{"nrhp_refnum":"76000308","name":"Ward, Gen. Artemas, Homestead","other_names":["See Also:Shrewsbury Historic District"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Main St., opposite Dean Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"Shrewsbury","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.29527525700007,"lon":-71.69665976799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-05-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Military","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A museum complex on Main Street (the former Boston Post Road) in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, centered on an eighteenth-century clapboard house begun in 1727 and enlarged in 1785. It also includes a curator's residence, smoke house and barn on 5.5 acres of the original 100-acre estate.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the property is significant as the home of General Artemas Ward, a well-known Revolutionary War leader, and as the most handsome eighteenth-century structure in Shrewsbury. Ward led militiamen in the siege of Boston and became the first Major General under George Washington.","narrative":"This Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, property is a farm complex on Main Street, once the Boston Post Road, made up of a two-story clapboard country house, a curator's residence, a smoke house and a long barn. The oldest part of the house dates to 1727, when Colonel Nathum Ward, an early settler and church founder, built it. In 1785 the house was doubled with an addition for the son and daughter-in-law of General Artemas Ward. The house has a seven-bay facade with twin pedimented doorways, and inside it keeps enclosed stairways, wainscoting and a hanging partition that converts two bedrooms into a ballroom. Artemas Ward represented Shrewsbury in the General Court, took command of militiamen at Cambridge in 1775, began the siege of Boston and became the first Major General under Washington. The house is now a museum owned by Harvard University and holds Ward family furnishings, including his desk, bed, portraits and records.","period_of_significance":"1700-1799","architect_builder":"Built by Colonel Nathum Ward (1727 section)","architectural_style":"Georgian Colonial","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by Harvard University and operated as a museum open to the public by appointment; main house listed as unoccupied, curator's house occupied; condition excellent.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.745136-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/60/7974/63797460/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/76000308.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000308/125e660403-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000308/125e660403-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":null,"credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gen._Artemas_Ward_Homestead.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown author</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:Gen._Artemas_Ward_Homestead.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797460","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Artemas_Ward_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5531703"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/ward-gen-artemas-homestead-76000308/"}