1.05 Newtown Common 1636 - The Old Connecticut Path Begins: Cambridge, MA
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
The best way to discover the where the Old Connecticut Path begins is to take a walking tour beginning at the modern Harvard Square. Along the way, you may find the places where ancestors once lived before the 1636 migration to Hartford.
ANCESTRAL HOME SITES
"Modern Cambridge" (below left) displays the modern street layout of the area that was originally Newtown. Visit Harvard Square today and find the places where the founders of Newtown lived before their migration to Connecticut. We start our walk at Harvard Square on the modern map (left). The map "Cambridge Around 1638" (below right) shows the plots of early Newtowne. For reference, "Watch House Hill X" was located at the site of the present Harvard Square.
Note the lot numbers correspond to the "Key to the Map of Cambridge". The owners are listed according to the original proprietors map.
Although much of Newtown has been transformed over almost four centuries, it is possible to locate the home sites of the original proprietors using the "Key to the Map of Cambridge". Note the numbers on the map reference the owners listed according to the original proprietors map.
Exploring Newtowne & Cambridge
We begin our walk at Harvard Square (1) on the map and walk down Brattle Street. The Harvard Coop lines the right side of Brattle Street where the the Towne Creek once flowed. A short walk brings us to Brattle Square (2 on walking tour map). Brattle Square, seen here, is the modern intersection of Brattle Street with Mt. Auburn Street. The photo (left) provides a view of Mt. Auburn Street from the intersection.
Our walking tour begins at Harvard Square. Harvard University and the business district surround the spot once known as "Watch House Hill".
For those coming to Harvard Square, parking can be a challenge to find a space and quite expensive. The "T" subway station at Harvard Square provides access from downtown Boston and from the Alewife Station near Route 2.
Our tour continues along Mt. Auburn Street (Spring Street on the Proprietors Map) to the site of the first meetinghouse (#3 on tour map).
Using the Proprietors Map (#32), the home of Thomas Spencer (my ancestor), was located on the right. The home site of William Spencer (#31) was on the left side of the square.
Newtowne First Church
Today, a red brick building housing a clothing store stands at the corner of Mount Auburn and Dunster streets (photo above right). A plaque on the brick wall (A) reads:
"Here stood the original meeting house of the first church in Cambridge. Built in 1632 and center of the civic and religious life of the town. Here ministered 1633-1636 Thomas Hooker. A peerless leader of New England thought and life in both church and state." A granite monument (B) stands at the far end of the building on Dunster Street inscribed "Site of the First Meeting House in Cambridge erected A.D. 1632".
Rev. Thomas Hooker was the first minister appointed at Newtowne shortly after his arrival in September 1633. The "Hooker Congregation" members had called him to come out of exile in Holland to serve as their minister. During the 3 years (1633-1636) before the congregation migrated to Hartford, Connecticut, Rev. Hooker was a leading voice in the Massachusetts colony. His counsel was sought to resolve disputes in the fledgling colony. Hooker's wisdom was called upon to settle problems in Massachusetts even after he had moved to Connecticut with the Newtowne congregation. He would return several times from Hartford to Newtowne and Boston to sit on councils and to preach at his former church meeting house. One visit in 1639, brought Rev. Thomas Hooker together with a young Harvard student, Roger Newton, forming a connection that changed both of their lives. Visitors today can walk from the site of the Hooker family home to the place where Rev. Hooker led the Newtowne congregation in prayer and in planning the migration to Connecticut.
The First Church at Newtowne was established in 1633. The "Hooker Congregation" came over from England ahead of Rev. Thomas Hooker and called him to come serve as their pastor. Reverend Thomas Shepard succeeded Rev. Hooker as pastor serving from 1636 to 1649. Shepard was an Oxford graduate who was a protege of Thomas Hooker while they were both in Essexshire.
No plans or drawings have been found for Newtowne's First Meeting House. It was likely similar to the Chestnut Hill Meeting House built in 1769 in Millville, Massachusetts. The "post & beam" construction would have been used to provide a community building with a meeting space within an open main floor and balcony on three sides of the interior.
The interior of the meeting house provided space for both church services and town meetings.
Rev. Thomas Hooker led the Newtowne congregation through Sunday services and lectures during the week, as well as having a leading role in civic discussions. Here, the plans were made for the migration to Connecticut.
Rev. Hooker returned to Newtowne/Cambridge several times after the migration to Connecticut. One occasion in 1639 is significant in our Newton family story. Massachusetts' leaders joined the Newtowne community at a full Meeting House to hear Rev. Hooker speak. Governor John Winthrop recorded the occasion in his journal on
June 26, 1639. "Mr. Hooker being to preach at Cambridge, the governor and many others went to hear him, (though the governor did very seldom go from his own congregation upon the Lord's day). He preached in the afternoon, and having gone on, with much strength of voice and intention of spirit, about a quarter of an hour, he was at a stand, and told the people, that God had deprived him both of his strength and matter, etc., and so went forth, and about half an hour after returned again, and went on to very good purpose about two hours."
Roger Newton, our Newton immigrant ancestor, was among the crowd that packed the meeting house to hear Rev. Hooker. Roger was so moved by the sermon of Thomas Hooker that he sought him out afterwards to discuss Hooker's ideas that had opened Roger's mind. This was the beginning of the relationship between Roger Newton and his future father-in-law, Rev. Thomas Hooker.
Dunster Street is named for Rev. Henry Dunster who emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts in 1640. When Nathaniel Eaton was dismissed in 1639 as master of the recently established Harvard College, Dunster was appointed as his successor. Thus on August 27, 1640 Dunster became the first president of Harvard. He modeled Harvard's educational system on that of the English schools such as Eton College and Cambridge University. He set up as well as taught Harvard's entire curriculum alone for many years, graduating the first college class in America, the Class of 1642.
From the site of the First Meetinghouse, our walk follows Dunster Street (Water Street on Proprietors Map). As you reach Massachusetts Avenue, a historic marker on a building faces Dunster Street on the left side. The "Cambridge" marker was placed in 1930 during the 300th anniversary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Massachusetts Avenue was originally known as Braintree Street. Across the street, the walls surrounding the Harvard University campus form the boundary of today's road. The street has been narrowed to accommodate the growing campus and the subway
running beneath the street.
The 1638 view of the College and Cow Yard (far right) shows how much the landscape has changed over almost four centuries. Braintree Street once extended into the edge of the campus and was once lined by homes.
1. Harvard University
2. George Washington takes Command
3. Thomas Hooker Goes to Connecticut
