Red House: Being a Mostly Accurate Account of New England's Oldest Continuously Lived-In House

by Sarah Messer

Book Overview

In her critically acclaimed, ingenious memoir, Sarah Messer explores America's fascination with history, family, and Great Houses. Her Massachusetts childhood home had sheltered the Hatch family for... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670033154
• ISBN13: 9780670033157
• Release Date: June 2004
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 390 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.7" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Loved it from beginning to end !

As a member of our local historical society involved with preserving old houses two of which date to the 1600s, I truly appreciated this book from beginning to end. Ms. Messer's style of writing, at times, was truly poetic especially at the end when she posed the question of why do we love old houses and preserving them together with old things, at least us historian types. What a treasure trove of records she found in the House together with information rec'd from Richard Hatch, who sold the house to the Messers, that told the stories of the occupants since the 1600s. Just organizing all that material into a book amazes me ! Like she said it took six years for her to write the book. If you are a history buff especially, you will thoroughly enjoy this book.

Outstanding and Riveting Book

This book is beautifully written and in many places, it reads like poetry. Having come from Scituate, Massachusetts myself I know how accurate her descriptions of old houses are (I do not know the author). She has a true feel for the early period of this country and what life was like at that time. Mr. Murena (another reviewer) you are wrong. Ice did actually form in water bowls even in rooms with fireplaces if they were placed at the opposite end of the room. This is documented as fact by people living in early American homes in New England even into the 19th century. It's true that forks were in use in England by 1608 by the very privileged Mr. Murena, but they were not in use in early America until much, much later. Especially not by the early settlers. So she got that right too. Check your facts, she did. So back to the book. It's a wonderful read. I couldn't put it down and finished it in one night. Her descriptions of the early overgrown road behind the house is just like one that ran behind our house in Scituate. The book evokes accurate images of the past in wonderful detail. She alternates the story of the Hatch family, who originally built and lived in the house, with the story of her own family. The house is fascinating enough on its own, but the families are what gives it life. It even has a ghost or two. What more could any reader want. I strongly recommend this book. I intend to read it again. Paula Higgins

I Could Not Put This Book Down!

I started to read this book on a Saturday and invented excuses on Sunday so that I could stay at home and finish it. It will definitely merit a place on my shelf of favorites. The intertwining of the story of the house and the story of the Messer family is masterful, and the writing itself is so flowing that you just can't stop at the end of each chapter. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a love of New England history, old houses or just a good story!

Weaves family history with a unique renovation

Built in 1647, the Red House in Marshfield, Massachusetts was the home of one family for eight generations: the original owner/builder's will hung in the living room and admonished future generations to keep the house in the family: a dictate which was to end when the house was sold to author Sarah Messer's parents. Over the years prior owner Richard Hatch began returning furniture, photos, and other objects to the house, saying they belonged there - Sarah Messer weaves family history with a unique renovation and historical project in her involving and personal story of Red House: Being a Mostly Accurate Account of New England's Oldest Continuously Lived-In House.

Red House is wonderful...

I enjoyed this book on several levels. First, a disclaimer, I'm a friend of the author's sister. So the book was interesting from that perspective. But I loved reading about the generations of the Hatch family as well as the impact of living in a centuries old house on the Messers. Anyone who has a relationship with a house which goes beyond the mere structure can relate to this story of emotional attachment to the building known as home. And Sarah Messer's poetic talents are evident in the beauty of the prose.

Every house has a history...

...and the Red House in Marshfield, Massachusetts, is fortunate enough to have one-time resident Sarah Messer as its storyteller. Englishman Walter Hatch built the original structure in 1647. Ownership passed through 9 or 10 generations of Hatches until 1965, when it left Hatch hands and Messer's parents bought the house. Thus is the author linked to her subject. She alternates between her own family's history and that of the Hatches, tracing both the fate of the individuals and the imprint each left on the house. There are additions, renovations, fires and restorations. Relatives move away and others come back. Time passes, and the Red House outlives all of its inhabitants. And all along the underlying question is: Whose house is it, really? "The house contains both the living and the dead, and there are always traces, because the house is not separate, has not one owner but many, has many beams, many different panes of glass, the way a body might have many lovers, the way each owner might look at the house as if at the body of a lover. If the window is removed, is it still a part of the house? If the fireplace swing-arm is taken and put in a museum, is it no longer a part of the house? Can the house be removed from itself? The owner, the past, the parts of the house. I thought: Who can steal a house? Who owns the lover but the loved?" (p. 234) This reader cannot help but be reminded of a farmhouse in her own past: one that's been in her family since 1915 and might not survive the decade with that surname on the mailbox. But that's a story for another day. To delve into this fascinating book is to relive the cultural and coastal history of the Bay State through the lives of one extended family, and to further ponder one's own footprint left on the earth. Highly recommended for all who know of such homes and who want not only to restore and remember them, but to also know intimately the souls who once spent (and perhaps STILL spend) time there.