A citizens group in Marshfield, Mass., has spent the last three years fighting to save the 18-acre estate of distinguished Dartmouth alumnus Daniel Webster, Class of 1801.
The group, known as the Daniel Webster Preservation Trust, founded in 1990, hopes to raise $800,000 to buy the plot from developer William Last, who purchased the land in 1986, according to local newspapers.
Jim Cantwell, an aide to Massachusetts State Senator Brian McDonald, has spearheaded the movement, which has strong community support.
Cantwell and the group plan to convert the estate to a combined bed and breakfast and a museum dedicated to Webster, a 19th century statesman and lawyer.
They also hope to protect the 350-year-old English Linden Tree, which residents believe English colonists planted to remind them of home, the Boston, Mass., Patriot Ledger reported.
According to the Ledger, Last originally planned to build a housing project for elderly citizens, but the 1990 recession delayed the construction for three years.
In early April, the town zoning board refused to extend the building permit. Then Last decided to apply for a state permit and build subsidized housing instead.
The same day the zoning board refused the extension, the National Park Service named the Webster Estate to the National Register of Historic Places. That prevents federal money from assisting any development, including low-income housing, but offers little other protection.
The Ledger also reported that since the town cannot pay to purchase the estate, Cantwell and the preservation group obtained financial help from the Trust for Public Land, a non-profit land conservation organization based in San Francisco, Calif. The coalition hopes to solicit contributions from outside sources including historical organizations and Dartmouth alumni.
According to the Boston Sunday Globe, Daniel Webster started with 160 acres and a house in 1832. He expanded his landholdings to 1,500 acres and lived there until his death in 1852. He built a small law office there that still exists, though in a different location.
Webster negotiated the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, which settled the border dispute between Maine and Canada, at his Marshfield estate. He went there to relax after his speech of March 7, 1850, which helped pass the Compromise of 1850 that delayed the Civil War for a decade.
Webster died in 1852 on the estate. The original house burned to the ground in 1878, but Webster's daughter-in-law rebuilt the building. Over the years, the estate shrunk to its current size of 18 acres.
