Jason Russell House

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name = Jason Russell House
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caption = The Jason Russell House
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location = 7 Jason St.
Arlington, Massachusetts
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added = October 9, 1974
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refnum =74000363
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governing_body = The Jason Russell House is a historic house in Arlington, Massachusetts, the site of the bloodiest fighting on the first day of the Revolutionary War, April 19, 1775 (the Battle of Lexington and Concord). The house was purchased in 1923 by the Arlington Historical Society which has restored it and now operates it as a museum.

History

In 1740 Jason Russell (1716-1775), a farmer, constructed the core of the house beside the Concord Road. He built two rooms, one over the other, with house front facing southward, and chimney and stairs at the north. Perhaps five or ten years later, he added two more rooms to form a typical New England farmhouse. The central part of the house is essentially unchanged today, although further extensions were subsequently added to the left side. Across the front are five windows, with door at center, and large chimney in the middle of a pitched roof. About 1814 an enclosed porch was added to the front door.

at his house.

Russell, age 59, pleaded for help to defend his house, saying "An Englishman's home is his castle." Hampered by his game leg, he was shot down and bayoneted on his own doorstep. An additional eleven colonials were killed during the skirmish; bullet holes still show in the cellar way, parlor, and guest room. Two Redcoats were also killed. Russell and nine of the colonial dead were buried in the nearby Old Burying Ground, where an obelisk was erected to their memory in 1818.

ee also

* List of Registered Historic Places in Arlington, Massachusetts

External links

* [http://www.arlingtonhistorical.org/house/index.php Arlington Historical Society page on the house]