The Wilson House is open in the summer beginning Saturday, June !5 2019!
Come now to the Captain John Wilson House in the center of Cohasset Village and experience what domestic life was like in the 1850s for the deep sea captain and his wife Hepsibah and their nine children.

 Indications are that Wilson maintained a ship’s chandlery on the first floor; see how well the family met the crowded conditions, adding a shed roofed addition ca. 1830. The period flower garden and plantings are maintained by the Cohasset Garden Club.

Given to the Society in 1936, the Wilson House served as headquarters and museum until the Lothrop House was acquired in 1954. Restored in 2005 with Community Preservation funding from the town, this provided the Society with the opportunity to reinterpret the house, and situate the Wilson family in not only the social but also the political events of their time.

​The Wilson House is a 2-1/2 story wood frame building, four bays wide, with a side gable roof, end chimneys, and clapboard siding. It has Federal period styling, including a front entry surround with pilasters and a dentilated cornice. A shingled shed-roof addition (c. 1830) extends to the rear, giving the house a saltbox profile. The interior is organized with a three-bay main room on the right, and a single-bay unfinished space on the left. A large fireplace projects into the main chamber, with a narrow staircase behind it providing access to the second floor.

The house was built about 1810 by David Nicholas, a local housewright, during a minor building boom, and was soon afterward sold to Captain John Wilson. Wilson supposedly operated a chandlery in the house, in addition to his career operating ships out of Cohasset Harbor. The house remained in the Wilson family until 1912 and was then adapted for commercial uses. 

​The Wilson House is open in the summer on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 1:00 until 4:00 PM.