Capt. Thomas Taber Chimney Wall (ca. 1678)
adjacent to Joseph Bates Home
191 Main Street, Fairhaven
At the time Capt. Thomas Taber settled here, he was married to John Cooke’s daughter Hester. When the town was abandoned in 1675 during the King Philip War, Taber had already married a second time, to Mary Tomson, following the death of Hester. After the settlers returned from the safety of Plymouth when the war was concluded, Taber built a type of house known as a stone-ender, approximately 16 feet by 20 feet, one entire wall being made up of a huge stone fireplace and chimney. The fireplace itself was 10 feet wide. A painting made in the 1850s depicts the whole house, which was intact at that time, occupied by a woman known as Black Annis Sharper. The chimney wall was about 16 feet wide.
Photos from the late 1800s show the chimney still standing to its full height. Today, the wall is just about ten feet tall, but some of the structure of the fireplace remains on its north side. It is located off Main Street next to the Joseph Bates Boyhood Home. The wall itself sits on property of the Town of Fairhaven. It is under the jurisdiction of the Fairhaven Historical Commission. It may be viewed by visiting the Bates Home property, owned by the Adventist Heritage Ministry.
Click on the links below to learn about Fairhaven sites associated with John Cooke.
