{"nrhp_refnum":"74000366","name":"Spofford-Barnes House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Kelsey Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boxford","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.68370330800008,"lon":-70.98449859799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-09-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2½-story Colonial center-chimney house on Kelsey Road in East Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts, built in 1749 by housewright Paul Pritchard, with a later ell and a surrounding nursery arboretum.","why_significant":"It was the home of Lydia Warren Spofford, credited with taking the first prisoner of the Revolutionary War in 1775, and of Benjamin Spofford, a key figure in the 1825 formation of Boxford's Third Congregational Church. It is also a well-preserved Colonial with notable interior paneling, and its grounds hold the mature show plantings of the Kelsey Nurseries.","narrative":"Built in 1749 by the housewright Paul Pritchard, this 2½-story Colonial house on Kelsey Road in East Boxford began as a saltbox and was raised, enlarged and updated in the 1790s, 1852, 1860, 1877 and about 1928. It has a five-bay clapboard facade, a massive center chimney and a two-story ell. The house is tied to Lydia Warren Spofford, who in 1775 is said to have captured a British soldier, the first prisoner of the Revolutionary War. Her husband Benjamin Spofford was central to Boxford's \"sheep case,\" which led to the 1825 founding of the Third Congregational Church. Inside, the west parlor's raised-panel woodwork, with fluted pilasters, was once sought by the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The grounds also matter: from 1926 to 1961 the Kelsey Nurseries operated here, leaving a mature arboretum of rare rhododendrons, azaleas, trees and shrubs.","period_of_significance":"18th Century (specific dates 1749, 1789)","architect_builder":"Paul Pritchard, housewright","architectural_style":"Colonial (center entrance, center chimney, originally saltbox)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, altered and moved; occupied as a private residence.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.243965-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/18/7949/63794918/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/74000366.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000366/0a4c646b97-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000366/0a4c646b97-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BoxfordMA_SpoffordBarnesHouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BoxfordMA_SpoffordBarnesHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794918","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spofford-Barnes_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7578809"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/spofford-barnes-house-74000366/"}