6 Payson Street

History

This house is an excellent example of the Victorian Gothic style as interpreted in the vernacular during the late nineteenth century.

Features characteristic of Gothic styles include the use of goblets in the floor, a matched board exterior surface on the façade, and Tudor arch details over the window lintels and in the porch. The front entrance also features a Tudor arch and door, flanked by sidelights. The doorway may have been altered in the present century.

David Wood was born in Newburyport in 1806. He was the son of a famous Newburyport clockmaker, David Wood Sr. David purchased several acres on what was then called Moody’s Lane in the early 1840s and built a home there, which he called “Woodland Cottage,” it is now 6 Payson Street. He also improved the grounds and, in 1843, requested that the lane be widened. After the widening, the street became known as Woodland Street.

In 1875, Edward Payson Shaw bought a large tract of land stretching from the corner of High and Woodland to the corner of Chapel and Howard Streets. On this wooded land, there was just one house, “Woodland Cottage” (now 6 Payson Street), and a stable (now 36 Woodland Street). Edward Payson Shaw moved into Woodland Cottage.

Edward Payson Shaw (1841-1921) was born in Newburyport in 1841. Shaw was a descendant of Josiah Bartlett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He started work at 15, owned his own business by 22, and went on to own/manage steamboat and horse-drawn trolley lines, a quarry, and numerous real estate properties.

In 1889, Shaw planned a subdivision of his property, creating Magnolia, Payson, Beacon, and Dexter Streets. By the end of 1890, Shaw had built the home at the corner of Woodland and High Streets (now 294 High) and had sold a few of the lots from his “subdivision.” However, some of his businesses faltered, and by the 1900s, his investments had deteriorated.