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Ritter House
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| Location: | Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts |
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| Built: | 1796 |
| Architect: | Unknown |
| Architectural style: | Federal |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: |
77000169 [1] |
| Added to NRHP: | December 6, 1977 |
The Ritter House is an historic house on Beach Street in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, USA, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1]
The house was built in 1796 on what was then known as “Quality Street“, next to the Mansion House hotel.[2] Originally built by Jireh Luce,[3] it was occupied early by the highly-respected Connecticut physician Dr. Rufus Spaulding (1760–1830) until about 1812, when he returned to his home state.[3][4] Dr. Spaulding ran the house as an inn, and Spaulding himself was described by historian Charles Banks as “doctor, postmaster, justice, village librarian, inn-keeper, and Master of the lodge of Masons.”[5] Other sources note that this house was at one time a tavern, and later became the first post office and library in the town of Tisbury.[6] The house was inherited by Dr. Spaulding’s daughter Sophronia and her husband, Thomas West.[3]
Another early resident was Stephen deNeuville (1778–1816), aka "Stephen New", a young French sea-captain.[2] The house was inherited by his daughter Hannah Chase DeNeuville and her husband Orrick Peck Branscomb (1809–1859), a shoemaker and general store owner who moved to the island from Maine in the early 1830s. This house is often referred to as the “Branscomb House” in many older references.[3] The house barely survived the 1883 fire, which destroyed the entire downtown portion of the village right to the edge of this property.[7]
Retired whaling captain Gilbert L. Smith (1832–1928) bought the house in 1902.[2][3]
Mr. & Mrs. Henry A. Ritter purchased the house in the early 1900s.[2] Henry Ritter was principal of the Tisbury School for many years and was remembered as an excellent teacher but a stern schoolmaster.[8] By the 1920s the home was owned by Mrs. Evangeline Merrill Ritter, known to many as “the Vineyard Weaver.”[6]
The Ritter House was added to the National Historic Register in 1977 [1] and became the Tisbury Museum. It has since become a commercial business storefront.
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