Historic-House Road Trip: East Coast
These 8 stops along the East Coast deliver centuries of architectural history starting before the American Revolution
Gwendolyn Purdom
September 23, 2018
Lover of architecture, history, dogs, the Chicago Cubs, crowded bookshelves, and homes with a story. Former editor at Preservation mag and Culturess.com.
Lover of architecture, history, dogs, the Chicago Cubs, crowded bookshelves, and... More
Even though a crisp autumn breeze may have blown those carefree summer months behind us, we can still hit the road for a history-packed getaway. In fact, with the chillier temperatures turning the leaves that line the East Coast’s roadways from green to a brilliant spectrum of reds, oranges and yellows, fall may be an even better season to explore the history and architecture behind some of the nation’s most storied homes.
Like the itineraries through the West Coast, South and Midwest we shared in recent months, this East Coast route suggests a cross-section of open-to-the-public homes that history and architecture buffs will appreciate, though these eight properties make up only a fraction of the compelling historic-housing stock dotting our eastern coast.
Stop No. 1: Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon, Virginia
Perched on the banks of the Potomac River, George and Martha Washington’s British Palladian-style mansion is notable not only for being home to the nation’s first president but also for the unique slice of 18th-century Virginia life it captures. Washington started leasing the property in 1754 and eventually inherited and expanded it to include multiple wings, a cupola and a grand piazza. At more than 11,000 square feet, it was about 10 times the size of the average home in Colonial Virginia. It also was rusticated — made to look as if built from more expensive structural sandstone blocks when really it’s wood texturized with sand and paint.
Stop No. 1: Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon, Virginia
Perched on the banks of the Potomac River, George and Martha Washington’s British Palladian-style mansion is notable not only for being home to the nation’s first president but also for the unique slice of 18th-century Virginia life it captures. Washington started leasing the property in 1754 and eventually inherited and expanded it to include multiple wings, a cupola and a grand piazza. At more than 11,000 square feet, it was about 10 times the size of the average home in Colonial Virginia. It also was rusticated — made to look as if built from more expensive structural sandstone blocks when really it’s wood texturized with sand and paint.
Inside, where the interiors have been restored to their 1799 appearance, visitors can study up on Washington’s singular life and legacy while admiring unexpected details like the vibrant green dining room walls, Washington’s blacksmith shop and a reproduction fan chair with an attached overhead fan operated by the sitter’s feet for those sweltering Virginia summers. The estate is also one of the earliest historic preservation success stories. The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association took possession of the property in the mid-19th century and has maintained it ever since.
Mount Vernon is open year-round. Visitor admission includes a tour of the property.
3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, Mount Vernon, VA 22121
Mount Vernon is open year-round. Visitor admission includes a tour of the property.
3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, Mount Vernon, VA 22121
Google
Mount Vernon >> Washington, D.C.: About a half-hour drive
Mount Vernon >> Washington, D.C.: About a half-hour drive
Stop No. 2: Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., is packed with architecturally significant homes and intriguing history. Just a few blocks from the Capitol, you’ll find the 19th-century brick structure originally known as the Sewell House, which has served as the headquarters for the National Woman’s Party for nearly 90 years.
The group, which focuses on issues of women’s equality, was founded during the suffrage movement and actively campaigned to secure the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 granting women the vote, among other causes.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., is packed with architecturally significant homes and intriguing history. Just a few blocks from the Capitol, you’ll find the 19th-century brick structure originally known as the Sewell House, which has served as the headquarters for the National Woman’s Party for nearly 90 years.
The group, which focuses on issues of women’s equality, was founded during the suffrage movement and actively campaigned to secure the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 granting women the vote, among other causes.
The history of the house itself dates back to about 1800, when Robert Sewell built the original home on the property, renting it soon after to Albert Gallatin, Treasury secretary under Presidents Jefferson and Madison. The house was damaged and likely destroyed during the War of 1812 and then rebuilt by 1820.
The National Woman’s Party bought the house from Vermont Sen. Porter Dale in 1929 to serve as its headquarters, though it also operated as a hotel and second home for some NWP members.
Preserved with 19th-century features including converted gas chandeliers, stately mirrors, high ceilings and 1880s stained glass, the house is home to one of the largest collections of artifacts and books related to women’s suffrage and equal rights.
The National Woman’s Party bought the house from Vermont Sen. Porter Dale in 1929 to serve as its headquarters, though it also operated as a hotel and second home for some NWP members.
Preserved with 19th-century features including converted gas chandeliers, stately mirrors, high ceilings and 1880s stained glass, the house is home to one of the largest collections of artifacts and books related to women’s suffrage and equal rights.
