Nathaniel Atwood, Blacksmith
c. 1812
Nathaniel Atwood (1782–1845) purchased this lot in January 1812, and probably built the present dwelling soon thereafter. Nathaniel and his wife, Mary Wyer, had four children born between 1806 and 1809, so the construction of the house may have been a priority. If the house was not built immediately after the lot purchase, it probably was not constructed until after 1815 due to the War of 1812 which broke our soon after Atwood’s purchase. A blockade of Nantucket made materials and supplies for building a house as well as for the blacksmith trade difficult to acquire.
In 1822, Atwood sold the lot and house to Reuben Burdett (1781–1869), mariner. Burdett held the property for the next 24 years before selling to Henry Cleveland (1798–1875), master mariner. Research indicates the Burdett and Cleveland families were related—Henry’s wife, Rebecca Russell, and Reuben Burdett were cousins. In the late 1870s the property came into the possession of Henry and Rebecca’s son Benjamin, who retained it until his death in 1906. He died single and the house passed to Benjamin F. Robinson, son of Deborah Burdett Robinson and Reuben Burdett’s grandson.
