| The House &
Collections |
| Captain Robert Bennet Forbes, John
Murray Forbes and their sisters built this home atop
Milton Hill for their mother, in honor of their brother
Thomas who was killed in a typhoon in China. Designed by
Boston architect, Isaiah Rogers, in 1833 the Forbes
House is the earliest house in Milton to have been built
from an architect’s plans. It is one of only two
examples of Rogers’s early domestic work which still
survives today and one of only a few examples of Greek
Revival domestic architecture open to the public in the
New England region. |
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The interior of the Forbes House retains many
outstanding Greek Revival features, including an
elliptical staircase rising through three stories at the
rear of the central entrance hall. Much of the original
moldings and woodwork survives. Interior additions, made
in 1872, include a number of tiled fireplace surrounds
in the High Victorian Gothic style. The house is
furnished with original furniture, art, and objects from
the Forbes family and filled with a collection of
American, European, and China Trade heirlooms which are
arranged to suggest their former daily use. |
| Also standing on the property are
several architecturally significant outbuildings
including a Gothic Revival board and batten Stable, one
of two remaining Barns designed by the architectural
firm of Peabody & Stearns, and a Carriage House which
stylistic evidence suggests was also designed by Isaiah
Rogers at the same time as the house. |
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Captain Forbes’s granddaughter,
Mary Bowditch Forbes, collected a vast amount of Lincoln
memorabilia during her lifetime. In 1923, she had a
replica of Lincoln’s birthplace cabin built here on the
grounds to house her extensive collection of artifacts
and documents. Today, her collection is an important
part of the Museum and selections from it are exhibited
annually around Lincoln’s birthday.
| Save the Date:
February 8th,
2009 Lincoln 200th Birthday Celebration
please check back in September for more details
and the announcement of the Bicentennial Lincoln
Essay Contest topic. |
To
learn more about National Lincoln
Bicentennial Programs
Click
HERE |
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| © 2007 Forbes House Museum,
Milton, MA 02186 All Rights Reserved |
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