Caryl House

Sandwiched between the playing fields and tennis courts of what is now Caryl Park, it is difficult to imagine the Dover Historical Society’s Caryl Farm at 107 Dedham Street as an 83-acre country farm.  Now a house museum with a contemporary barn saved from another Dover property, the house was home to Dover’s first minister.  Benjamin Caryl was born in Hopkinton in 1732 and graduated from Harvard College in 1761.  In 1762 he was ordained as Minister of Dedham’s Fourth Precinct, later to become the Town of Dover.  Later that year he married the widow Sarah (Messenger) Kollock of Wrentham

Candles in the windows of the Benjamin Caryl House reflect the season. The Reverend Benjamin Caryl, first minister of Springfield Parish, a part of Dedham and now the Town of Dover, built his house at 107 Dedham Street in 1774. Built in the Georgian style, the Benjamin Caryl House served as home to the Caryl family until the death of Ellen Miller, Benjamin’s Great Granddaughter, in 1898. In 1899 the 83-acre property was bought by George Ellis Chickering, a prosperous local farmer. In 1917 Chickering donated the property to the Town for use as a park, with the stipulation that the house remain

The Dover Historical Society is pleased to announce the recent gift of a 19th Century rocking bench built by noted Martha’s Vineyard furniture maker Heman Arey of Edgartown, Massachusetts. Born in 1788, Arey was noted more for the prolific nature of his work than for its innate artistry.  Ours is a classic Windsor style bench with a removable railing along one side that allowed a mother to rest her infant by her side in a secure fashion. This particular bench was made for Jared Coffin of Edgartown, who married Sarah Baylies in 1819 and constructed a home at 26 School