The Hingham Historic House Tour

Our Historic House Tour is one of the oldest and longest-running house tours in the country. The first was held on August 24, 1924. Called the “Annual Pilgrimage to Hingham Homes and Historic Buildings,” it raised $250 for the maintenance of the Old Ordinary, the Society’s 1688 house museum, we had been acquired two years earlier. (The Historic House Tour remains the Historical Society’s biggest annual fund-raiser.)

The first tour on which we have records is the 12th Annual Tour, held on June 29, 1935. Sixteen homes and the Old Ordinary were open for viewing. The House Tour continued through World War II (only 1943 was missed), with the Society sharing proceeds with the American Red Cross. In the 1950s and 1960s, Old Ship Church became a frequent stop on the tour and, after Derby Academy moved to its new campus in the mid-1960s and the Historical Society purchased the 1818 Old Derby Academy building, it, too, joined the homes from the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries to be featured on our tour.

From modest capes to grand estates, the homes we showcase each year reveal the network of families, trade, marriage, work and worship that have over almost 400 years made Hingham an iconic England community.