House referred to. According to tradition, considered 

 authentic, the house was built of logs squared on one 

 side and mortised and pinned together at the corners and 

 covered with a heavy roof of logs and made tight with 

 an outer covering of boards laid lap-edged and pinned to 

 the logs. Loopholes were made in the side of the build- 

 ing, through which guns could be aimed at the approach- 

 ing foe. About forty feet from the sides of the house 

 a palisade of logs set close together in the ground and 

 from ten to twelve feet high, surrounded it on all sides. 

 Entrance was by a stout gate or wide door or framed 

 timber, fastened on the inside with bar and chain. Pro- 

 visions, consisting of two barrels of meal and one barrel 

 of salt pork, were kept constantly on hand. The meal 

 was changed often enough to keep it sweet and fit for 

 food. A spring in the cellar of the house supplied water 

 in case of an attack, without risk of going outside the 

 walls. 



It is an interesting fact that the first water supply 

 secured by the Society was the very same spring which 

 long ago furnished water in time of need to the settlers 

 of the early days. The spot is now covered by the engine 

 house that supplies water to all parts of the grounds. 

 I attach to this description the narrative of old Mr. Esty, 

 given to the Town Clerk of Topsfield in 1895, of the fact 

 that his grandmother in a flight had to take the refuge I 

 have described. "His grandmother used to keep tied at 

 the door a horse for the purpose of using in fleeing to 

 the fort if Indians came. The fort was on the south east 

 part of Treadwell's Plain toward David Perkins. He 

 has ploughed up old dishes and pieces of brick where he 

 thinks the fort stood." 



The story of the ride is also narrated by William Ho- 

 man, who was a neighbor of mine in my younger days, 

 and a relative and descendant of the Esty family. He 

 had knowledge of particulars not contained in the other 

 story. He said that Mrs. Esty left her house, situated 

 on what is now the T. W. Pierce estate, in the night, 

 carrying her baby in her arms, with another child on 

 the horse behind her. A company of other people, to 

 the number of twenty or more, also reached the protec- 

 tion of the Block House and remained for two days and 

 nights, when the danger seemed to have passed and they 

 returned to their homes. 



Another incident of ancient days, the knowledge of 

 which should be preserved by the Society, is the fact that 



