Pest House

History

John Fitzgerald, the current owner of this old property, describes that it is his "dream is to keep it standing.".

The booklet, "Old Houses of Concord", by Mary R. Fenn contains the following information on the Ephraim Potter House:.

His son Judah was the only one to perpetuate the family name before Judah's death in that house when it burned to the ground (June 20, 1721). At the time of the second division, houses were built on the property.".

"In 1752, Ephaim Potter married Sarah Taylor, which probably dates this house. Ephraim was one of the men who stored provincial supplies in his house prior to the Revolution - tents, tow cloth, canteens, etc.".

"At the time of the smallpox epidemic, vaccination was a newfangled idea; many people thought it was dangerous. When Ephraim's wife died of smallpox in 1792, it was thought to be important to engrave on her headstone that she had taken the disease in the natural way. Although hers is the only gravestone, it is thought that there are other graves there as well. The Potter House was used at this time as a hospital for those who were recovering from their vaccination treatment. Dr. Barrett was in the house one day when a traveler knocked on the door and asked if this were the hospital. "Yes," replied the doctor, "and I am one of the patients.".

"Elbridge Hayden bought the house in the early eighteen hundreds".

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.