Matthew Beard House, 18 Orange Street, Nantucket

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS MASS,10-NANT,76N-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Pre-Revolutionary War house built in the section known as Quanaty Bank; part of the Orange and Union Streets Neighborhood Study (MASS-1014). PART I. HISTORICAL INFORMATION A. Physical History: 1. Original and subsequent owners: c. This was the homestead of Matthew Beard who was born in and married in Records are too incomplete to determine a definite date when house was built, or by whom. Matthew Beard died. After a Deed of Division in the Fourth Fish Lot Shares between the heirs of Matthew Beard, his daughter Sally Beard owned this property. She apparently lived here all of her life. She married Joseph Gardner in when the property became known as the Sally Beard Gardner Homestead. (August 6) Eunice N. Jenkins inherited from her mother, Sally Beard Gardner. (Sept. 19) Charles C.

Hillman inherited under will of Eunice N. Jenkins, who died one month after in- heriting the property. Her will reads in part: ''I give and bequeath to my cousin Charles Hillman * , and all the interest that I may die possessed of in the house and land on Orange Street formerly occupied by my mother Sally Gardner1'. (Note: Eunice N. Jenkins' own home was on Union Street). Andrew D. and Amelia R. Winslow bought for at public auction from Henry Lyon, guardian of Charles C. hillman, "being the same known as the Sally Gardner Estate". ORANGE AND UNION STREETS NEIGHBORHOOD STUDY MATTHEW BEARD HOUSE also known as Sally Beard Gardner House ffABS No, MASS-1068 (Page 2) Mary E. Dudley bought from the Vinslows. Leila I, Laughlin bought from Mary E, Dudley. to date Edgar V.

Seeler by deed from Leila Laughlin Carlisle. (Abstract: Records at Registry Deeds, Nantucket, Massachusetts.) 2. Date of erection: c. Early records are too vague to establish how much earlier than this the house may have been built. 3. Architect: Unknown. A. Original plans, construction, etc.: Originally this was a simple, central chimney dwelling with a small ell at rear. 5. Notes on alterations and additions: House has been quite extensively added to at the back, with changes made in good taste for comfortable modern living. B. Historical Events Connected with the Structure: John Beard, father of Matthew Beard, came to Nantucket from Teignmouth, England. His descendants owned property on Quatiaty Hill up to The Beards and their Myrick neighbors on the north were related by marriage.

Sally Beard, daughter of Natthew Beard, grew up in this house and lived there after her marriage to Joseph Gardner and until she died in August, at the age of ninety-seven. Charles Jenkins came to Nantucket from Barnstable on Cape Cod and married Sally Beard GardnerTs daughter Eunice. They had no children and Eunice left the property to her cousin Charles C. Killman, who was the son of Sally Beard's sister Elizabeth. Therefore, the house remained in the Beard family for well over a hundred years. The town bearing the name of Sherborn, which was changed in to Nantucket, was moved c.

- from the section around Capaum Pond to the present location and for a while was known as Wesco, Wesco was laid out by the Proprietors into five squadrons, each of them 8 rods wide and 80 rods in length with convenient streets and highways; each squadron contained four lots, being 2 rods wide each. The elevation on Orange Street was in the part known as the Fish Lot Shares and this house was in the 4th Fish Lot Share. The east side of Orange Street in this section was known as Quanaty Bank or Rill, an Indian name for a bluff or long hill, while the ORANGE AND UNION STREETS NEIGHBORHOOD STUDY MATTHEW BEARD HOUSE also known as Sally Board Gardner House HABS No. MASS-1068 (Page 3) west side of Orange Street was called Wesco Hill.

Orange Street was opened in but the streets were not named until It was first paved with cobblestones which are said to still be in place under the asphalt. The old houses on Orange Street for some unknown reason were removed more generally than from any other street in the town. The house of Colonel Brayton on the north of 18 Orange Street was built in by Abishai Bunker and left by will of Abishai Bunker, "an Elder in the Friends Society'' to the Nantucket Monthly Meeting, It was eventually sold and later taken down, making an attractive garden area with an interesting fence along the street. However, several Pre~Eevolutionary War structures are still standing between Stone Alley and the top of Quanaty Hill. C. Sources of Information: 1.

Old Views: Photograph of Orange Street showing original cobblestones in Nantucket Illustrated by A. Wittemann, New York: Albertype Co., drawing of this section of Orange Street in Nantucket Sketchbook by Edwin Eberman, Nantucket: S. F. Baker, plan of land of Mary E. Dudley (18 Orange Street) surveyed by William F. Codd, Book 77, Page 55, Registry Deeds, Nantucket, Massachusetts; Land Court Plan No. filed with Certificate of Title No. Land Court Plans, Registry Deeds, Nantucket, Mass. Prepared by Marie M. Coffin Nantucket, Massachusetts July PART II. PROJECT INFORMATION These records were prepared as part of the Orange and Union Streets Neighborhood Study (MASS-1014) made in the summer of by the Historic American Buildings Survey on Nantucket, Massachusetts.

This is the fifth summer project of a continuing HABS comprehensive survey of the early architecture and urban design of Nantucket financed by a grant from the Nantucket Historical Trust. The project was under the general supervision of James C. Massey, Chief of the Historic American Buildings Survey. Project Director was Professor F. Blair Reeves, A.I.A., of the University of Florida. Historical information was provided by Marie M. Coffin of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Photographs are by Jack E. Boucher of Linwood, New Jersey. The material was edited for deposit in the Library of Congress by Constance Werner Ramirez, August