Cushing Estate, ?The Bellmont? (now in Belmont, MA)

Cushing Estate, ?The Bellmont? (now in Belmont, MA)

Cushing, John Perkins -- 1781-1862.; Architecture, Domestic -- Watertown (Mass) -- History.; Dwellings -- Massachusetts -- Watertown.; Real property -- Massachusetts -- History. Watertown (Mass.) -- Social life and customs.; City and town life -- Massachusetts -- Watertown.;

The house was demolished in 1929. John Perkins Cushing (April 22, 1787 -- 1862), called "Ku-Shing" by the Chinese, was a wealthy Boston sea merchant, opium smuggler, and philanthropist. The town of Belmont, Massachusetts is named after his estate. Cushing built himself a handsome mansion on Summer Street, acquired a splendid 200-acre (0.81 km2) estate in Watertown named "Bellmont" (now part of Belmont, Massachusetts which is named after his estate), and erected one of the finest conservatories in New England. His house was one of the finest and most comfortable of any in or near Boston. It was a double one-?a house within a house-?and thus warm in winter and cool in summer. Its spacious grounds and beautiful gardens were open to the public, and thousands of visitors went out there each year. Once when the assessors called upon him to question him as to his taxes, he asked, "What is the entire amount to be raised?" The sum was named by the assessors, whereupon Mr. Cushing said, "You can charge the whole amount to me." Belmont was founded on March 18, 1859, by former citizens of, and land from the bordering town of Watertown, and was named after the estate of one of the leading advocates of and largest donor to its creation, John Perkins Cushing.

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