Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1882-11-11
DANIEL wEBsTERs HOME.
Marshfield. the Scene or the Late Webster
Centennial Celebration.


Marshfield was pre- eminently the
home of Daniel Webster, ard pic
ture of his house and farm cannot
fail to be interesting at this time.
When he first looked upon the town
it was as!sparsely settled a hamlet as
the most retiring citizen could desire.
Close down by the se:shore, in 1924,
on the Thomas farm, stood the old
Homestead of Captain Thomas OF
Revolutionary fame. This house and
farm, the latter combined from those
of the Royalists Thomas and Wins
low, charmed Mr.. Webster, and in
1927 he bought the place. The es-
tate consisted of some 2000 acres OF
undulating, marshy land, and under
his care it came to be one of the best
farms III New England. The graft
fed his taste for, and manifested his
knowledge of, the science of agricul-
ture. The man who taught Benton
manners. Calhoun logic, Hayne the
power of Massachusetts oratory, and
the entire South the supreme author
ity of the Federal Constitution, also
instructed the farmers of Plymouth
county as to the value of kelp, sea
weed and menhaden fish as fertilizers.
He discovered the value of these in
expensive fertilizers, and furnished
most of the funds for building a road
to the sea so that they might be
easily obtained by the farmers. Not
a single one of these products of the
sea was ever drawn from the beach
until Webster set the example. He
was also instrumental in cultivating
among his neighbors taste for bet
ter houses than they had been accus-
toned to. 1t has been said that if
the town of Marshfeld has given
Webster $4,000, the inhabitants
would have received far more than
an adequate recompense in the extra
ordinary stimulus which he gave to
agriculture. His farm was well
stocked with fine cattle. horses and
poultry, and his flower garden GOV
cred more than an acre. From seed
planted by his own hand he had in
1852 raised more than 100000 trees
to fair growth. The estate was adj
mirably laid out, the walks, parks,
avenues and drives appearing to be
exactly where they should be. Near
the house were three lakes, fed by the
purest of springs. In the center OF
the largest of these Mr.. Webster
placed small island, upon Which he
domesticated flock of wild geese.
Upon the estate there were IN Mr..
Webster's time about thirty buildings
of all kinds. The main portion OF
the mansion was built in IVA, and
the newer portions had more than
doubled its original size and com
pletely modernized its appearance.
1t stood on the summit of a beautiful
lawn, completely girded by piazza.
On the ground floor were nine well
furnished rooms, including the Gothic
library. Articles of virtue abounded
throughout the house, and the results
of womanly taste were everywhere
manifested. There were portraits OF
Webster by Stuart and Healey; one OF
Lord Ashburton, one of Judge Story
by Harding, and portraits of other
members of the family, together with
many other excellent productions by
painter and sculptor. To his daugh-
ter Webster was indebted for his
finely designed library, in which he
placed books valued just before his
death at $4,000. There were plenty
of fire-arm in his house, but no one
was allowed to kill any bird, rabbit
or squirrel on his property. In one
of his letters Webster thus described
his home: San old fashioned, two.
story house, with a piazza all round
it stands on a gentle rising, facing
due south, and distant fifty rods from
the road, which runs in front Beyond
the road is a ridge of billy land, moi
very high, covered with oak wood
running in the same direction as the
road and leaving little depression
or break, exactly opposite the house
through which the southern breezes
fan us of an afternoon. I feel then
now coming, not over beds of violet
but over Plymouth Bay, fresh, if moi
fragrant. A carriage way leads from
the road to the house, not bold and
impudent, right straight to the
front door, like the march of column
OF soldiers, but winding over the
lower parts OF the ground, shelterine
itself among trees and hedges, and
getting possession at last more by
grace than force, as other achieve
ments are best made. OPP
posite the east window of the east
front room stands a noble spreading
elm, the admiration of all beholders,
Behind that is the garden, sloping to
the east, and running down till the
tide washes its lowor wall. '
From the doors, from the windows,
and, still better, from twenty little
elevations, all of which are close by,
you see the ocean, a mile off, reposing
in calm or terrific in storm, as the
case may be-"
Webster died October "a, 1862, ut
Marshfield, and nearly twenty six
years later February Ia, 1879, his
house was burned about two o'clock
in the morning. Mrs. Webster his
son Ashburton and Miss Cowing
were in the house, and with the ener-
getic labor of the servants and some
neigbors they succeeded m securing
the family portraits and most Of the
furniture and ornaments on the
lower floor. The upper part of the
house was completely destroyed. A
faw wears apo Mrs Webster built n