The Daggett House is an historic house in Slater Park

Slater Park

Slater Park is the oldest and largest public park in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The park is named after Samuel Slater, a famous American industrialist who constructed America's first water-powered mill in Pawtucket. The park lies on the banks of the beautiful Ten Mile River and features the 1685...

 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Pawtucket, Rhode Island

Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 71,148 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth largest city in the state.-History:...

. The house is the oldest house in Pawtucket, and one of the oldest surviving buildings in the state.

History

The large farmhouse was built around 1685 for John Dagget, Jr. on the site of an earlier 1643 house which was burned by Native Americans during King Phillip's War. According to his diary, George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

 allegedly stopped at Daggett House while travelling between Newport

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

 and Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

.

The house is supposed to have passed by inheritance in 1707 from its original owner to his eldest surviving son, Joseph Daggett, a doctor of medicine, a wheelwright

Wheelwright

A wheelwright is a person who builds or repairs wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the archaic word "wright", which comes from the Old English word "wryhta", meaning a worker or maker...

, and a miller

Miller

A miller usually refers to a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a cereal crop to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents in other languages around the world...

. The farm was presumably inherited by Joseph's son Israel, a cooper

Cooper (profession)

Traditionally, a cooper is someone who makes wooden staved vessels of a conical form, of greater length than breadth, bound together with hoops and possessing flat ends or heads...

, in 1727.

Upon Israel Daggett's death in 1777, the homestead is thought to have passed to the eldest surviving son, William; from William it passed to his three eldest sons William, John and Abel. The three sons partitioned the estate in 1830, John and Abel taking the house and the land immediately surrounding. John's portion was sold at auction to his sister Amey after his death in 1842; Abel willed her his share one year later.

Amey Daggett shared the farm with her niece Hannah and Hannah's family, willing it to Hannah in 1855. Hannah's husband Jefferson Daggett and his eldest son, Edwin O. Daggett, continued to farm the property at least until 1870, when Jefferson died.

The house opened as a museum in 1905.