Saving this one house saved more than a dozen family stories and 200 years of American history.

Today, this 4,200-square-foot house is the centerpiece of “Within These Walls…”, an exhibition and the largest single artifact in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.  The exhibition, which opened in May 2001, is sponsored by the National Association of REALTORS^®, and showcases their commitment to educating the public about homeownership and its role in the American Dream!

Visitors are able to peer through its walls, windows and doors to view settings played out against the backdrop of Colonial America, the American Revolution, the abolitionist movement, the industrial era and World War II.

Portions of three rooms and the entrance hall have been restored and furnished with objects from the period to show activities that would have taken place in the house.  The Choate parlor is elegantly set for tea in the 1700s.  In the entrance hall of the house, visitors learn about the household of Abraham Dodge, that was transformed by the American Revolution.  A parlor setting showcases the room as the center of the family’s religious and social life.  The kitchen of the house is the setting where Mary Scott and her family were part of the war effort.

There are interactive educational activities and audio experiences, including a 19th-century laundry simulation, tactile models of the house and examples of early American building techniques, such as mortise and tenon joints and moldings.

It features five of the families whose lives within the walls of the house became part of the great changes and events of the nation's past.  The exhibition tells stories about how some American families have made history in their kitchens and parlors through everyday choices and personal acts of courage and sacrifice.  Inside this house, American colonists created a new genteel lifestyle, patriots set out to fight a Revolution, and an African-American struggled for freedom. Neighbors came together to end slavery, immigrants made a new home and earned a livelihood, and a woman and her grandson served on the home front during World War II.

"Ordinary people, living their everyday lives can create extraordinary history," says Spencer R. Crew, director of the Museum.  "This exhibition looks at history in a new way, a history that begins at home." 

It isn't just about a house or architecture, it’s about the lives of families that lived in the house.  Inside this house lived nearly 100 occupants who have made history come alive for the more than 6 million annual visitors to the Museum.

NAR gave the Smithsonian $2.4 million and the exhibition’s curatorial team researched the occupants who once lived in the house.  Smithsonian researchers came up with the extraordinary history of the home by sifting through local, state and federal records and interviews with living family members who remembered some history, and through artifacts associated with the home such as an anti-slavery quilt, and an American revolutionary war uniform.

The sponsorship is for 15 years.  By the time 15 years has passed, over 90 million people will go through the "Within These Walls" exhibit.

Clues used by Smithsonian historians to uncover the stories told in the exhibition are described at the end of the show and glimpses are available at their website.   The museum has designed a guide to assist you in finding the history in your home, titled “House Detective: Finding History in Your Home,” which is also available at their website.