ne 
Va 
Vol. I. No. 29 
HISTORIC HOUSES. 
The Old Haskell House at Beverly Farms 
One of the Best Preserved in this Section, 
The North Shore, with its host of 
old historic spots, offers no better 
relic of ‘ye olden day” than the old 
Haskell house at Beverly Farms. 
This house at the present time has a 
panel over the tront door, with the 
date “1689” upon it, but the oldest 
inhabitants at the Farms — those who 
ought to know — say the house could 
not have been built till about a cen- 
tury after that date, or about the close 
of the Revolutionary war. 
At all events, no matter what may 
be the exact date the house was con- 
structed, the building is one of the 
best preserved old houses in this sec- 
tion. It is typical of the houses of 
that day, two stories high and with 
long, drooping roof. 
One peculiar feature of the building 
is the brick inner wall. Between the 
inner and outer walls, such as all 
houses have, is a wall of brick. This 
was put in for warmth. 
Everyone who has ever driven down 
the shore must have noticed this old 
building. It is striking in appearance, 
but has not that look of age many 
houses of like age in this section pre- 
sent. It is situated on the Beverly 
Farms - Pride’s Crossing road, on the 
opposite side of the street from Dow’s 
greenhouses. 
Most everybody at the Farms has 
heard of Aunt Betsy Haskell. She 
died within the memory of many of 
the older residents. She was born 
May 16, 1778. 
It was her father, the good old Wil- 
liam Haskell, who built the old house 
in question, and planted the apple 
orchard where the greenhouses now 
stand. 
It is quite natural, therefore, to 
suppose that the house was built some- 
time in the vicinity of 1778. 
Until within a few years there has 
been back of the house one of these 
old-time wells, which never failed to 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
A WEEKLY: JOURNAL DEVOTED-TO-THE BEST: INTERESTS-OFTHENORTHSHORE: 
BEVERLY, MASS., SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1904 
Three Cents 
give some cool, refreshing water. 
Mrs. James B. Dow remembers hear- 
ing her grandmother telling about this 
well. When it was dug the men struck 
a spring, and the water rushed in so 
fast they had to work quite hard to 
get out of the well. No matter how 
dry the season, the water in this well 
never gave out, and from all parts of 
the village people came there for 
water. Of late years the well has not 
been used, and only a short time ago 
it was filled in. 
The old house and the adjoining 
property, together with the old An- 
drew Larcom homestead, down near 
the water, was bought by Gordon 
Dexter some. years ago, and the latter 
is used by him now asa summer home, 
while the old Haskell house is occu- 
pied by his coachman. 
Few of the North Shore residents 
are aware of the fact that more thana 
score of such houses as the one in the 
accompanying picture are still stand- 
ing and offer much more interesting 
historical significance to the student 
of antiquity than this. 
FIRE DRILL. 
Children of the G. A. Priest School, Manches- 
ter, Leave Building in 47 Seconds, 
Three hundred and twenty-five chil- 
dren, hardly any of them over 14 years 
old, left their seats in the various 
rooms of the G. A. Priest school, 
Manchester, Wednesday afternoon, 
and were out of the building in three- 
quarters of a minute — or, to be exact, 
just 47 seconds. 
There was no fire to cause them to 
break away from their work and make 
such a hasty exit. The children were 
simply put through the fire drill, which 
Principal Albert Mead has brought to 
such a degree of perfection that every 
one of the little ones can leave the big 
building in less than a minute. 
Few Manchester parents realize 
their children at school are so well 
protected against fire; protected — 
not by thick, asbestos walls, or a 
brigade of trained firemen, but by 
their own little brains and feet. 
It was at the instigation of Principal 
Mead that the BREEZE man went to 
THE OLD HASKELL HOUSE AT BEVERLY FARMS, 
