This is the Captain John Wilson House in historic Cohasset, MA. It is one of the few surviving Federalist Style houses in the area and was built in 1810 by David Nicholas and soon sold to Captain John Wilson. Wilson was born in 1788, and based on some of his possessions, he appears to have fought in the War of 1812. Items handed down to his grandson included a cutlass taking from an English sailor during the war, and a certificate of US Citizenship issued by the Port Authority in New York. Of all the items in his possession, that last is perhaps the most historically significant artifact. Citizenship – and the conflict between naturalization versus royal subjects – was at the heart of the war. Having proof of US Citizenship on your person while at sea was not a fool-proof means of avoiding British impressment – especially if you were of Scottish or Irish decent and still spoke with a thick brogue – however it was far better than having nothing at all.
It’s also interesting to note that Cohasset provided a number of ships and sea captains for the war effort. New England, for the most part, opposed the war, and most of the New England states resisted President Madison’s requests for troops. There was even a strong movement initiated by Massachusetts to secede from the union and attempt to either remain an independent nation or rejoin England. Expect to see some photos over the course of the year associated with that movement since it’s a time period that fascinates me.
Post processing started in Topaz Adjust with a Dramatic II filter. On top of that, I used Color Color to really pop the saturation without adding noise or losing sharpness. A levels adjustment was applied for contrast, and then a hue and saturation adjustment was applied to lower the saturation a hair and correct the hue that was skewed by the filters. A cyan photo filter was the uppermost layer.
Great shot and a tip of the hat for remembering all of those adjustments. Thanks for the history. That is awsome when folks include some commentary or history on their photo subject.
Hi Ron. Greetings from the Prairie Provinces of Canada. I love this shot. Historic acrhitectue is my favorite subject so this is an automatic Fav for me. I love the fat that you also gave all the info to go with it.
