98 High Street

History

The Cushing House is a fine example of brick Federal-period domestic architecture. The brickwork is laid in a Flemish bond, and the house is on a granite foundation. It is capped by a low, hipped roof with four tall, interior brick chimneys.

The decorative wooden cornice, which wraps around the entire house, includes a beaded molding, incised blocks, and a rope molding with drilled holes. The only significant alteration made to the house was raising the hipped roof in 1863 to accommodate a nursery.

The land on which the Cushing House now stands was owned by Richard Pike and sold to Jonathan Moulton on October 6, 1803. In 1808, Jonathan’s widow, Elizabeth Moulton, sold the land to William N. Hunt. Construction of the house began shortly thereafter, although Hunt, a sea captain, died before its completion.

In 1818, Sarah Hunt, William Hunt’s widow, sold half of the land and half of the brick house to John N. Cushing. Mrs. Hunt and her four children continued to occupy the east half of the house until 1822, when it, too, was sold to John Cushing. The land where the present garden is located was added to the property between 1819 and 1837.

For 138 years, three generations of the Cushing family occupied the home. Among the illustrious family of merchants and diplomats was Caleb Cushing (1800-1879), son of John N. and Lydia Dow Cushing. A lawyer by training, Caleb Cushing served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1835-1843), as Envoy to China (1843-1845), First Mayor of Newburyport (1851-1852), Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (1852-1853), Attorney General in the administration of Franklin Pierce, and Minister to Spain (1874-1877). His accomplishments include negotiating the 1844 Treaty of Wanghia, which secured diplomatic and trade privileges for the United States, opened five significant ports, established consular offices, and paved the way for American interests in the Far East.

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