House and Garden 
tion of the city, and is now 
Middle Street, our eyes are 
attracted by some old plates 
in a window and also the date 
1760. This is the old Plum¬ 
mer house, and there is some 
good old woodwork inside 
where the present occupant 
has a large collection of inter¬ 
esting old objects. 
Just beyond it is a dignified 
gambrel-roofed house built by 
Rev. Samuel Chandler in 1752 
and owned and occupied by 
him until his death in 1775. 
In his old diary there are 
several interesting items about 
the house. Under August 1 st, 
1752, he wrote: “signed the 
deed and receive of John Bab- 
son for his house-lot,—paid him ^'54 
day before yesterday.’’ Under March 20th, 
1 753 is given the short but significant item: 
“ we moved to our new house. ” 
Nearly opposite is a quaint old gambrel- 
roofed house wholly untouched by the ad¬ 
vance of time and built in 1775 by the Rev. 
John Rogers, who was graduated from Har¬ 
vard in 1739. The house is now occupied 
by two families, and even now in one side is 
a descendant ot his, living by herself. 
Continuing on further down the street 
past the site of the old whipping-post, last 
A GLOUCESTER RELIC OF I 79O 
THE DALE MANSION IN GLOUCESTER 
used about 1780, we come to the old Dale 
Mansion. What a dignified and handsome 
house it is and how attractive it must have 
been, filled with old furniture and china, to 
say nothing of the people, having that charm 
of manner of a hundred years ago. Yet now 
the outside alone remains unchanged; and 
it is used only as a storehouse, its fine old 
woodwork hidden behind boxes and barrels; 
and before another year it will be no more, 
for it is doomed to make room for a modern 
building. 
Just opposite is the Sawyer Free Library, 
so improved and modernized 
that at the first glance it hardly 
seems possible that at one time 
it was a perfect old example, 
dating from about 1764. Im¬ 
provements of the last hun¬ 
dred years and of the present 
are responsible for much that 
would have been better if left 
undone. On the opposite 
corner is a delightful old 
grambrel - roofed house with 
its windows, old doorway and 
knocker unchanged. 
Retracing our steps, we 
come to a large house on the 
corner of Middle and Wash¬ 
ington Streets. Passing 
through a little gate on the 
side, we enter the front yard, 
231 
