King Caesar House, c. 1809, Duxbury, MA: Hail, Caesar! - History Bites: New England

Welcome to Duxbury and the King Caesar House. Located on Massachusetts South Shore, this federal mansion was built in 1809 for Ezra Weston II, known as King Caesar for what the local historical society describes as his worldwide preeminence as a shipbuilder and merchant. According to the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society, which owns and manages the site, it was Ezra Weston's enterprise that dominated Duxbury in the early 19th century, with a large population employed in Weston shipyards, farms, wharves, a mill and rope walk, as well as Weston's fishing schooners and merchant fleet. Ezra Weston's ship, Hope, built in 1841, was at the time New England's largest vessel. Like his father, Weston was known as King Caesar for his success in shipping and shipbuilding. In fact, Lloyds of London recognized Weston as the largest shipowner in America, and this judgment was seconded by Daniel Webster in his speech in 1841. It was during this time that Weston managed a commercial fleet of around 75 merchant vessels. Cherusha and Ezra Weston II married in 1793. This portrait and the one of Weston seen earlier were likely done at the time of their wedding. Cherusha and Ezra had six children, three of whom survived to adulthood. In her book Duxbury, a Guide, Catherine H. Pillsbury describes Cherusha as an attractive young woman, red-haired with fair skin, admired for her generous outgoing nature and love of company. She brought Bradford intellectual interest, Pillsbury adds, as well as sophistication and style with her, to the Weston household. It was Captain Weston who established the family firm by building small sloops and schooners in Duxbury in 1764. The original King Caesar, Captain Ezra Weston, earned the sobriquet through his talent for persuasion. In 1800, Duxbury's main road, Washington Street, came to an end on the Some residents, including Ezra Weston, lobbied the town for a bridge, an expenditure that many in the town opposed. The controversy over constructing the Bluefish River Bridge would drag on for three years. It wasn't until a contentious town meeting in 1803 when construction of the bridge was approved. For his role in pressuring the vote, Weston, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, was called King Caesar by his adversaries. The slanderous nickname eventually became a badge of honor, the house museum notes, and the name was passed to his son, Ezra Weston II. Weston and his family lived in a house they called the Old Cottage, just east of his son's better-known King Caesar House. The circa 1768 Old Cottage was a gambrel-roofed cape with a two-story front porch. Captain Weston's son, Ezra Weston II, and two of his grandsons were born in this house. The house was totally destroyed by fire in 1886. For the first 15 years of their marriage, Jerusha and Ezra Weston II lived with the senior Westons in the Old Cottage. In 1808, with their third son on the way, the family moved next door into their own home. It was a grand new house, writes Catherine H. Pillsbury, built in the latest federal style and much larger than the Old Cottage. The interior of the house, Pillsbury adds, follows standard federal practice with its center hallway connecting the front door with the back. There were two rooms, Pillsbury continues, one formal, the other less so, leading off the hall at the front of the house, with the dining room and a library towards the back and kitchen in the rear L. The Weston firm experienced its heyday in the 1820s and 1830s, during which Ezra Weston II presided as sole owner. Bumpers Park was built on part of the Weston Wharf. Among the highlights of the visit to the King Caesar House is viewing the historic block printed wallpapers in the two parlors. The 1820s wallpapers, according to the house museum, were installed about 10 years after the house was built and are statements on the house's decor as well as the way the house functioned in terms of social status, business, and public perception. In her book, Duxbury, Catherine H. Pillsbury writes that Jerusha Weston undoubtedly had a hand in selecting the Parisian wallpapers. In fact, it was Jerusha, writes Pillsbury, who directed all the domestic duties, seeing to it that the house was suitable for her family and reflected both her husband's stature in town and her own hospitable nature. Maria was the oldest daughter of Ezra Weston II and Jerusha Bradford Weston. She died just a month before the passing of her two-year-old sister, most likely, the house museum notes, of a contagious illness. This parlor features the rare historic wallpaper, Le Parc Francais, by the French firms Jacquemart and Beynard. Kindly pardon the arrangement of the furnishings as there was conservation work being conducted just prior to our visit. The King Caesar House was sold in 1886 to Frederick B. Knapp, who opened the Powder Point School for Boys, a private boarding school. According to Catherine Pillsbury, Ezra Weston II grew up surrounded by Weston business activities. The son shared his father's ambition, pride, and self-confidence, Pillsbury adds, but he was more sophisticated and even more energetic. It was said, Pillsbury writes, that Weston would set off from Duxbury to Boston, a seven or eight hour trip, in his coach one evening, change horses midway, arrive in the city in time to conduct business, and then spend the following night driving back. The younger Ezra, Pillsbury notes, built on his father's success, increasing business until E. Weston and son became the largest and most prosperous shipping concern on Massachusetts South Shore. While Ezra Weston II built many schooners for fishing and the coastal trade, the majority of his vessels were large brigs and ships which traded around the world. Over the course of three generations, the Weston firm built or acquired more than 110 sailing vessels. During Duxbury's shipbuilding era, from about 1790 to 1850, there were numerous wharves jutting out into Duxbury Bay. More than 25 shipbuilders worked in the bay during this period. This industrial landscape, the house museum notes, encompassed shipyards and other related businesses, such as foundries, steam sheds, and sail lofts. By the 1840s, Duxbury's ships were heavily involved in the profitable cotton trade, transporting cotton produced by southern enslaved people to England's textile mills. The Weston family made vast amounts of money off the cotton trade, according to Patrick Brown of the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society. The ship Hope, the largest merchant vessel of its time, transported massive amounts of cotton harvested by enslaved people in the American South, including on its maiden voyage the transport of 3,300 bales of cotton from New Orleans to Liverpool and the textile mills of England. The son of Jerusha and Ezra Weston II, he was a Massachusetts state senator in 1868. He was also, according to Patrick Brown, ardently anti-slavery and arranged for prominent abolitionist speakers in Duxbury around 1850, while simultaneously profiting from the southern cotton trade, which relied heavily on slave labor. Many circumstances contributed to the decline of shipbuilding in Duxbury, the House Museum notes, including the shallow depths of Duxbury Bay that could not accommodate larger vessels like clipper ships. The Weston firm stayed in business longer than others in Duxbury. Their last ship, the Schooner Express, was launched in 1846. The House Museum writes that after the death of Ezra Weston II in 1842, his three sons inherited the firm and continued to operate it until 1857. The firm's activity declined sharply after his death, however, and his sons evidently did not possess the same talent for business as King Caesar. Margaret shares the wall space along the stairs with her husband, Captain Benjamin Smith. The House Museum states that Margaret was likely represented on board one of her husband's ships, given the exotic architecture behind her. Also, it was not uncommon for wives to accompany captains on voyages. The King Caesar House passed to the second son, Alden Bradford Weston. According to the House Museum, after the firm ceased operations, the family fortune was rapidly spent by Alden Weston's two brothers, while Alden lived an austere lifestyle in the King Caesar House. Alden married late in life but had no children. He died alone in the King Caesar House in 1880. The house then fell to King Caesar's grandchildren. Most of them lived in the Boston area and had a little desire to keep the Duxbury mansion. In 1886, the house became the headmaster's residence for the newly established Powder Point School for Boys.