Photographs from the nomination case file, National Park Service records.
Jackson Homestead
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1973. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“In the period extending from 1838 to 1845, the question of the division of the town into two independent organizations was warmly contested. Owing to the peculiar configuration of Newton, and the dispo^ of most of its villages at that period nearly on the circumference, because of the water privileges on Charles lUver on the one hand, and the conveniences created by railway stations along the line of the Boston and Albany Railroad on the other, many favored a division.”
History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (1880). Machine-read text.
one of 1100 National Register listings in Middlesex County · listed in 1973 · category: Building · one of 3 National Historic Landmarks in Middlesex County.
National Register reference number.73000306- 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.
What happened here
An account from the chapter on Newton city, The inset identifies its exact
source book and publication year.
JbIj^ 1700, M. 63. Capt. Noab, of Newton, an Officer in the Expedition against Canada. Killed in battle with the Freoch and Indians July C, 1C90. M. 50, leaving t son Thomas. Ebeneser, oC Newton, died June 21, 1691. .fi. 45. ... . . J. B. Jepson, Newton Comer, rereals many gravestones whose inscriptions are no longer l^ble, and others, recalling the names which filled a laige place in the early history of the town, and Belonged to the founders of its institutions and the authors of its prosperity.
Captain Prentice and his wife, Grace, had four sons and four daughters. Two of his sons died in childhood ; the other two were married. Thomas, the eldest, had three sons, and died in 1685, and the old captain had the bringing up of the three grandsons, to whom he gave a good education and all his estate. Thomas, the eldest grandson, was a leading man in Newton, a captain of infantry, and died in 1730. The second grandson, John, married a daughter of Edward Jackson, and died without children, aged thirty-five. The third grandson, Samuel, married Esther, daughter of Nathaniel Hammond, and settled in Stouington, Conn. Prom this marriage have proceeded numerous descendants. Captain Prentice's wife, Grace, died October 9, 1692. He died July 6, 1710, aged eighty-nine, and was buried under arms. He settled his own estate by deeds of gift to his grandchildren. He was one of the most substantial men of his age, and enjoyed the miliniited confidence of his associates in the settlement of New Cambridge. Edward Jackson, in his will, made in 1681, inserts this clause, which is a contemjoorary testimony to his merits: "I bequeath to my honored friend, Capt. Thomas Prentice, one diamond rhig."
The Parkers in Newton have descended from two distinct families, namely, John and Joanna of Hingliam, and Samuel and Sarah of Dedham. Nathaniel Parker was a prominent man in Newton; he was the son of Samuel and Sarah, born in Dedham, March ^6, 1670. He owned the land on which the third meeting-house was erected, - the site still occupied by the First Parish Church. He sold this land, containing one and a half acres and twenty rods, for £ 15, and conveyed it to the selectmen of Newton by deed, in August, 1716.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 74 fires within 5 miles of Jackson Homestead between
2015 and 2020, burning about 44 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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
31
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
25
Debris and open burning
9
Smoking
3
Arson/incendiarism
3
Other causes
1
Equipment and vehicle use
1
Power generation/transmission/distribution
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 2,609 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Jackson Homestead between 1898 and
1975: 1,300 Animalia, 707 Plantae, 533 Fungi, 29 Protozoa, 17 Bacteria, 14 Chromista, 9 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by ?, A B Seymour, A. B. 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.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
9 workings within 5 miles of Jackson Homestead: 4 past producers, 4 plants, 1 producer.
5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Iron, Lead. 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
Newton, the town this property stands in, in 17 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 3 flood, 1 flash flood.
The reports record 1 injury. 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.
A 62-year old woman was struck by lightning. She endured a side flash after lightning struck a tree near her. She was alert and breathing at the scene but was transported to a hospital for further evaluation.
In Newton, a tree was down on a car near 1750 Commonwealth Avenue. Also, a tree was down on a house at 111 Prospect Street. A tree was down on Park Drive. A tree was down on Adams Street at Wiltshire Road.
In Newton, urban flooding caused two cars to have to be removed from flood waters near 100 Walnut Street. Also, Adams Street was flooded and impassable from Watertown Street (Route 16) to Cottage Court.
In Newton, a 20 foot stretch of Beacon Street was flooded with 1 foot of water. Also, Route 9 at the Parker Street underpass was flooded with 6 to 12 inches of water. Route 9 westbound near the Chestnut Hill Mall was flooded with 10 to 12 inches of water. In Natick, Speen Street near the Natick Mall was flooded with a foot of water. A few cars stalled out in the water.
After receiving two to three inches of rain with Tropical Storm Irene, the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Washington Street was impassable due to flooding in Newton. A car was stuck in flood waters on Commonwealth Avenue.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
5,481 words on record
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
- Moved - Unexposed (Check One) X Original Site The Jackson Homestead, on the corner of Washington Street and Jackson Road, has wide lawns on the front (south) and west sides, with about one- half acre of fields to the rear (north); one-story outbuildings extend to the east. Large trees surround the house. In front the property is bounded by an elaborate wooden fence which is terminated at both ends by paneled square posts topped with urns; posts of the same design mark the center entrance. On Jackson Road the land is enclosed by a simple picket fence. The two-story building is clapboard with a hip roof in which four end chimneys are set back in the slope a few feet from the eaves.
The house is five bays wide and four bays deep, with the regularly spaced, shuttered windows containing six-over-six sash. The entrance porch is supported by a pair of slender columns; the doorway has matching pilasters, sidelights, and an elliptical fanlight.\ To the east a driveway circles in front of the outbuildings which are used for wood storage and a garage. According to family records a house was constructed on this site in 1670 by Edward Jackson, and occupied by successive generations of Jacksons until 1809 when a new house (the present Jackson Homestead) was built by Major Timothy Jackson. Portions of the 1670 house were used in the construction of the new one, i.e. heavy beams as fireplace supports, one interior and several exterior doors.
I NThe 1809 house was built on a foundation of granite blocks brought from Quincy by oxcart.
The Jackson Homestead is significant as an example of a property acquired by an early Newton settler, and occupied and maintained by his descendants for nearly 300 years. Edward Jackson (1602-1681) was the fourth settler in Cambridge Village, now called Newton. He built a salt box house on the Homestead property in 1670 for his son,\sebas, and owned about 1600 acres at his death. An Indian trail crossed his land. He was "constantly present with the Rev. John Eliot at his lectures to the Indians, taking notes and answering questions". He owned two menservants and was probably the first slave owner in Newton. Forty-four of his Newton descendants were in the Revolutionary army.
Major Timothy Jackson (1756-1814) built the present house in 1809, using boards, hand-hewn beams and bricks from the old house where possible. He joined the Militia when 15 years old and became a Corporal two years later. While serving in the Revolution, he spent three years on the high seas aboard privateers and other war vessels, was captured several times and escaped after suffering severe hardships, including seven months in a British Army prison in New York. He settled down to farming in Newton at the age of 24. Later, he became a successful candle and soap manufacturer and was able to leave a fine estate to his children.
His civic activities included such positions as school teacher, member of the School Board, Selectman for six years, Moderator at town meetings, Justice of the Peace, and Deputy Sheriff. William Jackson (1783-1855) was Timothy's son. In 1806 he married Hannah Woodward of Newton, who died in 1814 leaving five children. William later married Mary Bennett, moving to the Homestead in 1820. There were 14 children when Mr.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 73000306, 26 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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