Though many students fail to realize it, the nondescript building they pass on the way to Dick's House or Occom Pond is a depository for some of the most interesting artifacts from the College's history.
The Webster Cottage Museum, owned and operated by the Hanover Historical Society and located between Gamma Delta Chi fraternity and Cutter-Shabazz Hall, has a long history and has housed some impressive residents, including Daniel Webster and Eleazar Wheelock's daughter Abigail.
The Cottage houses numerous furnishings from early New Hampshire, including many personal possessions belonging to Dartmouth's pride and joy -- Webster, a member of the Class of 1801.
Examples of Webster's personal belongings include the desk he used as Secretary of State, the chair he used in his later years, and the traveling case he used to store his brandy and other beverages.
One of the most interesting items is a fire bucket, with the engraving D.Webster, which was issued to Webster during his days at Dartmouth.
Sand-filled buckets were the first line of defense students had if a fire in their fireplace got out of control.
Historical Society President Sylvia Nelson explained that if the sand did not work, "you got everybody, went down to the river, and formed a bucket brigade."
There are several rooms in the Cottage Museum, many housing Webster pieces.
Other rooms store Shaker furnishings, early maps of the Hanover area, desks belonging to former deans and a 17th-century china bowl.
Nelson said the cottage was originally built in 1780 by the Reverend Sylvanus Ripley for his new wife, Abigail Wheelock.
It originally stood near Silsby Hall, and was later moved to a site near the Kiewit Computation Center site.
In the 1950s, it was moved to its present site on North Main Street, across from Bradley Courtyard.
The Museum is open three days a week during the summer, and receives 250-300 visitors a year, "many who are curious about Webster," Nelson said.
It is open only sporadically in winter, usually for student history field trips.
The Historical Society, founded in 1961 to preserve the historical buildings in the area, has done a lot to make the Museum welcome to visitors, Nelson said.
The walls of the entryway to the house were trimmed by the Society's members, including small painted images of pineapples, a symbol of hospitality in the earlier days of Hanover.
Up the steep stairs is the low-ceilinged room where Webster supposedly spent part of his years at Dartmouth.
There is also a room furnished with pieces in the austere style of the Shaker faith.
On the ground floor is a room containing many of Webster's possessions. The kitchen area holds many early New Hampshire cooking tools.
The Cottage Museum houses a significant portion of the College's history, in addition to that of its residents. Its appearance belies its immense historical value.
As it says in a Historical Society pamphlet about the Cottage, "it is not the outward appearance of a house that gives it its historical interest, but the people who have lived in it and made it their home."
