Off the entry hall is the family's formal double parlor. This room was used on such special occasions as family funerals and the marriage of Captain Alfred's daughter Eugenie.

    Drawing Room from doorway

     The people who lived here made necessary alterations in the house from time to time to accommodate their needs and to take advantage of some of the new technology developed in the second half of the nineteenth century. At the same time, they were careful to keep the original furniture, artwork, and appliances that were in the house since its inception. One can find two iceboxes purchased between 1891 and 1910 and a 1948 Norge refrigerator (with its original warranty), all within a few feet of each other. This also accounts for the fact that although the last surviving member of the family continued to spend summer vacations in the house until 1990 the furniture in the Sitting Room is still arranged as it was in 1888!

This photograph was taken in 1888 shortly after some major renovations on the house. It depicts Captain Alfred reading the newspaper while his wife Martha rocks in the foreground. Their daughter Eugenie sits to the left and her sister Augusta Marie stands at the fireplace. Today, the room remains exactly as it appears here. Were the Captain to arrive suddenly, he would be quite at home finding the furniture and even the tea service placed as it was that day.

The Skolfields in the Family Hall
or Sitting Room

     The Skolfield-Whittier House contains a wonderful conglomeration of objects and correspondence. For instance, in the kitchen, one finds a small glass containing a Monarch butterfly and a robin's egg. Elsewhere in the house one can spy Wedgwood and Dresden china, a ship's barometer, Rococo Revival and Eastlake furniture, a club used as a murder weapon, encaustic tiling, a Chickering piano, portions of a human skeleton, alabaster vases, and a captain's log in which he recounts sailing into a hurricane loaded with a cargo of guano.

This room contains the furniture, toys and school papers of Alice Whittier and her sisters Isabel and Charlotte.

Children's Room from doorway.

     There is a small but sprightly garden in back of the Skolfield-Whittier House. It is tended by a group of devoted volunteers, some of whom were friends of the family.

The room represents a late nineteenth century version of cultural globalism. Its paintings and decorative objects come from around the world.

Dining Room from corner
with rose china.

This program represents the combined efforts of Daniel M. Dorman, Skolfield-Whittier House Site Manager and Site Manager Martha Sterling-Golden. Updated by Curator Kate McBrien.