Ipswich Alexander Knight House

Alexander Knight House Team
CONTRIBUTORS:

James D. Whidden ~ Timber Framer
Mathew Cummings ~ Architect
Richard Irons ~ Restoration Mason
Susan S. Nelson ~ Architectural Historian
Tim Chouinard ~ Arborist
Lisa-Marie Cashman ~ Communications Consultant
Cynda Warren Joyce ~ Visual Artist

email us at: akhteam@ipswichknighthouse.org

The Ipswich Museum, along with others, have generously offered to make this memorable event result in an authentic first period re-creation. The idea is to show how early colonial houses were built using tools and methods of the time. The Ipswich Museum is adding the building to the grounds of the Whipple House, 1 South Village Green, Ipswich, MA located in the Essex National Heritage Area and a National Historic Landmark. This live exhibit will feature demonstrations and discussions about the process of home building in early American history.

Scheduled Events at the Ipswich Museum

mat Cummings and Jim Whidden

Mat Cummings ~Cummings Architects and
James Whidden ~Woodright LLC
in front of the Whipple House, Ipswich, Ma.

"The Ipswich Alexander Knight House recreation represents what many of the Town's First Period homes looked like during the early 17th century," remarks Mat Cummings. "It is the first authentic and only recreation in Ipswich's history and will have a permanent home located next to the Whipple House and sited by Sally's Pond on the South Green." Cummings further adds, "According to our knowledge, our one-room home will offer the only opportunity for one to see and experience how the common person lived in one of Mass Bay Colonies' settlements."

James Whidden adds, "Many of the First Period homes in Ipswich were only one room. As we entered the Second Period, add-ons were incorporated into the historic homes--particularly downtown-- and the original one room house became part of a larger home existing with Georgian or Federal style embellishments."

Scheduled Events at the Ipswich Museum

20 February 2010
Skating Party to celebrate the
completion of the Knight House Foundation

8 May 2010
Opening Day for the 2010 Season

5 June 2010
17th Century Saturdays, 11-3

3 July 2010
17th Century Saturdays, 11-3

7 August 2010
17th Century Saturdays, 11-3

4 September 2010
17th Century Saturdays, 11-3

2 October 2010
17th Century Saturdays, 11-3

Alexander Knight House, 1657

Raising Scheduled for
Saturday, September 4th,
10:AM at the Ipswich Museum
More...

A re-creation of an early, English-style timber frame house from 1657 as described in Ipswich town records. An on-going, live exhibit; building with traditional tools, materials and construction methods of the First Period (1625–1725).

Team at work

"The Knight house is a modest dwelling typical of the Bay Colony's first quarter-century of settlement. The houses of the First Period (1625-1725) that survive today are in some sense extraordinary, through the sheer fact of their survival and especially in their size and decoration. Their superiority of construction and condition may be, in fact, why they survived at all. The Knight house gives us a unique glimpse into the kinds of buildings that ordinary people built for themselves."

From the 1657 Town Meeting:

"secure a house to be built for Alexander Knight of 16 foote long & twelve foote wyde & 7 or 8 foote stud upon his ground & to pryd thatching & other things nesasary for it."

Timeline of Alexander Knight of England and Ipswich Prepared by
Susan S. Nelson April, 2009

This exciting project includes many processes and will be a
living exhibit; an example of what the early settlers were able
to accomplish.

Please visit us here to see progress on the project or witness the real thing at 54 South Main Street, Ipswich, MA

Updated 19 August 2010