N. S. Williams House

N.S. Williams House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	East Taunton, Massachusetts
Coordinates:	41°52′55″N 71°0′3″W / 41.88194°N 71.00083°W / 41.88194; -71.00083Coordinates: 41°52′55″N 71°0′3″W / 41.88194°N 71.00083°W / 41.88194; -71.00083
Built:	1855
Architectural style:	Italianate
Governing body:	Private
MPS:	Taunton MRA
NRHP Reference#:	84002285 [1]
Added to NRHP:	July 5, 1984

N.S. Williams House is an historic house at 1150 Middleboro Avenue in East Taunton, Massachusetts.

The house was built in 1855 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.^[1]

The N. S. Williams House was built by Nathan Sumner Williams in 1855 as a gift to his wife Caroline Thompson Richard. The family business was located across the street in "Kings Furnace" in what is currently the Massasoit State Park. The location of the house was not to her liking since it stood so far outside the Green of Taunton where most of the wealthy lived. Mr Williams built another home on Summer Street and the family moved to the new location shortly thereafter. He retained the home on Middleboro Ave as a place to stop and rest on his long journey to and from work daily. The house boasts 4200sq' of living space and 1s over 7000 sq' overall. It is a post and beam framed structure with a granite foundation. The wrap around front porch and built up window and door pediments are what define the Victorian Italianate distinction.

In November 1903 Mr Williams died and the house was sold to an antique dealer by the name of Ed Whitney. Mr Whitney filled the house with beautiful antiques and turned the house into the "Maples Inn". Because the home overlooked the major road leading into Taunton from Cape Cod (Middleboro Avenue), it was an ideal location for stage coaches to stop for the night.

From 1950 until the middle of the 1960s a family by the name of Simmons had acquired the home. The Simmons ran a very upscale nursing home at the location for 15 years of which many neighbors have fond memories of the home and its residents. In the mid-1960s it was sold yet again to another family by the name of Francis and Jonathan Blye.

A substantial size fire occurred during this period that nearly destroyed the house and all of its history. The house remained open and exposed to the elements until it was purchased in 1971 by Nina and Bernard Stanton. Nina and "Bernie" as referred by friends, began the desperately needed repairs to make the house habitable once again. Nina took the liberty of placing the home on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2007 the property was purchased by Michael and Heather Woodby with a dream of revitalizing the home. Their goal is to restore the property, revitalize the estate grounds and update all of the utilities. The house can now be seen from the street for the first time in decades and has become a source of much anticipation by the local community.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.