Arrowhead (Herman Melville House)

Infobox_nrhp | name =Arrowhead (Herman Melville House)
nrhp_type = nhl


caption = Arrowhead
location= 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
locmapin = Massachusetts
area =14.189 acres
built =1785
architect= Bush,Capt. David
architecture= No Style Listed
designated=December 29, 1962cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=53&ResourceType=Building
title=Arrowhead (Herman Melville House) |accessdate=2008-07-10|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = October 15, 1966cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
governing_body = Private
refnum=66000126

Arrowhead (1780), also known as Herman Melville House, was the home of American author Herman Melville during his most productive years from 1850-1863. In this house in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Melville wrote his best work: the novels "Moby-Dick", "" (dedicated to nearby Mount Greylock), "The Confidence-Man", and "Israel Potter"; a collection of short stories entitled "The Piazza Tales" and including "I and My Chimney," "Benito Cereno," "Bartleby the Scrivener," and "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids"; all his magazine stories; and some of his poetry. It is a U.S. National Historic Landmark and is open as a museum.

Melville in Pittsfield

Melville made his first visit to Pittsfield in 1832 to visit his Uncle Thomas. There he fell in love with his uncle's farm, particularly the view from the farm house window of Mount Greylock, highest point in Massachusetts. His annual visits continued until 1850, when Melville decided to move his family to Pittsfield permanently.

In the summer of 1850, Melville and his wife Lizzie as well as their son Malcolm came to Pittsfield for a vacation of indefinite length. [Delbanco, Andrew. "Melville, His World and Work". New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005: 124. ISBN 0-375-40314-0] Later that summer, Melville was invited to picnic on Monument Mountain south of Pittsfield with two other literary notables and Berkshire residents, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Melville and Hawthorne struck up an instant friendship, and Melville decided to follow Hawthorne's lead. By September, he had the deed to a lot of 160 acres below Mount Greylock. He called his new home Arrowhead because of the arrowheads that were dug up around the property during planting season.Delbanco, Andrew. "Melville, His World and Work". New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005: 125. ISBN 0-375-40314-0] New York publisher Evert Augustus Duyckinck wrote that its "grounds would satisfy an English nobleman—for the noble maples and elms and various seclusions and outlooks".

It was at Arrowhead where Melville wrote his novel "Moby-Dick"; though the work was not recognized during the author's lifetime, it has since become known as one of the greatest American literary masterpieces.Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. "The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States". New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 55. ISBN 0195031865] Melville incorporated homely features of Arrowhead into several stories. The piazza, after which "The Piazza Tales" were named, was added to the (most mystifying) north side of Arrowhead shortly after Melville purchased the property:

"I and My Chimney", published in "Putnam's Monthly Magazine" (1856), contains a home-owner's description of the grand old farm house:

Melville lived, farmed, and wrote at Arrowhead for 13 years, receiving visitors including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., and Catharine Maria Sedgwick. [Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. "The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States". New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 56. ISBN 0195031865] During that time, however, he was not making a living from his writing. With the need for gainful pay, Melville finally returned to New York City where he found work as a customs inspector at the New York Customs House, a job he held for over 20 years, working six days a week with only two weeks of vacation a year.

Melville sold Arrowhead to his brother Allan who used it first as a summer home and then moved there permanently. Melville continued to visit Arrowhead through the 1880s. The Melville family owned the house until 1927.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1962.citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/66000126.pdf National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: "Arrowhead", The Herman Melville Home] |32 KB|date=August 13, 1975 |author=Polly M. Rettig and J. Walter Coleman |publisher=National Park Service and PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/66000126.pdf "Accompanying 10 photos, exterior, from 1870, 1974, 1983"] |32 KB]

In 1975, the Berkshire County Historical Society purchased the house and began its restoration.

House today

It is now a non-profit museum operated by the Berkshire County Historical Society, which uses a portion of the house as their office. The remainder is open to the public for guided tours for part of the year. It is located at 780 Holmes Road in Pittsfield.

References

External links

* [http://www.mobydick.org/ Home of Herman Melville Official Website]