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Knowles House |
Originally published in the Beechcomber- the publication of the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth
| by Susan Moeller | |
| In
April 1978, we stood in the driveway to buy the house at 95 Main Street
at the foreclosure auction. By
that time, more than 100 years after Capt. Bangs Hallet had built the
house, it was an aging dowager who had seen better days. The once magnificent gold and brown wallpaper in the front parlor was peeling from the walls. The floor was so swayed that the entire structure had to be jacked up on a steel beam. The yard, with its huge pines and specimen trees, was overgrown, and a perennial bed alongside of the driveway had literally gone to seed. Both porches were rotting, there were holes in the roof, and come winter, we discovered there was hardly any heat upstairs. |
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| My
three children have always claimed the house is haunted, that something
stalks the attic on dark, windy nights. But even in its dilapidated
state, I have felt only good vibrations from whatever ghosts may inhabit
these walls. Over the years we have done the usual upgrades that are so familiar to those of us who buy old houses: Updating heating and septic systems, repairing the roof and barn. The main part of the house, however, at least from the exterior, is pretty much as when it was built for the Hallet family, possibly sometime in the 1850s, according to HSOY research. At the time, the Hallets were living at 165 Main Street in the full-Cape now owned by Susan Kidwell, built on land owned by the captain's father. Old deeds indicate that the captain may have mortgaged that house in 1848, but we don't know if that's when he built the bigger house at 95 Main. |
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| An early photograph of 95 Main Street shows two brand new ash trees out front (we had them removed a few years ago), shading steps that wrap around the entire front porch. The house is the length it is now and connected to the barn by a structure that looks to be a walkway at the least. In 1860, the value of the property, which then extended all the way to the railroad tracks, was $8,000, according to the HSOY |  Earliest known photo of 95 Hallet St. |
 Captain Allen Knowles |
In 1863, Capt. Haller and his wife, Anna, "swapped" houses with the family of Capt. Allen Knowles, who had been living at 11 Strawberry Lane (HSOY headquarters) since 1850. Actually, this was not a straight swap but a financial deal between the two captains - the 1863 deed shows that Haller paid Knowles $3,000. We don't know what Knowles paid Hallet, but as the property was valued at $8,000, we can assume it was closer to that figure. The Knowles were better off, apparently, and this transaction may have allowed the Hallets to pay off some debts as the captain headed toward retirement -rather like downsizing today! |
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The
Knowles family then began an association with 95 Main that lasted more
than 100 years. The 1860 census shows Allen Knowles and his second wife, Caroline,
as well as five other people in their household: Daughters Eleanor and
Mary, from Knowles' first marriage; Sarah, 9, and Allen, 7, and a
serving girl, Susan Higgins. Another daughter, Caroline, was born in
1865, after they had moved to 95 Main. The
Knowles family and their descendants apparently lived comfortably in the
house, for they made many changes over the years, particularly toward
the end of the century. A photograph from the town's bicentennial in
1889 shows the house draped in bunting. Other photos show the long lines
of pine trees on either side of the property lines- the tallest of these
are still along the east side of the house - as well as a badminton
court and pavilion-style tent. At one time, the house was known as The
Evergreens and had a wrought iron arch over the driveway. Sometime around 1890 the Knowles added a stained glass window to the living room and then 10 or so years later, did what must have been a major renovation. New fireplaces were put in both the dining room and the living room and the chimney was moved to the west exterior wall of the living room. Apparently the family was very up-to-date since they installed a concrete fireplace in the living room. The fireplace is possibly by a famous tile designer of that period, Henry Chapman Mercer of the Moravian Tile Works in Doylestown, Pa., or at least in his style. (You can see a Mercer fireplace and tiles at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.) |
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 95 Hallet Street during the occupation of the Knowles family |
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This new chimney also has the house's most famous - and
infamous -feature an 18-inch-square swastika built into the brickwork.
This is a real swastika, an ancient symbol of good luck that was
distorted by the Nazis in the 1930s. We had no idea it was there when we
bought the house. But within a few years, the ivy growing up the
brickwork was growing so aggressively that it had to be removed. Lo and
behold, there was the swastika. Even with the chimney growth removed, it
was barely visible from Route 6A - until Hurricane Bob knocked down the
two trees blocking the view. There was such vehement reaction at that point; we knew we
had to keep it covered. (A few years ago I had a discussion with the
late Eleanor Stobbart who spent many hours playing in our house as a
child. Although she didn't know the origin of the swastika she told me
it had been quite a cause celebre during World War II - I can
only imagine.) The house at 95 has played a
part in the town's history up into this century. Allen Knowles Jr.
inherited the house from his father and then apparently passed it on to
his son, who at one time served as town clerk. One friend of ours was
married in our front parlor when it was the town clerk's office.
Eventually the house passed down through the family to the Lorings who
sold it in the early 1970s. We bought it a few years later. |
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