Colonel John Ashley House
The house in Sheffield
The Colonel John Ashley House is built in 1735 by John Ashley House near the city of Sheffield in the state of Massachusetts in the United States. It was registered on 10 February 1975 in the National Register of Historic Places ( NRHP). The house is now a museum and managed by the organization The Trustees of Reservations. Immediately adjacent to the protected area of Bartholomew's Cobble, which also formerly belonged to Ashley.
History
John Ashley built in 1735 at the age of 25 years for his coming from the Netherlands wife Hannah Hogeboom this building, which is the oldest existing building in the Berkshire County today. It was in the 18th century to the center of social, economic and political life in western Massachusetts - among other things was in the rooms of the house in 1773 published the Sheffield Declaration designed were called for in the individual rights for everyone and the end of British tyranny.
This was ultimately less than ten years later to the fact that slavery in Massachusetts was abolished, which also Elizabeth Freeman (nicknamed "Mum bed " ), which had been kept as a slave in Ashley Estates, was released by John Ashley in 1781 before Court sued and won the case.
1930, the house was converted from its original location to its present location. 1972 passed into the possession of the Trustees of Reservations, who renovated the building into a museum.
Museum
The present museum reflects the interwoven story of two completely different people - the Ashley family and their five living in the house slaves - of the 18th century resist. John Ashley had built the house in 1735 and piled in the following more than 30 years of substantial wealth and property to. When he died in 1802, included his land owned more than 3,000 acres ( 12.14 km ²), including the 329 acres (1.33 km ²) large area known to be Bartholomew's Cobble is also under the protection of the Trustees of Reservations today.
The house is - next to his entry in the NRHP - an anchor point of the Upper Housatonic Valley African American Heritage Trail and part of the Berkshire 18th Century Trail. The museum -quality collections of Irdengütern, furniture and tools are to be seen.