Oldest House in Cambridge

Oldest House in Cambridge is a Massachusetts historical marker in Cambridge, Middlesex County, dedicated 1930.

Massachusetts Avenue and Linnaean Street, Cambridge · location approximate

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At number 21 Linnaean Street is the Cooper-Austin house built in 1657, at what was then the northern end of the Cambridge Cow Common, by John Cooper, selectman, town clerk, and deacon of the church.

1930 text, presented as a historical document.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1660 · Noui Belgii Nouaeque Angliae nec non partis Virginiae tabula (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1677 · A map of New England (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1852 · Boston and vicinity. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1888 · Boston. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1890 · 31. Boston sheet. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Noui Belgii Nouaeque Angliae nec non partis Virginiae tabula, 1660, covering the location of Oldest House in Cambridge, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Noui Belgii Nouaeque Angliae nec non partis Virginiae tabula, 1660, covering this location. Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library. The pin is ours and the location is approximate.

Example

For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyExpected here. This page shows the older published text, and some signs were recast later. Telling us still helps.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

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Marker data: Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentenary Commission, 1930 (Commonwealth of Massachusetts)

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