History

HWA embroidered pillows.

Friend and Henrietta.

Original 1900s house fittings at the Big House.

In 1904 Henrietta Ward Allen married Buell Paine Mills. They lived in New York and they built the Big House on Nantucket in 1929 to be their summer vacation house. Henrietta decorated the house with American Victorian furniture and souvenirs from her travels.

Henrietta's and Buell's son, Allen, continued to vacation on Nantucket and he built the Little House up the hill from the Big House. Allen was an original member of the Nantucket Yacht Club and stuffed the Little House with his sailing trophies. His wife Sarah's paintings of Nantucket scenes decorate the the walls of the Little House.