#betsey metcalf baker

[1937book]

Baker Homestead

In 1928, this home was one of three to be awarded the Better Homes of America award "for excellence in design, equipment, construction, and grounds." 

Fun story about this house: In 1798, 12-year-old Betsey Metcalf Baker became smitten with a bonnet that one of her friends had received from England. The intrepid young Betsey returned home to this house and invented "a method of splitting and braiding straw" so that she could make herself her own version of the coveted bonnet. Soon enough, she began making the bonnets for her friends, too. Betsey "considered it irreligious to patent her process," however, so she did not make any money off of her invention. She did, however, spur "the development of one of the leading industries in the East."