Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. 21 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1887.
“The Inness-Fitts House and Studio is a historic house at 406 Main Street in Medfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1836, it is a modest transitional Federal-Greek Revival structure.”
Wikipedia article Inness-Fitts House and Studio, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 342 National Register listings published here for Norfolk County · listed in 2002 · category: Building.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
The chapter on Medfield Town in History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884 names Medfield. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
The territory south and east of Charles River was claimed by the tribe of the Neponsets, whose domain included the river of that name. Their sachem, Chickatabot, was very friendly to the English from the first, forming treaties and agreements with both the Plymouth and Bay colonies. About 1632, William Pynchon, of Boston, afterwards of Springfield, purchased of Chickatabot the territory lying between Charles River and Neponset River, The town of Medfield was included in that purchase, together with several other towns of Norfolk County as far south as the Rhode Island line ; though the southern boundaries of that purchase were very indefinite, and misunderstanding arose between the settlers and the Indians many years afterwards. It is doubtful if the limits were very clearly defined at the time of purchase, as, in 1635, the colonial government called for any persons who were present at the time of the purchase, or who knew where the boundaries were, to come forward and testify. There was no response, great numbers of the Indians having been swept off by the smallpox in 1633, among them the sachem, Chickatabot.
Passage source: History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.
Medfield was a part of Dedham for fifteen years, but this part of the town is seldom mentioned in the early recordsof Dedham. Special attention seems to have been first drawn to this region on account of the wide expanse of meadows lying along Charles River, and at the mouths of its tributary streams near this place. The name given by the aborigines to the valley of Charles River above Natick, for several as were most words in the ancient papers and records. | side of the river, so including the river and the wide From all that we can gather, the name seems to have | meadows on both sides.
Passage source: History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Medfield Town - 10,627 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 90 fires within 5 miles of Inness-Fitts House and Studio/Barn between 2015 and 2020, burning about 31 acres in total. 3 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 23 |
| Debris and open burning | 17 |
| Smoking | 13 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 9 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 9 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | DOVER |
| 26 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 25 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | MEDFIELD |
| 22 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 18 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 12 September 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | WALPOLE |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 9,332 specimens collected within 10 miles of Inness-Fitts House and Studio/Barn between 1832 and 1975: 4,439 Animalia, 2,530 Plantae, 2,144 Fungi, 146 Protozoa, 37 Chromista, 31 Unrecorded, 5 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. A. Eaton, A. B. Seymour, A. B. Seymour & A. C. Seymour and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.
| Image | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Hypoprepia fucosa Hübner, 1831 | 1900 | not recorded | Sherborn |
 | Bartramia pomiformis Hedw. | 1832 | C. E. Cummings | |
 | Galium verum L. | 1846 | Kupell | |
 | Dichanthelium acuminatum var. acuminatum | 1849 | Ernest Charles Smith | Framingham. |
 | Ameiurus nebulosus (Lesueur, 1819) | 1852 | S. Baird | Framingham, Massachusetts. |
 | Boleosoma fusiforme Girard, 1854 | 1852 | S. Baird | Framingham, Massachusetts. |
 | Pristiphora Latreille, 1810 | 1856 | not recorded | |
 | Grammia arge Drury, 1773 | 1867 | not recorded | Sherborn |
 | Polygonum coccineum Muhl. ex Willd. | 1869 | Morong, T. | Natick |
 | Carex swanii (Fernald) Mack. | 1870 | Joseph Blake | Sharon |
 | Chamaecyparis thyoides (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb. | 1870 | Joseph Blake | Sharon |
| Chantransia hermannii (Roth) Desvaux | 1870 | F. W. Dewart |
All 9,332 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 17 workings within 5 miles of Inness-Fitts House and Studio/Barn: 8 past producers, 8 producers, 1 unknown. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Needham Pit | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Walpole Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Bates Bros Quarry | Granite | Producer | ||
| Hopkinton Quarry | Granite | Producer | ||
| Dedham Pit & Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Dedham Sand and Gravel Co | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Holliston Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Medway Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Millis Pit & Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Norfolk Pit & Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Medfield, the town this property stands in, in 8 storm reports between 1998 and 2020: 6 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Medfield | $18,000 | In Walpole, multiple trees were down, snapped, or uprooted from Mill Brook Avenue to Pine Hill Drive. Four trees were downed onto houses. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Medfield | $8,000 | In Medfield, a large tree was down on Lowell Mason Road. A large tree was down on Main Street. A large tree was down on Pound Street. Three large trees were down into the back part of an apartment house on Wilkins Glen Road. |
| October 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Medfield | $1,500 | In Medfield, multiple trees were down around South Street. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Medfield | $500 | In Medfield, a tree was down on Pound Street. |
| July 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Medfield | $500 | In Medfield, a tree was down on Granite Street. |
| May 2002 | Hail | Medfield | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Medfield | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Medfield | - | no account filed |
United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | First Baptist Church of Medfield | 0.1 miles | 2003 |
 | First Parish Unitarian Church | 0.3 miles | 1974 |
 | Peak House | 0.3 miles | 1975 |
 | Dwight-Derby House | 0.3 miles | 2002 |
 | Vine Lake Cemetery | 0.7 miles | 2005 |
 | Medfield State Hospital | 2.4 miles | 1994 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 02000153 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Norfolk County | All 342 listed properties in this county. |
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