{"nrhp_refnum":"83000740","name":"Burgess, Thornton W., House","other_names":["Laughing Brook Education and Wildlife Sanctuary"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"789 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hampden","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.063561891000035,"lon":-72.40598347835854,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-04-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Conservation","Literature","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national","state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small vernacular 1½-story wood-frame farmhouse at 789 Main Street in Hampden, Massachusetts, built between 1780 and 1784 by Calvin Stebbins on an eighteen-acre lot with a barn, two studio outbuildings and a cold cellar.","why_significant":"The house is primarily significant for its association with Thornton W. Burgess, a naturalist, conservationist and children's author who owned it from 1928 to 1965. It is also locally important as an intact example of late 18th century spare, functional domestic design, built by a descendant of Hampden's first settlers.","narrative":"Built between 1780 and 1784 by Calvin Stebbins, a member of one of Hampden's pioneer families, this small farmhouse sits against the south slope of one of the Wilbraham Mountains on Main Street. It is a cellarless, 1½-story wood-frame cottage with a central brick chimney, a rear kitchen ell, gray cedar-shingle siding and 12/12 windows. Inside, a steep, narrow staircase, gunstock posts, a large stone fireplace with a beehive oven and wide-board doors on wrought iron hinges show its age. It is the oldest house remaining on Main Street. Thornton W. Burgess, author of children's nature stories published in more than 70 books, bought the property in 1928 and used it as a summer home, then as his permanent residence until his death in 1965. He wrote in a studio and in the barn and drew the local landscape into his stories. The Massachusetts Audubon Society bought the eighteen acres in 1966 for an education center and wildlife sanctuary.","period_of_significance":"1780-84; 1928-1965","architect_builder":"Unknown (built by Calvin Stebbins, according to the statement of significance)","architectural_style":"Vernacular farmhouse; central chimney cottage (described by local supporters as Cape Cod)","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Occupied and in educational and museum use as part of a wildlife sanctuary; the house was being restored to the period of Burgess's occupation.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.853742-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/77/7952/63795277/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000740.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000740/4a2d1fda4e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000740/4a2d1fda4e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HampdenMA_BurgessHouse.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:HampdenMA_BurgessHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795277","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_W._Burgess_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7796565"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/burgess-thornton-w-house-83000740/"}