215 Adams Street
Milton, MA 02186
Phone: 617-696-1815
www.forbeshousemuseum.org
The Forbes House Museum is notable for several reasons: its site, its history, its architecture, and its collections. On top of Milton Hill, the house has views of Boston Harbor and the city’s skyline in the distance. This is a Greek Revival building which, interestingly, incorporates some nautical features like an elliptical staircase similar to those often found in lighthouses. In 1833 it was commissioned by two brothers: one was the captain, ship owner, and China Trade merchant Robert Bennet Forbes (1804–1889), and the other was John Murray Forbes (1813–1898), a railroad magnate, merchant, abolitionist, and philanthropist. Together they gifted the house to their mother, Margaret Perkins (1773–1856). Four generations of the Forbes family lived here until the 1960s, when it became a museum.
The collections here are vast and varied. The China Trade collection includes nineteenth-century export porcelain, paintings, portraits, and furniture. Other artifacts include European and American art, silver, and decorative objects. The last family member to live here was Mary Bowditch Forbes (1878–1962), who had a particular interest in the American Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. She gathered a collection of memorabilia relating to both and, in 1923, built on this property a replica of the Kentucky cabin Lincoln was born in. A tour of the house includes the kitchen and a glimpse into the lives of the Irish immigrant servants who worked here.
Special note: Also in Milton, near the Forbes House Museum, is the Eustis Estate Museum and Study Center. Built in 1878, the stone and brick house covers 18,600 square feet and stands on eighty acres. It was opened to the public by Historic New England (www.historicnewengland.org) in 2017.