Dorsey–Jones House

Dorsey–Jones House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Dorsey–Jones House in 2013
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Location	191 Nonotuck St., Northampton, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°19′52″N 72°40′18″W / 42.33111°N 72.67167°W / 42.33111; -72.67167
Area	less than one acre
Built	1849 (1849)
Architectural style	Greek Revival
MPS	Underground Railroad in Massachusetts MPS
NRHP reference No.	05000931 [1]
Added to NRHP	September 2, 2005

The Dorsey–Jones House is a historic house located at 191 Nonotuck Street in the Florence area of Northampton, Massachusetts. Built in 1849, it is known to have been owned by two former slaves with well-documented escape histories. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.^[1]

The Dorsey–Jones House is located south of the village center of Florence, on the north side of Nonotuck Street a short way east of Maple Street. It is a 1+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior. It follows a plan known as "upright and wing", a common building plan of the period that was often used for millworker housing in the area. It is an L-shaped structure with a prominent front-facing gable end. The main entrance is in the rightmost of three bays on this section. A single-story ell extends to the right of this section, with an open porch across its front.^[2]

The house was built in 1849 for Basil Dorsey, an African American who escaped slavery in 1836 with abolitionist help. The lot on which it was built was purchased from the Bensonville Manufacturing Company, the silkmaking business of abolitionist George Benson. The Dorsey family lived in the house until 1852, when it moved to another Florence house. This house was purchased in 1854 by Mary Jones, the wife of Thomas H. Jones, another escaped slave and antislavery activist. An itinerant preacher, Jones was rarely present, and the family moved from Florence to Worcester in 1859. The escapes from slavery by both Dorsey and Jones are well-documented in contemporary papers of abolitionists and Underground Railroad operatives.^[2]

• Ross Farm (Northampton, Massachusetts), another Underground Railroad site associated with George Benson
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Hampshire County, Massachusetts