Discover 11 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Duxbury (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: John and Priscilla Alden Family Sites, King Caesar House, and Myles Standish Monument State Reservation. Also, be sure to include Art Complex Museum in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Duxbury (Massachusetts).
Table of Contents
John and Priscilla Alden Family Sites
Museum in Duxbury, Massachusetts. The John and Priscilla Alden Family Sites is a National Historic Landmark consisting of two separate properties in Duxbury, Massachusetts, United States. Both properties are significant for their association with John Alden, one of the settlers of the Plymouth Colony who came to North America on board the Mayflower, and held numerous posts of importance in the colony. Alden and his relationship with Priscilla Mullins were memorialized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in The Courtship of Miles Standish, a fictionalized narrative poem that made the story a piece of American folklore.
One of the two properties contains the archaeological remains of the house John Alden built c. 1630, and is also significant in the field of historical archaeology as the mature field work of Roland W. Robbins (1908–1987), an early historical archaeologist. It is on land owned by the Town of Duxbury. On the second property stands a house which was traditionally dated to c. 1653 as a work by Alden, but is, by forensic analysis, judged to have been built around 1700, probably by John Alden's grandson. This property has been under the continuous ownership of the Alden family; it is now managed by a family foundation as a historic house museum.[1]
Address: 105 Alden St, 02332-3801 Duxbury (Duxbury)
King Caesar House
Museum in Duxbury, Massachusetts. The King Caesar House is a historic house located at 120 King Caesar Road, Duxbury, Massachusetts. It is operated as a non-profit museum by the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society.
The Federal style house, completed in 1809, was built for Ezra Weston II (1772–1842) and his wife, Jerusha Bradford Weston (1770–1833). Like his father, Weston was known as "King Caesar" for his success in shipbuilding and shipping. During the 1830s and 1840s, the firm of E. Weston & Sons ran the largest mercantile operation on the South Shore of Massachusetts. In 1841, U.S. Senator Daniel Webster, during a speech in Saratoga Springs, New York, made the claim that Weston was "the largest ship owner, probably, in the United States."[2]
Address: 120 King Caesar Rd, 02332-3916 Duxbury (Duxbury)
Myles Standish Monument State Reservation
State park in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Myles Standish Monument State Reservation is a state-owned historic preserve and public recreation area in Duxbury, Massachusetts. The focus of the state park is a 116-foot granite shaft topped by a statue of Captain Myles Standish. Standish was military leader of Plymouth Colony. The park is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.[3]
Address: Crescent Street, 02332 Duxbury (Duxbury)
Art Complex Museum
Museum in Duxbury, Massachusetts. The Art Complex Museum, located in Duxbury, Massachusetts, south of Boston, serves as a regional arts center and houses the collection of the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser family. The museum, situated on over 13 acres of woodland and open fields, opened in 1971.
The museum features a gallery for rotating objects from the permanent collection, as well as exhibition spaces that feature painting, sculpture, prints and craft objects created by contemporary artists. The museum also houses the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Reference Library with over 7,000 publications.[4]
Address: 189 Alden St, 02332-3801 Duxbury (Duxbury)
Bradford House
The Capt. Gershom Bradford House is an historic house in Duxbury, Massachusetts. The two-story wood-frame house was built in 1807 by Captain Gershom Bradford. The main block has a side-gable roof, and is five bays wide and two deep. A two-story ell attached to the right rear connects the house to another addition, a replacement for a barn torn down c. 1900. The house is now owned and operated by the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society as a historic house museum, and has been decorated with original Bradford family furnishings to appear as it did during the 1840s.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[5]
Address: 931 Tremont St, 02332-4409 Duxbury (Duxbury)
Nathaniel Winsor Jr. House
Historical place museum in Duxbury, Massachusetts. The Nathaniel Winsor Jr. House is a historic house located at 479 Washington Street Duxbury, Massachusetts. It currently serves as the headquarters of the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society.
The house is a contributing property in Duxbury's Old Shipbuilder's Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.[6]
Pillsbury Summer House
The Pillsbury Summer House is a historic house at 45 Old Cove Road in Duxbury, Massachusetts. The two-story wood-frame house was built in 1938, and is a locally distinctive early example of Modern architecture, as the first major work of architect Sarah Pillsbury Harkness, and as a rare regional example of a Modern summer house. The house was designed by Harkness for her parents, in collaboration with Eleanor Raymond. The house was built in the same year that Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius built his house in Lincoln, Massachusetts; this house differs from his in that it draws more organically on New England traditional architecture.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.[7]
Captain Daniel Bradford House
The Captain Daniel Bradford House is a historic house in Duxbury, Massachusetts. The 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house was built in 1808 by Captaian Daniel Bradford, on land belonging to his father, Colonel Gamaliel Bradford. It is five bays wide and three deep, with a hip roof and large central chimney. The front entry is flanked by sidelight windows and pilasters, above which are a fanlight and a gable. A two-story ell is attached to the right side of the house.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.[8]
Alexander Standish House
Building in Duxbury, Massachusetts. The Alexander Standish House is a historic house at 341 Standish Street in Duxbury, Massachusetts. It has been claimed that this house was built in 1666 by Alexander Standish, son of Mayflower Pilgrim, Capt. Myles Standish, but architectural analysis of the building suggests a mid-18th century construction date. Documentary evidence is also weak, suggesting that when the property passed to Alexander Standish's grandson in 1739, the house standing on it did not resemble this one. The house is a 1+1⁄2-story gambrel-roofed wood-frame structure, with five bays on the front facade and a central chimney, on which the date "1666" has been painted. It has been relatively little-altered since c. 1879, when a lithograph was made.
The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[9]
Capt. Gamaliel Bradford House
The Capt. Gamaliel Bradford House is a historic house in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Built in 1807, the house is locally distinctive for its brick side walls and monitor section above the hip roof. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[10]
Wright Memorial Library
Library in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Wright Memorial Library, more commonly known as the "Wright Building," is a historic library at 147 St. George Street in Duxbury, Massachusetts.[11]