Visitors will spot busts, paintings and sculptures of leaders of the women’s equality movement as well as original banners, costumes and a jail door pin commemorating activists who were imprisoned for their cause.
Guided tours are available Wednesdays through Sundays.
144 Constitution Ave. NE,
Washington, DC 20002
Guided tours are available Wednesdays through Sundays.
144 Constitution Ave. NE,
Washington, DC 20002
Google
Washington, D.C. >> Baltimore: About an hour’s drive
Washington, D.C. >> Baltimore: About an hour’s drive
Stop No. 3: Edgar Allan Poe House
Baltimore
There’s plenty to take in for literature aficionados and fall fright-seekers alike at the modest Baltimore house where gothic poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe spent a portion of his childhood. The well-preserved residence, while largely unfinished, tells Poe’s life story through original artifacts such as his portable writing desk, his telescope, glassware and other items as well as rotating exhibits, tours and events.
Baltimore
There’s plenty to take in for literature aficionados and fall fright-seekers alike at the modest Baltimore house where gothic poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe spent a portion of his childhood. The well-preserved residence, while largely unfinished, tells Poe’s life story through original artifacts such as his portable writing desk, his telescope, glassware and other items as well as rotating exhibits, tours and events.
Historians believe that Poe wrote several early stories and poems during his years at 203 N. Amity St. in the 1830s while living with his aunt, her mother, his cousin Virginia (who would later become his wife) and possibly his cousin Henry. The house is one of several ties to the writer the city boasts, along with his nearby gravesite at Westminster Burial Ground and the Ravens NFL football team, which is named for one of his most famous poems.
The Edgar Allan Poe House is open for self-guided tours Thursdays through Sundays.
203 N. Amity St., Baltimore, MD 21223
The Edgar Allan Poe House is open for self-guided tours Thursdays through Sundays.
203 N. Amity St., Baltimore, MD 21223
Google
Baltimore >> Mill Run: About a 3½-to-4-hour drive
Baltimore >> Mill Run: About a 3½-to-4-hour drive
Stop No. 4: Fallingwater
Mill Run, Pennsylvania
About 1½ hours outside downtown Pittsburgh, Frank Lloyd Wright’s striking cantilevered design hovering over a rushing waterfall is one of his most iconic works. The prolific architect built the house for Edgar J. Kaufmann and his family in 1936, and today Fallingwater retains all its original Wright-designed furniture and the Kaufmanns’ extensive art collection.
Mill Run, Pennsylvania
About 1½ hours outside downtown Pittsburgh, Frank Lloyd Wright’s striking cantilevered design hovering over a rushing waterfall is one of his most iconic works. The prolific architect built the house for Edgar J. Kaufmann and his family in 1936, and today Fallingwater retains all its original Wright-designed furniture and the Kaufmanns’ extensive art collection.
Distinctive features that blur the line between indoors and outdoors in the house include a suspended staircase that leads down to the stream, boulders that rise up through the floor, floor-to-ceiling glass doors, frameless corner windows, and interior and exterior stone and concrete surfaces. Fallingwater, Edgar Kaufmann Jr. once said, is “a place of vigorous beauty, of self-renewing enchantment, of adventuresome picturesqueness, that answers perfectly a romantic need … to be natural, to experience nature.”
The house and grounds are operated by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Tours are available from mid-March through November, weekends in December and the week after Christmas. Private or specialty tours can also be scheduled.
1491 Mill Run Rd., Mill Run, PA 15464
Detour: Philadelphia
Once the nation’s capital, Philadelphia is still a must for history-hungry tourists. In addition to big draws like Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were drafted and signed, and the Liberty Bell, the city is home to a number of notable historic neighborhoods and houses. Pick up a cheesesteak before checking out highlights like the sprawling Cliveden estate, jazz great John Coltrane’s Philadelphia home or the charming old mansions of Fairmount Park.
The house and grounds are operated by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Tours are available from mid-March through November, weekends in December and the week after Christmas. Private or specialty tours can also be scheduled.
1491 Mill Run Rd., Mill Run, PA 15464
Detour: Philadelphia
Once the nation’s capital, Philadelphia is still a must for history-hungry tourists. In addition to big draws like Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were drafted and signed, and the Liberty Bell, the city is home to a number of notable historic neighborhoods and houses. Pick up a cheesesteak before checking out highlights like the sprawling Cliveden estate, jazz great John Coltrane’s Philadelphia home or the charming old mansions of Fairmount Park.
Google
Mill Run >> New York City: About a six-hour drive
Mill Run >> New York City: About a six-hour drive
Stop No. 5: Tenement Museum
New York City
Spanning two historic 19th-century Lower East Side buildings, the Tenement Museum re-creates the apartments and businesses of several real immigrant families that started new lives in the city between the 19th and 21st centuries. Interiors have been re-created or left in a ruined state to give visitors a peek into what the museum founders discovered there in the late 1980s after the building had been closed as a residence and untouched for more than 50 years.
