High Rock Tower-High Rock Cottage and Daisy Cottage
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. 17 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1892.
From the record
“The High Rock Reservation is a city park in the Highlands neighborhood of Lynn, Massachusetts. Designed in 1907 by the Olmsted Brothers, the roughly 7-acre (2.8 ha) park encompasses the summit area of a hill with commanding views of the surrounding area, as well as the Atlantic Ocean which is approximately half a mile away.”
Wikipedia article High Rock Tower Reservation, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 480 National Register listings published here for Essex County · listed in 1979 · category: District.
National Register reference number.09000086- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1892 to 1997
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
This is Lynn. And probably no place upon the New England coast can present more attractive features and such varied scenery. It is one of the oldest settlements of Massachusetts, as distinguished from Plymouth, and has always maintained a steady, though not rapid, growth, till, at the present time, it has reached a population of very near 50,000. It is on the northern shore of the great bay which is entered from the Atlantic through the gateway formed by Cape Ann, so named by Prince Charles in filial respect for his mother, and Cape Cod, so named by the notable English navigator, Bartholomew Gosnold, from the circumstance of finding multitudes of codfish sporting about there. It was the central one of the three important settlements commenced at nearly the same time, - namely, Salem, Lynn and Boston ; is five miles southwest of the former, and ten miles northeast of the latter. It is not now very extensive, territorially, but as regards population is the largest city in the United States, east of Boston.
With the Ingalls brothers appear to have come three others, namely, William Dixey, John Wood and William Wood, the two latter supposed to be father and son. The father, John, seems to have been a good, common-sense, plodding settler, industrious, but with little ambition. William, the son,was evidently an active, aspiring young man, something of a rover, a keen observer and one desirous of making a mark. And he did make a mark, which remains conspicuous at this day. He may well be called the first historian of Lynn, or indeed of New England. He was the author of " New England's Prospect," which was printed in London in 1634. It was a work evidently inspired by a love for his new home, and gives graphic accounts of the different settlements, their condition, advantages and prospects, with shrewd suggestions and honest deductions, but withal tinged by crude conceptions, more or less attributable to the peculiar views and circumstances of the settlers, and the conceits of the time. His quaint descriptions will continue to be quoted so long as our early history continues to interest. He also, in 1635, published a map of New England, engraved on wood.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 77 fires within 5 miles of High Rock Tower-High Rock Cottage and Daisy Cottage
between 2003 and 2020, burning about 252 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 7 were 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
Recreation and ceremony
27
Smoking
17
Debris and open burning
7
Arson/incendiarism
7
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
6
Misuse of fire by a minor
4
Equipment and vehicle use
4
Fireworks
3
Natural
1
Railroad operations and maintenance
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 10,599 specimens
collected within 10 miles of High Rock Tower-High Rock Cottage and Daisy Cottage between 1800 and 1975: 5,094 Plantae, 2,952 Animalia, 1,006 Chromista, 831 Fungi, 411 Unrecorded, 290 Bacteria, 15 Protozoa.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A B. Proper, A. A. Eaton, A. B. Hervey 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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
12 workings within 5 miles of High Rock Tower-High Rock Cottage and Daisy Cottage: 4 producers, 3 past producers, 2 unknowns, 2 plants.
6 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Iron, Gold. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Lynn, the town this property stands in, in 37 storm reports between 2006 and 2023: 16 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail, 5 flood, 5 flash flood.
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.
Numerous trees and wires were downed throughout Lynn, closing thirty to forty streets. An amateur radio operator recorded a wind gust of 60 mph on their home weather station on Centre Street.
At 9:16 AM EST, cars on Monroe Street in Lynn were floating in the street. At 9:18 AM EST, water was rising in a building on Monroe Street, causing people to stand on chairs. At 9:31 AM cars were trapped in flood waters on Chatham Street under a bridge; the road was impassable. At 10:03 AM the basement door to a building on Union Street had collapsed due to the flooding, and water was pouring in. At 10:18 AM, large sections of Boston Street in Lynn were flooded and impassable, and several cars were trapped in the floodwaters. At 10:32 AM state route 107 on the Lynn/Salem border was closed due to flooding. At 10:59 AM EST, manhole covers were reported coming off the road on Seymour Avenue. A car was trapped in three feet of water on Wilfred Street; the road was impassable. At 11:42 AM EST, street flooding on Erie Street reached several feet.
Lightning struck a three family home on Washington Street, setting fire to the house. Damage was to the front roof in the third floor unit. Residents in the third floor unit were unable to return to their unit due to water damage. Other units were not damaged.
