John Cabot House

The John Cabot House at 117 Cabot Street is a National Historic Landmark, a handsome 1781 Federal-style mansion that anchors the Beverly Historical Society's museum campus. It was built by John Cabot, a merchant and privateer investor whose family became one of the most powerful in Essex County during the Revolutionary era.

The interior has been carefully preserved and contains period furnishings, portraits, and artifacts from Beverly's colonial and early republic period. Two floors of exhibits trace the town's development from its 17th-century founding through the height of its maritime trade. Even from outside, the house's proportions and detailing make it one of the finest examples of post-Revolutionary domestic architecture in the region.

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John Cabot and his brothers were among the most active privateering investors during the American Revolution, financing armed ships that preyed on British merchant vessels. The wealth that built this house came partly from prize money captured at sea — legalized wartime piracy that made fortunes for Boston-area merchant families.

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