Harris-Black House

Harris-Black House. c.1795. , In 1795, when John and his wife, Sarah built this house, farmers and fishermen were still recovering from the economic devastation caused by the Revolutionary War. They lived in the humblest of homes, built with their own hands from native timbers. To our knowledge, of the many small post and beam houses believed to have existed throughout the Cape, only this one has survived. , When the Town Bought the Property for conservation purposes, the house was so battered that its chimney, front door, and floorboards were gone, and the house was slated for demolition. But extensive study and photographic examination revealed the remnants of a historic home. In 1982, John MacKenzie, a Brewster builder and antique house restorer, dismantled, moved, and restored the Harris-Black house on this site, owned and maintained by the Brewster Historical Society. Over seventy percent of the original hand-hewn frame and trim was salvaged. MacKenzie rebuilt the foundation and fireplace from old ballast bricks, replaced the windows, plastered, and painted using paint that matched the hand-mixed milk paint found on the original paneling. , During restoration the old floor was replaced with wide, white pine boards. Hand-blown antique glass was used in the windows, along with 18th-century latches, hinges, and furnishings that were donated by descendants of the Harris-Blackl family and generous friends of the Brewster Historical Society. , The Family , For years, Brewster Historical Society has puzzled over the ethnicity of the Harris-Black family, who occupied this little house from 1795-1904. Federal census data from 1790 through 1880 listed them as "All other free persons," Mulatto, " "Indian", and "White," on the whim of the census takers, as they farmed a remote spot of land on Red Top Road in W. Brewster. , With the help of DNA and research done by BHS and descendants of the families, we were finally able to trace a line of descendants from Sarah (Ralph) Harris and Nathan Black to two of the Cape's most prominent Wapanoag sachems, Lyannough and Mashantampaine. , Sarah and Her Husband, John Harris, "a sea-faring man," paid five pounds eight shillings for three acres of woodland and built this sixteen-foot square house. When John died in 1804, the house and land were valued at $348, the heifer was worth $12, and the bed and two pillows were worth $15. There was also a barn, an orchard, and a vegetable garden where they grew corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, melons, Jerusalem artichokes, and strawberries. , The Youngest Daughter, Elizabeth Harris, grew up in this house and spent her entire life there. At the age of 19, she married Nathan Black, a neighbor and cousin, and raised 10 children. After Nathan died in 1865, Elizabeth continued to live in the little house until she died in 1881. Their grandson Nathan, a farmer and cranberry grower, married an Irish woman named Bridget Malady and built a house across the street. He used this house to store cranberries and run a forge. He was a self-taught barber, working from his Black Hills Barber Shop next to his home. Nathan died at age 92 in 1957. , Maintained and operated by the Brewster Historical Society