The Reverend
Benjamin Caryl, first minister of Springfield Parish, a part of Dedham and
now the Town of Dover, built his house
at 107 Dedham Street around the year 1774.
Built in the Georgian style,
the Benjamin Caryl House served
as home to the Caryl family until 1928, when it was given
to the town and placed under the care and maintenance of
the Dover Historical Society. It is particularly noteworthy
as a structure - as very few changes were made over the
years - and for its first two families, the town's first
minister and his son, George, the first doctor.
The house is a typical center-entrance,
center-chimney homestead of 18th century New England. It
faces Dedham Street on its original site, surrounded by
the open lands and woods that were once the Caryl Farm
and are now the Caryl Park, playing fields of the Dover
Park and Recreation Commission.
Unlike most surviving structures of the period, the house
has never been basically altered or modernized, so it may
be seen today in close to original form.
On June 2nd, 2000, the Benjamin
Caryl House was placed on
the National Register of Historic Places.
The Reverend Caryl served the
town as minister for 49 years.
Dr. George Caryl, the Reverend's son, occupied the house
until his death in 1822, having practised medicine in the
town since 1790.
His daughter, Mrs Ann Caryl
Miller, lived in the house until she died in 1884, and her
daughter, Ellen Miller, resided there until her death in
1897.
George Chickering recognized
the historical value of the property and purchased it from
Ellen Miller's estate. Under Mr. Chickering's will, the
property was left to the Town of Dover, to be administered
by the Dover Historical Society.
In 1975, the Caryl House was
repaired and refurbished in preparation for the Nation's
Bicentennial.
Furnishings appropriate to
the period, including some which belonged to the Caryl family,
were carefully selected by a restoration committee and acquired
through gift and purchase.
The hangings and coverlet on the four-poster bed were
carefully duplicated in linen and handsewn crewel by
ladies of the Society from a remnant of the originals
in Mrs. Caryl's own handiwork, now in the Society's
collection.
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Society
PO Box 534
Dover, MA 02030
info@doverhistoricalsociety.org
|