{"nrhp_refnum":"68000019","name":"Coffin, Jethro, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Sunset Hill","address_restricted":false,"city":"Nantucket","county":"Nantucket County","state":"MA","lat":41.28791006650005,"lon":-70.10632228374695,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1968-11-24","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1968-11-24","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half story frame central-chimney house with a rear lean-to on Sunset Hill, northwest of the center of Nantucket, Massachusetts, built about 1686 and heavily reconstructed in 1927.","why_significant":"It is generally cited as one of the finest surviving New England examples of a seventeenth-century 'Cape Cod' or saltbox house. It is also unusual on Nantucket for remaining on its original site. Its central brick chimney carries an unusual ornament interpreted as an anti-witch charm, a wishbone or a Jacobean decoration.","narrative":"Sitting on a rise called Sunset Hill, northwest of Nantucket's town center and surrounded by open fields, this one-and-a-half story frame house was built around 1686, reportedly as a wedding present for Jethro and Mary (Gardner) Coffin. Its materials came from Exeter, New Hampshire, where Jethro's father owned timberland and a sawmill. The house is built around a central chimney, covered in cedar shakes and lit by small diamond-paned casements, with a long rear slope over a lean-to. The chimney's projecting brick figure has been read as a horseshoe, a witch-prevention charm, a wishbone or Jacobean ornament. The Paddock family owned the house from 1708 to 1840, and the Nantucket Historical Association bought it in 1923 and reconstructed it in 1927 under architect Alfred E. Shurrocks. Though little original material remains, it serves as a textbook saltbox and is one of the few Nantucket buildings still on its original site.","period_of_significance":"17th Century (c. 1686)","architect_builder":"Alfred E. Shurrocks (architect for the 1927 reconstruction)","architectural_style":"Seventeenth-century 'Cape Cod' house / saltbox","criteria":[],"status_note":"Good condition; operated as a house museum by the Nantucket Historical Association.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.241617-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/91/7937/63793791/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/68000019_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/68000019/06afe257b0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/68000019/06afe257b0-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Cortlandt V. D. Hubbard, Photographer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jethro_Coffin_House,_Sunset_Hill,_Nantucket_(Nantucket_County,_Massachusetts).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Cortlandt V. D. Hubbard, Photographer</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jethro_Coffin_House,_Sunset_Hill,_Nantucket_(Nantucket_County,_Massachusetts).jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000772","name":"Nantucket Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/nantucket-historic-district-66000772/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793791","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jethro_Coffin_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6189014"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/nantucket-county/coffin-jethro-house-68000019/"}