New York City
Spanning two historic 19th-century Lower East Side buildings, the Tenement Museum re-creates the apartments and businesses of several real immigrant families that started new lives in the city between the 19th and 21st centuries. Interiors have been re-created or left in a ruined state to give visitors a peek into what the museum founders discovered there in the late 1980s after the building had been closed as a residence and untouched for more than 50 years.
You’ll find no velvet rope cordoning off the apartments inside. Visitors are encouraged to get up close and personal.
Guided tours are available seven days a week. Specialty tours and costumed interpreter programs can also be booked.
103 Orchard St., New York, NY 10002
Guided tours are available seven days a week. Specialty tours and costumed interpreter programs can also be booked.
103 Orchard St., New York, NY 10002
Google
New York City >> Newport: About a four-to-4½-hour drive
New York City >> Newport: About a four-to-4½-hour drive
Stop No. 6: The Breakers
Newport, Rhode Island
Cornelius Vanderbilt II, grandson of 19th-century New York Central Railroad and steamship titan Cornelius Vanderbilt, commissioned architect Richard Morris Hunt to design his Newport villa in 1893, a year after a fire destroyed the wooden house he had bought in 1885 on the property. Inspired by the 16th-century Italian palaces of Genoa and Turin, Hunt led an international team of artisans to build the 70-room Italian Renaissance-style estate.
Newport, Rhode Island
Cornelius Vanderbilt II, grandson of 19th-century New York Central Railroad and steamship titan Cornelius Vanderbilt, commissioned architect Richard Morris Hunt to design his Newport villa in 1893, a year after a fire destroyed the wooden house he had bought in 1885 on the property. Inspired by the 16th-century Italian palaces of Genoa and Turin, Hunt led an international team of artisans to build the 70-room Italian Renaissance-style estate.
Ornate furnishings and fixtures came from Allard and Sons of Paris, while Boston architect Ogden Codman Jr. decorated the family quarters. Vanderbilt’s youngest daughter, Gladys, inherited the house in 1934 and opened The Breakers to the public in 1948 to raise money for the Preservation Society of Newport County.
Specialty and self-guided tours are available year-round.
44 Ochre Point Ave., Newport, RI 02840
Specialty and self-guided tours are available year-round.
44 Ochre Point Ave., Newport, RI 02840
Google
Newport >> Lincoln: About a two-hour drive
Newport >> Lincoln: About a two-hour drive
Stop No. 7: Gropius House
Lincoln, Massachusetts
German architect Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus school of design, built a home for his family in 1938, his first U.S. architectural commission. Gropius had come to Massachusetts to teach at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and the house combined elements of traditional New England architecture with cutting-edge modern materials.
Lincoln, Massachusetts
German architect Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus school of design, built a home for his family in 1938, his first U.S. architectural commission. Gropius had come to Massachusetts to teach at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and the house combined elements of traditional New England architecture with cutting-edge modern materials.
Innovative uses of clapboard, brick, glass, acoustical plaster and chrome throughout the house are just a few of the thoughtful design choices that make Gropius House stand out. Surprises like all four of the home’s bathrooms being arranged in one connected area to minimize installation and plumbing costs, or the separate entrance Gropius put in at his 12-year-old daughter’s request in keeping with collaborative Bauhaus philosophy, further demonstrate Gropius’ groundbreaking spatial thinking.
Gropius House is open year-round and hosts programs and events throughout the year.
68 Baker Bridge Road, Lincoln, MA
Detour: Boston
Another East Coast city brimming with early American history, Boston is home to sites including Paul Revere’s house — the city’s oldest, dating back to 1680 — and the elite homes on Beacon Hill.
Gropius House is open year-round and hosts programs and events throughout the year.
68 Baker Bridge Road, Lincoln, MA
Detour: Boston
Another East Coast city brimming with early American history, Boston is home to sites including Paul Revere’s house — the city’s oldest, dating back to 1680 — and the elite homes on Beacon Hill.
Google
Lincoln >> Nantucket: About a four-hour drive, including a one-to-two-hour ferry ride
Lincoln >> Nantucket: About a four-hour drive, including a one-to-two-hour ferry ride
Stop No. 8: Florence Higginbotham House and African Meeting House
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Along with its beaches and cobblestone streets, the island of Nantucket, just off Cape Cod, also boasts a rich collection of African-American history. Seneca Boston, a formerly enslaved man and weaver, purchased a plot of land there in September 1774. The house his family would go on to live in on the grounds was occupied by African-American families for almost the next two centuries and still stands today.
