History
Founded in 1935 to preserve and promote the historic country estate of Christopher and Rebecca Gore, Gore Place is a museum, working farm, and community resource that tells the story of early nineteenth-century American life.
Located just nine miles west of Boston and less than half a mile from the Charles River, Gore Place has been inhabited for at least four centuries. The Nonantum and Pequossette tribes fished, hunted, and raised crops in this area, and when they ceded this land to English colonists in 1630, the Reverend George Phillips—one of the founders of Watertown—chose this parcel to build his home. Since then the property has had a number of owners, most notably Christopher and Rebecca Gore.
The Gores first purchased this land in 1786. The property included a house and a carriage house, and while the former burned to the ground a decade later, the carriage house, which was renovated in 1793, is still standing today just beside its original location.
The famous brick house, now referred to as the "mansion," was completed in 1806. The Gores turned the property into one of the most beautiful and well-known estates in New England, which was visited by notable guests such as James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and Daniel Webster while Christopher served as Governor of Massachusetts and later as a U.S. Senator.
After Rebecca died in 1834 the house was sold to Boston Mayor Theodore Lyman, Jr., who added a floral garden and farmhouse to the property. Over the next century, the estate passed through a number of owners, including Nathaniel Singleton Copley Greene—grandson of John Singleton Copley, the famous painter—before it faced demolition in 1935. Gore Place Society was founded in May of 1935 to save the historic estate, and it continues to preserve the property today as a museum, working farm, and community resource.
To learn more about the history of Gore Place, click the buttons below:
GORE PLACE TIMELINE LEARN ABOUT THE FARM'S HISTORY
WHO WAS ROBERT ROBERTS? LEARN ABOUT THE GORES
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