Period Furnishings Sought for Dan'l Webster Cottage
On a cold afternoon last February Dartmouth College turned over the keys of Webster Cottage to the Hanover Historical Society which plans to open it as a museum of Webster memorabilia in February 1969, the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Dartmouth College Case.
Well-documented tradition has Daniel Webster occupying the "small south chamber under the roof" during his senior year, 1800-1801. The house was then occupied by Abigail Wheelock Ripley, widow of Sylvanus Ripley and daughter of Eleazar Wheelock. Ripley had built the Cottage on 15 acres of farm land which were his wife's wedding portion from her father. Later he built a more commodious "town house" (Choate House) but after his death Mrs. Ripley retired to her farm.
Present plans call for restoring and furnishing only the ground floor where the College has rehabilitated three rooms, the hall, and the unusual divided front stairs. The north room will be devoted to Webster material, much of it on loan from Dartmouth, and furnished with pieces of late 18th-century origin. Across the hall a room will memorialize Henry Fowle Durant, the founder of Wellesley College, who was born there in 1822 and spent his first ten years in Hanover.
A small room in the rear will be headquarters for the Society which is rehabilitating the old kitchen to house a miscellany of Hanover antiquities and accommodate small meetings.
Through the Julius Mason Memorial Fund the Hanover Garden Club has undertaken decorative ground planting for the Cottage.
The Society has already acquired some treasures of the late 18th and early 19th centuries but must still appeal for more. Chairs, desks, tables, lamps, fireirons, a door knocker, mirrors, rugs, lamps, candlesticks and household trivia (exclusive of bedroom furnishings) are all needed. So is information as to the present whereabouts of Webster or Durant material so that a reference file may be built up.
Interested friends who wish to help furnish Webster Cottage by gift or loan are invited to get in touch with the president of the Hanover Historical Society, Dr. Ralph W. Hunter '31, Hanover, or the chairman of the Accessions and Furnishings Committee, Mrs. Caryl Hicks Smith, Norwich. Gifts are tax deductible.
