In 1998, the Sippican Historical Society commissioned an architectural survey of Marion’s historic homes and buildings. The survey was funded half by the Sippican Historical Society and half by the Massachusetts Historical Commission. Due to the limits of funding, not all of the historic buildings were surveyed, but over 100 were cataloged and photographed. The results of the survey are in digital form on the Massachusetts Historical Commission’s website and in four binders in the Sippican Historical Society’s office (and at the Marion Town Clerk’s office).
Marion (Old Rochester) is one of the oldest towns in the United States, and the Sippican Historical Society maintains an extensive collection of documentation on its historic buildings. The Sippican Historical Society will feature one building a week so that the residents of Marion can understand more about its unique historical architecture.
This installment features 533 Mill Street. Route 6 existed as a Native American coastal trail for centuries before the first English settlement of Marion in 1679. The Cape Cod home at 533 Mill Street was built in 1818, but is said to incorporate a room that dates to the late 17th century. The first identified owner of this home was Barnabas Holmes. He was a Quaker school teacher descended from Isaac Holmes, one of the original members of a local Congregational Church founded by Rev. Samuel Arnold in 1703. Barnabas Holmes and his wife, Sarah, left considerable property to the Town of Marion. The Holmes estate left $2,000 to the Old Landing Cemetery Association to “beautify the cemetery in which my family is buried”.
