Part 4 (1/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XXIV.--The Lee Mansion, Marblehead, Ma.s.s.]
The celebrated Lee mansion, erected in 1768, is of the purest colonial type, and was the most costly residence ever built in this seaport town.
Many traditions relate that the timber and the finish were brought over in one of the colonel's trading s.h.i.+ps as ballast. However that may be, the material used was pine, such as was known in the old days as pumpkin pine. The trees of that species sometimes allow for boards four feet in width, and the fact that boards of this width are found in the Lee mansion is claimed by many to refute the idea of English wood, as the pines in the old country did not produce boards of such width when Jeremiah Lee commenced to build.
Standing back from the street behind a granite curb and iron paling is the old mansion, its dimensions being sixty-four feet by forty-six feet, and containing fifteen large rooms. The exterior was built of brick, over which were placed huge, bevelled, wooden clapboards, more than two feet in width, and one and a half in height. From a distance the observer might mistake the gray of the exterior for stone, as the block style of construction was employed, the wooden cube being painted and sanded to resemble dark gray rock.
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XXV.--Porch, Lee Mansion.]
This gray wooden building, with its two wide-girthed chimneys pus.h.i.+ng up from the red roof, has the same appearance as in the days when the first housewarming took place, in 1768. The handsome porch and the gray cupola are distinguis.h.i.+ng features, and from the former in the olden days the colonel swept the seas with his spy-gla.s.s to watch for incoming s.h.i.+ps just as sea captains do to-day.
In the early part of the eighteenth century Jeremiah Lee came to this country and settled at Manchester-by-the-Sea. The little that can be learned of him shows him to have been a keen trader, who took care to make his savings increase his income. In 1760 we find him living in Marblehead, prominent in town affairs and serving on important committees, being one of the Board of Fire-wards in the first fire department of the town. He was also one of the building committee that had charge of the construction of the powder house erected about that time.
Originally Lee was a Loyalist, but he later became a patriot and was foremost in all the movements that kindled the spirit of independence in the colonists. Before the struggle had fairly commenced, his career was cut short by an early death; otherwise he would have been as well known to posterity as was his intimate friend and fellow-townsman, Elbridge Gerry. As a member of the Province Committee of Safety and Supplies, which held a meeting on April 18, 1775, at Weatherby's Black Horse Tavern, situated on the highway between Concord and Lexington, he was among the number who decided to spend the night at the tavern rather than to go on to Lexington. The advance guard of the British troops was sighted in the early morning, and the colonel and his friends hastily dressed and escaped by a rear door, the colonel thereby contracting a cold from which he died.
During Lee's life in Marblehead he entertained royally in this mansion, which was erected at a cost of ten thousand pounds. Within a few steps of this mansion there was also a cooking-house, the same building being used to shelter the carriages of the family. Originally the large brick building now used for the store was made his slaves' quarters. Not long ago was found inside the house a small bra.s.s b.u.t.ton, bearing the coat of arms of the Lee family, which was doubtless once worn on the livery of one of his slaves.
In the flagging that leads to the side door has lately been uncovered a central stone bearing the date of the erection of the house.
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XXVI.--Two Views of the Hallway, Lee Mansion.]
As the ponderous front door swings open, one enters a grandly s.p.a.ced hall, wainscoted waist high in solid mahogany. At the right is a deeply recessed window, and a door on either side of the hall leads into rooms beyond. Above the casing of these entrances runs the cla.s.sic egg and tongue molding. The feature of the hallway is the wall-paper. This represents scenes of Grecian ruins, such as shattered columns, temples, landscapes, coats of mail, each set in a separate panel, handsomely carved. It is finished in soft tones of gray, beautifully blended, doubtless the highest development of early decorative art.
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XXVII.--Wallpapers, Lee Mansion.]
At the rear of the hall, ascends the grand staircase, with boxed stairs s.p.a.cious enough for several people to walk abreast. It is quite likely that the stair rail was made on the other side of the water. The finely turned bal.u.s.ters of regularly varying style, together with the exquisitely wrought carvings and delicate panels running along the side of the staircase, are expressive of the taste and skill which went into its building. A great, arched window, which floods the hall with light, is inserted at the landing, and is flanked by several pilasters, which seem to support the high ceiling encircled with heavily dentated corners, and heighten the effect of grandeur. From this lofty window the broad hall is lighted.
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XXVIII.--Wood Carving, Lee Mansion.]
In this hallway at the time of Lafayette's visit to the house, the banquet tables were set. The ever-loyal ladies of Marblehead sent for the entertainment some of their choicest belongings: table-cloths of wonderful damask brought from over the seas, rare old silver, and choice English gla.s.s.
At the right of the hallway is the drawing-room in white and gray. Two Corinthian pilasters flank the fireplace, rising to the molding and following the line of the wall. The whole chimneyside of this room was panelled in huge white slabs. This was the living-room of the house, and here were doubtless entertained the members of the Secret Council.
[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XXIX.--Banquet Hall, Lee Mansion; Fireplace, Lee Mansion.]
On the opposite side of the hallway is the dining-room, which was known as the banquet hall. Here Was.h.i.+ngton was entertained, also Monroe and Jackson. This room shows a huge open fireplace and a richly carved mantel. So carefully have the chimneypieces been wrought, that there are no two alike in the large house.
The tiles in many of the fireplaces are fascinating. We find some quaint and humorous, while others are sentimental. There is the wide-skirted shepherdess climbing the stile with the aid of the swain, a sailor taking leave of his la.s.s, a s.h.i.+p lying in the offing, nymphs and shepherdesses piping and playing. These tiles of blue and pale pink afford a study of interesting pictures to the lover of the antique.
In the former days scriptural texts and marble tablets were placed over the mantel in one of the chambers. One of these, a representation of Susannah and the Elders, was purchased from the family and is now found in the Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
Great care as to detail has been exercised in the finish of every room.
Notwithstanding the talk of secret stairways and mysterious trap-doors, there is nothing at all uncanny about the place, which was built for comfort and good living.
It is easy to be carried back in imagination to the days when Colonel Lee and Mistress Martha, noted for their open-handed hospitality, dwelt in this mansion. Its great rooms echoed with the laughter of the gallants of the day, who in short clothes, silver buckles, and laces, made love to the stately dames in trailing gowns and powdered hair and danced in the state chamber over the parlor, used then as a dance hall.
In this house the venerable Marquis de Lafayette accepted the hospitality of the Lees, when he came to America in 1824 at the invitation of Congress, accompanied by his son, George Was.h.i.+ngton Lafayette. It was during this visit that he danced a minuet in the great southwest room. An old letter, discovered recently by Miss Dixie, of Marblehead, discloses the fact that her mother led the dance with the gallant Frenchman.
This room is panelled in wood of dark finish, with exquisite designs over the fireplace, where a shelf on consoles shows over it an ornate panel made from a single board and exquisitely carved. On the opposite side of the room is the large apartment which was originally used as a chamber, probably by Colonel Lee. Here the pictures all relate to the sea,--one of them depicting Neptune and another a fish.