlarged in 1847 and 1900.","why_significant":"The house was the home of poet, abolitionist and humanitarian John Greenleaf Whittier from 1836 until his death in 1892, and he did most of his major writing there. The main portion looks as it did in his lifetime, and most furnishings, including his desks, remain as he left them.","narrative":"This house at 86 Friend Street in Amesbury, Massachusetts, was the home of poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier from 1836 until his death in 1892. It began about 1811 as a 1-1/2 story Cape cottage with four rooms on the main floor and one in the attic. Whittier added a bedroom after buying it, and in 1847 he and his family enlarged it with a sitting room, study, side porch and a gable-roofed second story. His heirs made further additions in 1900, including a two-story rear wing. Whittier wrote most of his major work here, including poems for which he became a widely read \"household poet\" in America and England. The main portion of the house looks as it did during his lifetime, and most furnishings, including his desks, remain as he left them. The Whittier Home Association has owned it since 1918 and operates it as a museum open to visitors.","period_of_significance":"1811; 1836-1892","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned since 1918 by the Whittier Home Association and open to the public as a museum; condition marked good, with alterations.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 01:59:37.235126-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/95/7936/63793695/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/66000792_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000792/ba8a9eaef0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000792/ba8a9eaef0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"The original uploader was Daderot at English Wikipedia.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Greenleaf_Whittier_Home_-_Amesbury,_Massachusetts.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">The original uploader was Daderot at English Wikipedia.</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:John_Greenleaf_Whittier_Home_-_Amesbury,_Massachusetts.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793695","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Greenleaf_Whittier_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14715638"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/whittier-john-greenleaf-house-66000792/"}