128 History of Hingham. 



By the deed of Madam Derby the trustees acquired about one 

 quarter of an acre of land which lay south of "other land of said 

 Sarah, and separated therefrom by a picked fence," and as residu- 

 ary legatees under her will, about half an acre lying between the 

 former piece and the highway, now known as South Street. Upon 

 the quarter-acre lot was a large dwelling-house, standing upon 

 the same spot as that upon which the present Academy building 

 stands, and it was in this that the school was first kept. This 

 building was taken down in 1818. In the rear of the lot against 

 the bank, which is in the line of the Cemetery, stood another 

 building, occupied by several families. It was two stories in 

 front and one in the rear. This building was subsequently sold, 

 and moved to the street now known as West Street, but is not now 

 standing. The buildings upon the half-acre lot and across South 

 Street are described in the foregoing receipt of the treasurer of 

 the Trustees. These, with the land, were sold in several different 

 parcels at different times between 1800 and 1818. 



It must be borne in mind that the street in front of the Academy 

 was very much changed in 1831. Previously to this date, the 

 street separated into two ways, one " over the hill " on the side of 

 the Academy grounds, and one " under the hill " in front of the 

 land now owned by Mr. Henry C. Harding, the westerly line of the 

 street being much nearer Mr. Harding's house than at present. 

 Between these two ways were buildings, and it was upon this de- 

 clivity that the first meeting-house was erected and the early 

 settlers were buried. 



The following description is given by a correspondent in the 

 " Hingham Journal " in the paper of Sept. 17, 1858 : — 



" I can just remember the old Academy building. . . . The new edifice 

 was erected in 1818, and before it was a row of flourishing sycamores, or 

 buttonwood-trees, shutting out with their thick and loft}' branches the view 

 of the street and forming no mean academic grove. They were said to 

 have been planted and nurtured by Madam Derby's own hand. Little 

 could she have dreamed of the early fate that was to overtake these fine 

 trees, struck suddenly down by an epidemic disease, the origin of which 

 is still disputed, and still remains in doubt, though considered by many 

 as the work of an insect. . . . None of the present race of scholars can 

 remember the hill directly in front of the Academy, on which, at that 

 time, stood two small one-story buildings. One of them was the town 

 schoolhouse, very different, both externally and internally, from the 

 commodious structures of the present day. ... It was located in danger- 

 ous proximity to another school, so that, as might be expected, the two 

 were in almost a perpetual state of war, especially during snowballing 

 time, when pitched battles were of daily occurrence. . . . The other 

 building was occupied by Mr. Thomas Loud, as a hatter's shop and post- 

 office, and by Mr. Samuel Norton, as a watchmaker's shop. The window 

 at which he sat for so many years looked out upon the Broad Bridge, or 

 down town, and before it stood a large Balm-of-Gilead tree. A high rail- 

 ing separated Mr. Norton from the intruding boys, who were fond of going 

 in and enjoying his witticisms, shrewd remarks, and questions, which they 



