Tory Row - Cambridge, MA
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NorStar
N 42° 22.563 W 071° 07.466
19T E 325095 N 4693716
Along Brattle Street were houses of merchants who were usually loyal to the crown and had vacated their houses during the Revolutionary War.
Waymark Code: WM7T1G
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 11/29/2009
Views: 6
In Cambridge, at the intersection of Brattle Street, Mason Street, and Ash Street, stands a blue plaque placed by the Cambridge Historical Commission. It states:
Tory Row
Wealthy families loyal to the crown lived along Brattle Street before the Revolution.
Today, this part of Brattle Street still has many old mansions that date back to the colonial period, including the Brattle Mansion (42 Brattle Street), the Vassal-Craigie-Longfellow House (105 Brattle Street - now a National Historic Park), and the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House (159 Brattle Street - now the headquarters for the Cambridge Historical Society).
It was General William Brattle, who fought in the French and Indian War, who informed British General Gage that people were taking supplies from the gunpowder store house in Somerville (still standing, near Tufts University). This led Gage to seize the storehouse on September 1, 1774. That plus the establishment of the Mandamus Council in 1774 a governor appointed group that replaced Massachusetts elected people, created protests in Cambridge which led many, including General Brattle, to flee and leave their homes and much of their belongings. These mansions were used by General George Washington to house the new colonial army established on Cambridge Common.
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