Wistariahurst – Inside Out

  • This is part of the Holyoke Heritage Trail so after visiting here get back onto the trail.
  • Private GROUP TOUR (COSTS) is one hour long for this Wistariahurst and Neighborhood walking tour. It is fully outdoors.
  • A free public tour comes up every five years.
  • A self-tour is available for anyone using the maps and text seen below.LOCATION

Wistariahurst was moved in 1874 from Williamsburg to Holyoke. The outside is the original design. The front of the house points to Pine Street and the back to Beech.

Inside stop 1 – Wistariahurst ground floor

Inside stop 2 – Wistariahurst second floor

Inside stop 3 – Music Room

The Music Room at Wistariahurst was made by Belle Skinner to house her instruments.

Inside stop 4 – Carriage House

Outside stop 5 – Gardens and Grounds

GARDENS

Outside stop 6 – Beech Street Architecture

The house at the NW corner of Beech and Cabot is the Henry Seymour home. It became later the Samuel Whiting home.

At 245 Beech was a brick house that is now gone. It was the George Clark house LINK to image. FINDAGRAVE George Clark was the treasurer of the Newton Paper Mill. His son George Arthur Clark was a pathologist. ARTICLE The Clark family is the one to have the house built in late 1885. It would burn down in December 18 1973 from a chimney fire.

Outside stop 7 – Cabot Street Architecture

The Herbert Frink house is at the NE corner of Cabot and Pine. He was the general agent and president of the Holyoke Machine Company. They made turbines in Holyoke for 150 years. The house is from 1885.

After the Frink house there are more nice homes on this section of Pine Street.

At 231 Pine there is the Rev Haywood house. It was built in 1875.

At 226 Pine Street there is the Edwin Weiser house from 1888. He was in the administration of the Parsons Paper Mill. This is a Queen Anne house.

At 224 Pine Street there is the Willard Stearns house from 1885. This is in the Stick style. Stearns was the superintendent at mills 1 and 3 of the Farr Alpaca Mill. It changed hands in 1919 when he died.

Outside stop 8 – Pine Street Architecture

The inhabitants of 244 Pine Street were JK McCarthy and Kate McCarthy. When Kate died in 1909 the porch and the inside of the house was totally filled with flowers to honor her.

The brick house at 264 to 266 Pine Street is that of George Brakey who was the coachman for William Skinner the son from 1909 to 1937. The family itself lived in this house from 1895 to 1940. George Brakey was a coachmen as early as the late 1890s for William Skinner the father. IMAGE

Outside stop 9 – Holyoke High School and the Hampshire Street Architecture

The third location of the Holyoke High School was along Beech Pine and Hampshire. It was built in 1898 and stayed at this location until the 1960s.

Sanborn map analysis:

Sanborn 1889 map and across Pine Street map

Sanborn 1895 map

Sanborn 1915 map

Sanborn 1949 map

Sanborn 1956 map