Benjamin Hall, Jr. House 1785
The Benjamin Hall, Jr. House features outstanding carved balusters on the staircase in the main hallway, with a broad landing on the stairs – and a secret. The Palladian window on the landing is actually a door to a separate staircase at the back of the building for the household staff. It looks almost like a mirror image, but you can see the other set of stairs has a different handrail and baluster.
Drawings of the baluster and newel posts produced by the Historic American Building Survey are works of art by themselves. Homeowners and architects can use the drawings as a useful resource for ideas to create the finest quality traditional stair designs.
History of Old Medford Rum
Goodman John Hall bought lands in Medford, Massachusetts in 1675. It was his grandson, also named John Hall, who first opened a distillery to make Medford Rum, about 1710. ((Helen T. Wild, “A business man of long ago” (1905) Medford Historical Society)) At the time, rum was the beverage of choice, even for the Puritans in the Colonies, simply because a dash of alcohol makes water safe to drink – and other medicinal purposes. Old Medford Rum was produced in town for the next 195 years.
John sold the distillery in 1735 to his younger brother Andrew who carried on the business until his death in 1750. He was survived by five sons, Benjamin (Senior), Andrew, Ebenezer, Isaac and Richard. Benjamin Sr. was nineteen when his father died, and he operated the business for fifty-one years.
Benjamin Hall Sr. passed the enterprise to his son Benjamin Hall, Jr. and Joseph Manning who together formed the firm of Hall and Manning. Benjamin Jr. married Lucy Tufts and lived in the ‘Old Garrison House‘ together for nine years. They moved to a new house built in 1785 on the lot next to his father’ property, but he only enjoyed the house for a year before his death. His father died ten years later at the age of eighty-six.
Daniel Lawrence came to Medford in 1823 and started working at the Hall distillery. He eventually bought the business and by 1830 Daniel Lawrence & Sons Old Medford Rum was the only distillery in town, serving the growing shipbuilding trade that began in 1801. The last barrel of rum was produced in Medford on June 15th 1905. ((“The Best Rum in the States”, Medford Historical Society, medfordhistorical.org/rum.php))
Spicy Jamaican Rum is closest to the full-bodied flavor of Old Medford Rum.
