It is claimed to be the original house named in the American poem "Over the River and through the Wood" by Lydia Maria Child.

)[2] The house, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, is also noteworthy for being the best-preserved example of Greek Revival architecture in Medford, and for its association with Paul Curtis, a prominent local shipbuilder.

[3] The rear portion of the modern house was built as a small farmhouse in the early 19th century.

Child recalled the farmhouse when she wrote of her childhood visits to her grandfather's house in her poem, published in 1844.

About 1839, Curtis greatly enlarged the house and gave it its two-story Ionic portico.