Florence Higginbotham, an African-American cook who bought the traditional Nantucket-style house in 1920 eventually acquired more buildings, including the adjacent African Meeting House, an 1820s school and community center built for the island’s African-American population, and fought to preserve them.
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Along with its beaches and cobblestone streets, the island of Nantucket, just off Cape Cod, also boasts a rich collection of African-American history. Seneca Boston, a formerly enslaved man and weaver, purchased a plot of land there in September 1774. The house his family would go on to live in on the grounds was occupied by African-American families for almost the next two centuries and still stands today.
Florence Higginbotham, an African-American cook who bought the traditional Nantucket-style house in 1920 eventually acquired more buildings, including the adjacent African Meeting House, an 1820s school and community center built for the island’s African-American population, and fought to preserve them.
Boston and Higginbotham’s house, which still features its original fireplace paneling and other details from 1774, is undergoing preservation work to restore it to its original appearance. Interior tours of the house won’t be available until work is completed in 2019, but visitors can see the house and learn about its history and the history of the notable people who lived there over the years (Seneca Boston’s son, Absolom Boston, for instance, was a famous sea captain and community leader) on the self-guided Black Heritage Trail tour of the island.
The tour includes information about the Higginbotham house as well as the restored African Meeting House next door, the old African Burial Ground and other significant sites to visit on the island.
27 York St., Nantucket, MA 02554
The tour includes information about the Higginbotham house as well as the restored African Meeting House next door, the old African Burial Ground and other significant sites to visit on the island.
27 York St., Nantucket, MA 02554
Google
Happy driving!
What did we miss? Tell us about your favorite historic homes along the East Coast in the Comments.
More
Historic-House Road Trip: Mountains, Plains and Midwest
Historic-House Road Trip: South and Southwest
Historic-House Road Trip: West Coast
Happy driving!
What did we miss? Tell us about your favorite historic homes along the East Coast in the Comments.
More
Historic-House Road Trip: Mountains, Plains and Midwest
Historic-House Road Trip: South and Southwest
Historic-House Road Trip: West Coast
David Johnson has over 25 years of experience in residential and light commercial design and projects. Read More
What are you working on?
Related Products
Related Stories
Architecture
Tour Richard Neutra’s Iconic Kaufmann Desert House Gardens
By Colin Flavin
The well-known but rarely seen symbol of desert modern architecture opened its doors for Palm Springs Modernism Week
Full Story
Events
8 Edible Garden Ideas From the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show
This year’s event offered inspiring tips and creative ideas for nurturing edible plants in a variety of outdoor spaces
Full Story
Architecture
Tour the House of Tomorrow and Elvis Presley’s Honeymoon Hideaway
By Colin Flavin
The recently renovated Palm Springs home returns to glory with spectacular geometry and indoor-outdoor connections
Full Story
Events
7 Landscape Design Trends From the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show
This year’s event celebrates the unexpected, showcasing everything from pretty weeds to edible ornamental plants
Full Story
Historic Homes
Tour the Historic Homes of Trailblazing African Americans
During Black History Month read about some of our country’s barrier-breaking figures and see the places they called home
Full Story
Events
7 Design Ideas for a Garden That Supports Well-Being
Nurture your family’s physical and mental health with these landscape design ideas spotted at the Chelsea Flower Show
Full Story
Events
7 Inspiring Ideas for Small Yards from the Chelsea Flower Show
The message from professional landscape designers at this year’s RHS show was clear — think big for your small space
Full Story
Events
7 Landscape Trends From the 2022 Chelsea Flower Show
Check out our roundup of themes from this year’s event to inspire ideas for your own outdoor space
Full Story
Houzz Tours
Houzz Tour: Van Gets Outfitted for Vacation Adventures
A carpenter converts a van’s interior into a tiny home for travel complete with kitchen, bed and seating area
Full Story
Architecture
Celebrate Richard Neutra’s Innovative Los Angeles Home and Studio
By Colin Flavin
The modern design, which marks its 90th anniversary this year, continues to inspire and offer lessons for living
Full Story
I was pleased to see the Tenement Museum in New York included in your article. Coincidentally, we have woven several rugs for the museum apartments and the German Saloon. It is, and has been a great experience to work with the collections manager at the museum.
Would love to see a tour of the Hudson River Valley historical homes!
Of all the mansions and historic homes, public and private enjoyed in my lifetime, I enjoyed Van Cortlandt Manor as part of the Hudson River Valley historic preservations. Yes I loved Washington Irving's "Sunnyside" in Irvington, but the Manor was a home I just did not want to leave. Few structures have that "pull." Enchanting on a fall day, while sipping hot mulled cider!