The dining room is one of 13 rooms in the Joseph Moore House. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
SOUTHWICK – The Southwick Historical Society is looking to stay ahead of potential problems with the historical building they own, the Joseph Moore House Museum, located at88 College Highway.
The museum needs a new roof as the current roof is over 20 years old and has experienced some crumbling.
“It’s not leaking yet that I know of, so that’s the time to tackle it,” said Lee Hamberg, an archivist for the Southwick Historical Society. “We want a good roof just to keep the contents and the building high and dry.”
The Southwick Historical Society received $25,000 from the Community Preservation Committee to do a full replacement of the roof and all of the shingles. The Southwick Historical Society has been able to raise over $4,000 on their own to put towards the project.
Joseph Moore purchased the home on July 1, 1751 and lived in the house with his wife and kids until August of 1776. However, in August of 1774 Moore was called into service to be a Lieutenant for a militia group and fight the British in New York City. Following that, Hamberg said it’s believed that Moore was captured by British or Hessian mercenary soldiers and was then imprisoned, eventually dying as a prisoner of war in November of 1776. Hamberg pointed out through his research, that a fellow soldier from Connecticut kept a diary of his experiences and wrote that Moore died from a sickness.
Adding more historical background to the Joseph Moore House, Hamberg noted that it’s the last known house in the Southwick jog. A two square-mile plot of land, the Southwick jog was a border between Connecticut and Massachusetts. The house has been in two colonies, two states, three counties, and four towns, due to the constant changes over the years.
“In Southwick there are fewer than five homes that are from the colonial period,” said Hamberg.
After Moore passed away, generations of the Moore family lived in the home until his grandson, Roger Moore, sold the home in the 1840’s. In the 1870’s, the property was then bought by the Nicholson family, who owned it until the 1930’s, but lost it during the Great Depression. It was then bought by the Waterman family, who lived there until the early 1970’s.
For a period of time the Joseph Moore House was strictly used for storage, until the Southwick Historical Society purchased the home in 1990. Having the actual building donated to them, the Southwick Historical Society bought one acre of industrial restricted land on the property for $80,000.
The Joseph Moore House is located on 88 College Hwy. (Photo by Greg Fitzpatrick)
Since being under ownership of the Southwick Historical Society, the Joseph Moore House is open from May through October, two Sunday afternoons every month. People can also get a tour of the house by appointment. School field trips also take place there on an annual basis.
In the more than 25 years the society has owned the property, there have been numerous renovations, and upgrades, including the replacement of roofs, the foundation, plastering, as well as the floor and the windows.
Hamberg is looking forward to replacing the roof in order to keep the Joseph Moore House as a unique and historical landmark in town.
“There’s no other museum in Southwick, there’s hardly any exhibit space anywhere,” said Hamberg. “We need to keep it weather tight and to just to keep things going and we’re proud to do it.”
Currently, the Southwick Historical Society is looking at the bidding process for a contractor and hopes to start the roof replacement project this upcoming spring.
