Bigelow estate evokes memories of Cohasset's 'summer colony' era

Peter Blandino, The Patriot Ledger
·3 min read
On Albert Bigelow's yacht, the Pantooset, are, from left, Francis Manning, John Reed, George Sears, Albert Bigelow, Joseph Kendall, Joseph Bigelow, Joseph Bigelow Jr., Cleveland Bigelow and William Reed. Dated circa 1902.
On Albert Bigelow's yacht, the Pantooset, are, from left, Francis Manning, John Reed, George Sears, Albert Bigelow, Joseph Kendall, Joseph Bigelow, Joseph Bigelow Jr., Cleveland Bigelow and William Reed. Dated circa 1902.

Newport has its mansions, but the South Shore has its own grand historical homes where the public can marvel at the lives of the upper class. Most of these "cottages" were stately homes designed by notable architects. This is the second in The Patriot Ledger's summer series "Summer Houses with History."

COHASSET − It was the era of the "summer colony," when Boston's affluent bankers and merchants built "cottage" sanctuaries along the South Shore to escape the city heat. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, imposing estates, designed and landscaped by famous architects, rose along the rock ledges over Cohasset Harbor. Many remain standing today.

A Boston Globe article from July 1909 describes lively disembarkations of the upper crust at Nantasket's old Steamboat Wharf and the Cohasset railroad station:

"On some fine days in the late afternoon at either transportation line the terminal partakes of the character of a pageant with the equipages radiating life and color."

While most of the wealthy socialites colonizing Cohasset's shores returned to Beacon Hill and Back Bay at season's end, one man became something of a townie, working on local affairs and projects for the next several decades until his death. That man was Joseph S. Bigelow.

A view of Joseph Bigelow's Colonial Revival built in the late 19th century.
A view of Joseph Bigelow's Colonial Revival built in the late 19th century.

His former estate now stands at 39 Black Horse Lane in Cohasset. Its Colonial Revival design was typical of the large summer "cottages" built at the time. The impressive façade has seven bays on the upper story, an open porch supported by four columns and a bay window with three sashes next to the porch on the first floor.

The stables sold for just under $1 million in 2019.

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Joseph S. Bigelow: Socialite turned townie

Joseph S. Bigelow, a vice president of the Webster and Atlas Bank in Boston with interests in copper mines, became Cohasset's first summer resident to join the town's board of selectmen. Though Bigelow frequently stayed at his home on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston's Back Bay and traveled extensively throughout Europe, he spent 30 years helping to run Cohasset, according to historical records.

From left, Cohasset Selectmen Newcomb B. Tower, Joseph Bigelow and Philander Bates, circa 1900.
From left, Cohasset Selectmen Newcomb B. Tower, Joseph Bigelow and Philander Bates, circa 1900.

Cohasset residents elected Bigelow to the board of selectmen in 1895. He also was assessor and overseer of the poor for five years and sat on the school committee between 1887 and 1902. At the beginning of his tenure on the school committee, Bigelow signed a letter recommending the establishment of the town's first central school system. That recommendation was fulfilled in 1891 with construction of the Osgood School.

Bigelow also helped establish Cohasset's first public water supply and was a founder of the Cohasset Golf Club, according to the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

Bigelow married Mary Bryant in 1877, their nuptial ceremony marking the first celebrated at the then-new Trinity Church in Copley Square in Boston. In the 1880s, the Bigelows made Cohasset their permanent home, where they had six children. Their second son, Henry Bryant Bigelow, was the most eminent.

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Henry married Elizabeth Perkins Shattuck, who traces her lineage back to Thomas Handasyd Perkins, the fur and slave trader who later increased his fortune by smuggling opium into China, contributing to a major public health crisis.

A marine biologist and oceanographer, Henry Bigelow founded the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and served as its first director from 1930 to 1939.

The first born of the Bigelow children, Joseph Jr., was more of a carefree dandy than his younger brother. With a passive income flowing from sugar plantations in the West Indies, Joseph Jr. spent his time "in travel and yachting," including one trip around the world and a year in the Solomon Islands, according BackBayHouses.org.

Joseph Bigelow Sr. also had a notable half-brother, Albert Smith Bigelow, whose Jerusalem Road estate known as "The Ridges" was a hub of Boston high society. "The Ridges" was later owned by Gen. Edward Logan, for whom Logan International Airport is named.

Special thanks to Lynne DeGiacomo and the Cohasset Historical Society for their contributions to this article. Reach Peter Blandino at pblandino@patriotledger.com.

Read Part I of the series

'An escape from Boston': Past and future meet at Bradley Estate in Canton

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Bigelow estate in Cohasset recalls era summer socialites