Jason Russell House

Preserved by the Arlington Historical Society as a museum for its modest patriotic association with the Minutemen in the battles of Lexington and Concord, the clap-boarded central chimney house is an architectural challenge. Built in two halves, the older half of Jason Russell's two-story farmhouse, the chimney and northern section, dates from the late 1730s. Yet its exposed frame retains plain chamfers and ceiling members decorated with sponge painting, suggestive of an earlier era. Moreover, a somewhat later addition also evidences chamfered beams, showing either the continued use of this First Period feature for several more decades, especially in utilitarian spaces, or older frames moved and joined. Perhaps this decorated framing was originally boxed and the ceilings plastered from the start, only to be stripped away by later restoration.