family homestead

I so love old and historic buildings -- for me just to spend an hour or so wandering around in an old house is to get lost in time and imagination, and is the perfect refuge from the busy world.

It's doubly enjoyable when the old house has family connections.  This weekend I had the opportunity to take photographs at the Benjamin Nye Homestead in Sandwich, Massachusetts.  Who knew, when I visited the homestead as a child  that one day I would live just a few miles away here on Cape Cod, and would be a member of the Nye Family Association Board?  I'm descended from Benjamin Nye -- my great-great grandmother Mary Purrington Nye was Benjamin Nye's great-great-great granddaughter.  That's a mouthful, right?  You can see a picture of Mary Purrington Nye and read more about her and her parents here.

Here are a few images of the homestead and grounds.

Nye cup plates in the window, of course

A chamber pot under every bed

An essential undergarment

School supplies

A reflection in a wavy mirror

Sewing

And a great piece of a larger sampler.  I like her attitude.

A bonnet at the ready, in case of an outing

And a roaring fire in the bake oven

The house, circa 1680s

 The mill, built later

And the marshes, turning gold just as fall arrives

You can see all my Nye House photos in a slideshow here, or by visiting my flickr page.

And of course, there's more information on the Nye homestead on the Nye Family of America's website.

nye house preservation

I thought you'd all be interested in reading about the recent preservation of the Nye House, our ancestral family homestead located in East Sandwich here on Cape Cod. There was a good article in this morning's Cape Cod Times.

If you've forgotten how we're related to the Nyes, you can see the family tree on my old webpage:

• Generations of the Leonard Family
• The Deserted Farm -- A Poem

And here's a link to the Nye Family website:
Nye Family of America's website

Mom recently donated several Nye family artifacts to the Nye Association, so they'll be in good hands in their newly preserved home.