Go to Admin » Appearance » Widgets » and move Gabfire Widget: Social into that MastheadOverlay zone
A
lmost completely unknown, the 1808 William Hickling Prescott House is one of only two houses on Beacon Hill (the other is the Nichols House) that are open to the public—and the secrets continue inside. Prescott, who lived in the house from 1845 until 1859, was left nearly blind by a freak accident at Harvard, where he was struck in one eye by a crust of bread, yet he became a renowned historian of Spanish royalty and South American and Mexican history and an integral member of Boston society. A portrait he owned of Cortez hangs in the house, and a secret stairway he built can be seen hidden behind a library bookcase. The house is owned by the Massachusetts chapter of the Society of Colonial Dames, a society of women whose ancestors lived in North America in 1776 or earlier.
The five-and-a-half-story William Hickling Prescott House was the work of the architect Asher Benjamin, who designed the Old West Church and the Charles Street Meeting House and helped design Quincy Market.
William Hickling Prescott House
Website
55 Beacon St. on Beacon Hill
Boston, MA 02108
617.742.3190
Find on a map|Get directions.
May 6 through October 31, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m.
These lines serve the William Hickling Prescott House. Click to find more secrets on your route.
Find more secrets on Beacon Hill
© 2017 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Named the best travel blog in Boston by The Guardian newspaper