Sometimes a house has too much history! Just stepping into the Dalton House at 95 State Street can be a crowded affair. Turn here, and an original picture of Rev John Parker is spotted and artifacts of significance are displayed everywhere. Why, at one time-and this is known from old pictures- an original large painting of George Washington once hung in the main foyer.
The house history started in New Hampshire when Michael Dalton was called by the Sea and he left Hampton to ply as a mariner. A mariner is a professional sailor-he could be a pilot, a first mate, a crew hand or a captain. He did so well, he became a master mariner-a man bursting with talent. He soon turned it to being a merchant-did well and built this house in 1747. He owned an entire wharf and a rum distillery as well as working the duties of an import/exporter.
He had a son, Tristram, who attended Harvard and ended up marrying the daughter of Marblehead’s wealthiest merchant. He studied law and then joined his father in their many businesses. When Michael died, he inherited the house in 1764.
Tristram was everywhere in politics. He was a delegate to the Provincial Congress and later a representative at the state house and became a speaker of the Massachusetts House. There is no record of any indictments of wrong doing unlike the recent Speakers! He became a delegate and cast the vote for the U.S. Constitution. He was also ordered to outfit two ships for Privateering which he promptly did. And if that wasn’t enough, he helped to frame the new constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts!
His powerful connections made him many influential friends. Marquis de Lafayette visited him and George Washington slept here (but partied at the Tracy Mansion) The reason the first President visited here due to the Newburyport merchants who had bankrolled much of the Revolutionary War and continued their patriotic support by supplying the Merrimack, the first navy ship of the United States. They not only built it at their expense but gave it to the fledgling country freely.
Consequently, James Monroe came here and when John Quincy Adams practiced here he visited the home.
In 1792, the house was sold to Moses Brown as Tristram and his wife moved to Boston as he served in various political offices. In 1827, it was willed to the Bannisters whose heirs kept it in the family until 1880. That year, Frank A. Hale purchased the home and then sold it in 1887 to Charles H. Coffin who in turn sold it to E.P. Shaw in 1889 who then turned around and sold it to Timothy Remick. The Dalton Men’s Club was established in 1895 and shortly thereafter purchased the home in 1897 who have owned it to the present day.
One interesting note is Garden Street – it was so named because the land where it stood used to be the expansive gardens that Michael and Tristram and Moses Brown had owned. They were sold off and the Dalton House property itself reduced.
Today, even though the rooms have been modified to accommodate the Men’s Club, much of its interior molding and Georgian features remain including interesting Indian shutters. The Dalton Club today is still the finest example of Georgian architecture in existence in Newburyport today. The house is individually posted in the National Register of Historic Places.
One of the most amazing features of the home is the haunted basement. Strange sightings and mysterious shadows as well as poltergeist occurrences are often noted in the older sections of the cellar. Perhaps more amazing than the ghost or ghosts is the bowling alley that actually extends right up to the subterranean border of State Street. One would hardly believe that a game of candlepin could be going on while standing outside in front of the house!
Bibliography:
Historical Surveys, City of Newburyport, Historical Commission, 1984.
History of Newburyport 1764-1905, by J. J. Currier, Volumes I & II, Reprinted Newburyport, 1977.
Assessor’s Records, Vision Appraisal, 2009, City of Newburyport Website.
Old Newburyport Houses, by Albert Hale, W.B. Clarke Co., Boston, 1912.
The Architectural Heritage of the Merrimack, by J. M. Howells, New York, 1941.