66 High Street, the John Harris house (1795)

The Georgian-style John Harris – Mark Jewett House at 66 High Street in Ipswich was built in 1795 by builder John Harris. In 1784 the town poorhouse on Loney’s lane had fallen into disrepair, and John Heard convinced the town that if it would buy John Harris’ previous home at the corner of High and Manning, he would provide $400 annually for the care of the poor. The contract was so controversial with residents in the affluent Hamlet section of town that they succeeded in breaking away in 1793 to create the town of Hamilton.

A later resident Mark Jewett Mark Jewett bought the property in 1833, and it remained in his family for many years. Jewett was a housewright and built the Linebrook Parish House in 1828. He also contracted to rebuild the First Church. The finished work was accepted on the condition that he repaint the pulpit “in a sacred color”.