648 Life of Count Rumford. 



Concord, married, but childless, on July 18, 1819, the 

 Countess being the heiress to his and to the maternal 

 property. The estate is finely situated on a bend of 

 the Merrimack River, from which it is separated only 

 by a county road running behind it, spring freshets 

 having already made threatening inroad in its rear. It 

 consists of ten or twelve acres, and has upon it two cot- 

 tages besides the mansion-house built by Colonel Ben- 

 jamin Rolfe, the first husband of the Count's first wife. 

 This mansion of wood, which was stately and costly 

 for its day, with panelling and carving and wrought 

 cornices, has not been improved by alterations and 

 additions made to it by the Countess. Mr. Joseph 

 B. Walker of Concord, the great-grandson of the 

 Countess's grandfather, has in his possession an admi- 

 rably drawn " Plan of the Homestead belonging to the 

 Estate of Colonel Rolfe," which was made from actual 

 survey by young Benjamin Thompson, and which is 

 inscribed with his name. In Rev. Timothy Walker's 

 diary are references to the building of this mansion 

 by his future son-in-law. Thus, " Monday, i6th 

 April, 1764, visited Colonel Rolfe, and pitched the 

 place for his house." " Monday, i4th May, teams 

 went to Rattlesnake Hill for rocks for Colonel Rolfe." 

 He obtained his granite underpinning from a famous 

 quarry. Three hundred men are at this time constantly 

 employed there, and some of the noblest structures in 

 Boston, like the Merchants' Bank and Horticultural 

 Hall, have been built from it. 



By her last will the Countess devised this estate, 

 and the sum of fifteen thousand dollars in money, to 

 trustees, for the establishment and support of an insti- 

 tution to be known as " The Rolfe and Rumford 



