Rehoboth Historical Commission Historic House Tour Highlights Rehoboth’s 375th Year Anniversary Celebration

The Rehoboth Historical Commission and the Rehoboth 375th Anniversary Committee have announced a house tour for May 19, 2018 featuring some of the town’s most important and beautiful 18th and 19th century homes.

This self-guided tour will take visitors to twelve different locations around Rehoboth. Some, such as the Hornbine School and the Thomas Carpenter House, are listed on National Register of Historic Places. Others, like the Rosbotham Munroe House and Elisha Allen House, have been painstakingly restored by their current owners.

The Rosbotham Munroe House (ca. 1700), an early center-chimney Colonial, had fallen on hard times before Karissa and Thomas Evans purchased it in July of 2014. “The home was livable but in need of restoration,” said Mrs. Evans. The couple has done a tremendous amount of work to the house since. “Moving the door and window for symmetry, renovating and expanding the kitchen, new siding, new gutters, painting the entire inside and outside, restoring the carriage barn. We did pretty much everything.”

The Elisha Allen House (ca. 1738), a three-quarter Cape now owned by Daniel Cardoza and Michael Espinosa, was built by Deacon Eziekel Read, who obtained the land in 1738. In 1759 Elisha Allen purchased the house and 12 acres for the sum of 30 pounds. The house remained in the Allen family for 136 years thereafter. “In years past, we've always driven by this house and admired it for its honest simplicity. And we are both so thankful that we own it now. I think what we love about it the most is that it has so much character and it has lived through 280 years of Rehoboth history,” said Cardoza.

The main structure of the Elisha Allen House was restored 40 years ago after a major fire. According to Cardoza, since moving in three and a half years ago, “We replaced the rear roof and removed skylights. We re-sided the house as it would have be done in the 18th century with 4ft clapboards married with scarf joints and secured with cut steel nails. We created gardens where there once where parking spaces for cars. We restored all the rotted sills on the plank windows. We painted the exterior along with the interior with Historic New England's 18th century color palette, and more.”

Several of the homes on the tour also have ties directly to the Revolutionary War. One of Elisha Allen’s sons, Elisha Jr., was killed at the age of 25 in the Battle of Rhode Island serving under Colonel Thomas Carpenter. The Lydia Hix House (ca. 1800) is named for Lydia Hix (daughter of Robert Goff Jr.) and her husband Benjamin Hix, also a Revolutionary War veteran. The Laban Lake House (ca. 1790) was built by Laban Lake, described as a “Concord Minuteman” who fought at the North Bridge in the Battle of Concord and served under Captain Bliss and Colonel Walker in the Continental Army.

The tour will run from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Registration begins at Goff Memorial Hall, 124 Bay State Road, Rehoboth Massachusetts at 9:30 a.m. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased from local retailers, on the Rehoboth 375 website, or on the day of the tour at Goff Hall.

For more information go to www.rehoboth375.com, or send an email to rehobothhousetour@gmail.com.