Mystery Mondays: The Summer White House (part 1)
Myth, legend, or fact?
There’s a house on Central Street in Andover that has been referred to as “The Summer Whitehouse” for many years. And the house across the street was said to be used for offices, where the administrative staff lived when the president was in town.
Myth, legend, or fact?
If you’re a frequent History Buzz reader, you might recall our myth-busting series on the Follansby Rockery, which had been known for decades as Turtle Mound. Researcher and author James Gage ended his 2019 report on the Rockery with, “This is a cautionary tale about how well-meaning researchers created a mythology for an archaeology site. It has taken 80 years to undo it.”
The legend of the Summer White House isn’t quite as old, but will still take some time to undo.
Over the next few Mystery Mondays posts, I’ll dive deeper into the legend and the Pierce family. But first, let’s look into the Summer White House legend.
The President Franklin Pierce Legend
For many years, the house at 48 Central Street, the Aiken-Ripley House, has been called the “Summer White House.” The home was the residence of John and Mary Aiken. Mary Means Appleton Aiken was the sister of Jane Means Appleton Pierce, the wife of the 14th President of the United States, Franklin Pierce. The Pierces, who lived in Concord, New Hampshire, were frequent visitors to the Aiken home before and after the Pierce presidency.
The house at 47 Central Street, the Abbot-Newman House, was said to have been where Pierce’s administrative staff lived while Pierce was staying in his Summer White House. I’ll dig into that story in the next installment.
The origins
As far as I can tell, the Summer White House story began in our own research files. In the research file for 48 Central street, there is a bundle of anonymous hand-written notes that include this line,
“Samuel A. house
Used by Pres. Franklin Pierce as the Summer capital. The Ripley house opposite was also used for offices (so said M. Newman).”
“M. Newman” was the Reverend Mark Newman who owned the house between 1818 and 1848. However, during the Pierce presidency, 1853-1857, the home was owned by Samuel Lawrence, an agent of the Bay State Woolen Company.
It’s easy to see how “Summer capital” from the research file notes could morph into “Summer White House.” In fact, according to the White House Historical Association it was Pierce’s successor, James Buchanan, who can be credited for having the first official summer house,
James Buchanan was the first the engage the Old Soldiers’ Home as a summer retreat and thus made it the first ‘official’ presidential summer house.
From the same White House Historical Association article, we read this,
John Tyler, Zachary Taylor, and Franklin Pierce took in the springs, enjoying the rambling hotels and healthful waters provided throughout the country for those with the leisure to enjoy them.
President Pierce’s choices for where to go to escape the summer-time heat and humidity of Washington were documented in newspapers of the time.
Where did President Pierce summer?
I haven’t found evidence of how or where the Pierces went in the summer of 1853. Jane Pierce was in mourning in 1853 following the tragic death of their son, Benjamin. It’s a story I’ll tell in a future post.
The next year, 1854, however, the The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer reported in September that the President and Mrs. Pierce had returned to Washington after a trip to Virginia.
In June 1855, the New York Daily Herald reported that the Pierces were spending part of their summer in Cape May, New Jersey.
And,
1856 was an election year, and in the fall of 1856, President Pierce was traveling, starting in Concord, New Hampshire.
Evidence
The following article provides some evidence that 48 Central was not President Pierce’s Summer White House.
This is his first visit to New England since his inauguration, and is said to be made soley for the purpose of attending to his private affairs.
The Andover Advertiser continued to report on the President’s travels in October 1856, when he visited Andover on a Saturday evening and stayed in the home of his brother-in-law John Aiken at 48 Central Street. He attended Sunday morning services at the Theological Seminary chapel. That afternoon, he attended services at South Church.
Debunking the legend
Based on the article that states that Pierce’s October 1856 visit was his “first to New England since his inauguration,” the many articles documenting Pierce’s summer vacation locations, and the White House Historical Association article, it appears that the house at 48 Central Street was not President' Pierce’s Summer White House.
So, it would appear that we – the Andover Historical Society – started the story about the Summer capital and then the Summer White House. And much like other legends it grew and spread, and will take time to undo.
Next week, I’ll dig into the legend of the administrative offices at 47 Central Street.
Thanks for reading! Until next time,
~ Elaine
Resources: Newspapers.com
So interesting!! Love reading your posts. Thanks, Vickie H.