Macy-Colby House

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Macy-Colby House, front view.

Macy-Colby House, rear view.

The Macy-Colby House is a historically significant Eighteenth Century saltbox, located in Amesbury, Massachusetts. The house, at 257 Main Street, was first built in 1654 by Thomas Macy, a merchant who served as Åmesbury's first Town Clerk. A few years later, Macy was forced to leave town, after he allowed a group of Quakers to take shelter in his home for a few hours, during a thunderstorm. ("Harboring Quakers" was considered a criminal offense.) The house was acquired by prominent Amesbury citizen Anthony Colby. Around 1712, the original house built by Macy was torn down. By 1745 the saltbox style house that exists today was completed by Obadiah Colby. The house remained in the Colby family for nine generations, and was used as a private residence by Colby's descendants until 1958 [1], after which time it was acquired by the Daughters of the Revolution, until 2000. The Friends of the Macy-Colby House have maintained the house (now a museum) ever since.