{"nrhp_refnum":"77000174","name":"Pest House","other_names":["Potter,Ephraim,House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"153 Fairhaven Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Concord","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.447509172000025,"lon":-71.36017476999996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-04-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Health/Medicine","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story wood frame eighteenth-century farmhouse at 153 Fairhaven Road in Concord, Massachusetts, on a triangular lot at the intersection with Route 2. It is also known as the Ephraim Potter House.","why_significant":"The house is significant for its role in Concord's medical history. In 1792 it served as the local hospital during a smallpox outbreak, with those stricken treated there by the town's three doctors. A small cemetery across Route 2 holds the ten people who died in that outbreak.","narrative":"Known as the Pest House, this eighteenth-century farmhouse at 153 Fairhaven Road in Concord sits on a triangular lot where Fairhaven Road meets Route 2, screened from traffic by a tall hedge. It is a two-and-a-half-story wood frame house on a low fieldstone foundation, with a symmetrical five-bay facade, six-over-six windows, a central door with sidelights and a simple entablature, and clapboard siding. A rear dormer and a modern one-story addition were added later. The house matters for its part in a 1792 smallpox outbreak. Then called the Ephraim Potter House, it became the town hospital after Sarah Potter fell ill, and patients were treated there by Concord's three doctors. Ten people died, two from inoculation and eight from the disease itself. They were buried in a small cemetery set aside across Route 2 for the outbreak's victims. The house remains a well-preserved reminder of that period in the town's medical history.","period_of_significance":"1700-1799","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial elements (simple eighteenth-century farmhouse)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in excellent condition and unaltered at the time of nomination, in use as a private residence; a modern one-story rear addition and a large rear dormer are noted.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.882766-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/78/7961/63796178/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/77000174.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000174/b9d7ebe7e0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000174/b9d7ebe7e0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ephraim_Potter_House,_Concord_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ephraim_Potter_House,_Concord_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796178","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pest_House_(Concord,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7171452"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/pest-house-77000174/"}