In Swampscott, a car was stuck in flood waters at the Santander Bank parking lot. Crowinshield Street was flooded in Peabody. A car was stuck in flood waters on Endicott Street. Leather City Common was flooded with six to twelve inches of water.
In Peabody, a car was stuck in two feet of water on America Drive. A car was stuck in flood waters on the ramp for the Northshore Mall from Route 114 to Route 128. In Lynn, four to six inches covered all three eastbound lanes of the Lynnway. Other streets in Lynn were flooded with three feet of water and the fire department responded to two calls of people stuck in their cars. In Beverly, Federal Street between MacPherson Drive and Rantoul and Lothrop Street at Route 127 were closed due to flooding. The fire department reported several streets flooded with at least 3 feet of water. They responded to about a half dozen calls of people stuck in their cars. In Salem, Highland Avenue was flooded out.
In Lynn, large branches and wires were downed by thunderstorm winds. In Marblehead, trees and wires on Green Street and Kenneth Road were downed by thunderstorm winds. One of the trees on Kenneth Road landed on a house.
A tree and wires were downed onto a fence on Warwick Street in Lynn. Also, an eight inch diameter tree branch was downed and blew into a house, the house sustained minor damage. Several other tree limbs were downed on Lynnfield Street and Savory Street.
In Swampscott, several cars were stuck in street flooding on Paradise Road (Route 1A). |Also, a car was stuck at the intersection of Stetson Avenue and Norfolk Avenue.
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.
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
The area coveredby this nomination consists of approximately four-and-one-half acres located at the summit (elevation 170') and along the south slope of High The area is a steeply sloping hillside which is studded with large out- croppings of porphyry and which commands views of Boston, Nahant, and Salem. Properties included in this nomination are High Rock Park, High Rock Tower, High Rock Cottage (22 Johns Avenue), Daisy Cottage (17 Campbell Terrace) and 30 Johns Avenue. HIGH ROCK TOWER: The present High Rock Tower is the second observation tower to occupy its site. The structure is square in plan and rises in three stages, its walls tapering inward. The body of the tower is constructed of reddish granite rubble set on a base of rock-faced gray granite ashlar.
Corner quoins, quoined window and door trim, and crenellations are all made of rock-faced gray granite. Set in the center of the structure is a brick cylinder which contains a stairway leading to the tower's roof observation deck. The north elevation contains the tower's entry, centered on the first story. The entry is framed by an arched opening with granite voussoirs and an extrados of three projecting courses by gray granite. At the second story are two arched openings which rise from a continuous granite course. Framed by granite quoining, these openings have railings which are supported by quare granite balusters. At the third story is a group of four small arched openings set on a single granite sill and forming an arcade.
Above the third story projects an undecorated granite cornice above which are crenellations. All other elevations (east, west, & south) are identical to the north, except that each has a semi-circular light at the first story instead of a doorway.
/ARCHITECT High Rock Cottage (Lewis and Harney? High Rock Tower (Wheeler and Betton Tower 1904, Auditerium 1092 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The HighRock Tower and its associated cottages possess integrity of location, design, setting and for the most part materials. They are significant for their associations with the Hutchinson family, a group immersed in many radical nineteenth century causes such as the temperance abolitionist and women's movements. The group of structures at High Rock is an unusual physical representative of this important phase of nineteenth centure culture. Rising to a height of 170 feet, High Rock is less than three quarters of a mile from the ocean and commands unobstructed views of Boston, Nahant, and Swampscott.
Although local historians suggest that the hill's summit was used as a look-out point by Indians and early settlers--the site's major fame dates from the mid-nineteenth century when High Rock and its porphyry outcroppings became appreciated for their "Romantic" qualities. During the 1840's, a parcel of five and one-half acres, including the summit of High Rock, was purchased by Jesse Hutchinson, who, together with other members of his family, built two Gothic cottages an auditorium and an observarion tower on the property.
Both the fame of the Hutchinson Family, who lived here until the early twentieth century, and the "picturesque" qualities of the property made up High Rock Cottage, Daisy Cottage and the first High Rock Tower frequent illustrations in wood-cut, lithographic and stereoptic views of nineteenth-century Lynn. Born in Milford, New Hampshire, John, Jesses, Asa and Judson Hutchinson are believed to have come to Lynn by 1839 and to have been performing locally as a quartette of singers by 1840.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 09000086, 16 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
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.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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