{"nrhp_refnum":"85000029","name":"Carpenter, Ezra, House","other_names":["Witchie House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"168 South St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Foxborough","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.05204811700003,"lon":-71.25411153999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-01-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Federal-period cottage at 168 South Street in Foxborough, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, built around 1800 for Ezra Carpenter. It sits on a lot of almost one acre.","why_significant":"The house is one of the few intact Federal-period cottages left in Foxborough, and it keeps its rural setting. It was also the home of Ezra Carpenter, a Revolutionary War veteran and early straw merchant whose family helped make Foxborough a center of straw hat and bonnet manufacture. The form argues it meets Criteria A, B and C at the local level.","narrative":"Built around 1800 on South Street in Foxborough, this five-bay Federal-period cottage has a center entry, a shallow gable roof, a small central chimney and a southern wing extended around 1830. It stands on its original cut-granite foundation, and its interior keeps Federal cornice moldings, baseboards and mantels. It was built for Ezra Carpenter (1753-1841), a Revolutionary War veteran who served at Valley Forge and crossed the Delaware with Washington. After the war he farmed and traded braided straw, and he is thought to have been the town's first straw merchant. His son Daniels expanded the business into bonnet making, and his grandson Erastus helped build Foxborough's straw industry and planned Foxborough Common. The house is one of the few intact Federal cottages left in town, and its surroundings remain largely undeveloped. The Witchie family ran it as a dairy farm from 1911 until 1977, when it was donated to the town's Historical Commission. It is now vacant.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Listed as unoccupied and currently vacant, with work in progress; owned by the Foxborough Historical Commission, which plans future restoration. Condition is fair.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.820712-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/97/7961/63796197/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/85000029.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000029/53cef5d758-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000029/53cef5d758-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ezra_Carpenter_House,_Foxborough_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:Ezra_Carpenter_House,_Foxborough_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796197","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Carpenter_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5423337"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/carpenter-ezra-house-85000029/"}