Built in 1781 for a Revolutionary War privateer who came home rich and never went back to sea, the Captain's House is one of three remaining Federal-era homes on the eastern flank of Marblehead's historic district with a deeded mooring in the inner harbor. The house has belonged to four families across two and a half centuries — and only sat on the open market once, in 1894.
The current owners restored the second floor and the kitchen with Boston preservation architect Margot Tellier in 2017, keeping the wide-plank pumpkin pine, the original hand-blown windows on the south face, and the brick beehive oven in the keeping room. The third-floor garret was finished as a writing studio with new dormers and a working fireplace.
Outside, the garden has been the work of three generations. A boxwood-lined path leads from the slate front terrace down to the seawall, where the private deepwater mooring sits seventy feet from the back gate. Stone outbuildings include a two-bay carriage house and a small greenhouse currently in use as a potting room.
This is a house that almost never trades. We are honored to represent it. We are also realistic — the buyer will be someone who has been waiting for it. If that is you, we invite a private showing arranged through founding broker Eleanor Whitfield.
Eleanor has represented seven of the last twelve Front Street transactions and lives in a 1789 saltbox three blocks from the listing. Showings by appointment only — typically Friday afternoons or Sunday mornings. She'll send you the full eighty-page archival package once you've signed a buyer agreement.
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