Samuel Harrison House

Samuel Harrison House is a historic house at 82 Third Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Built about 1850, it was for many years home to Samuel Harrison, a regionally prominent African American minister who served as chaplain to the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.HouseThe Samuel Harrison House stands on the east side of Third Street near its junction with Silver Street in a residential area northeast of Pittsburg's central Park Square. It is a 1-1/2 story plank-framed wooden structure, with a gabled roof, and a shed-roof porch extending along its south side. It has modest vernacular Greek Revival elements, include gable returns and a Doric column supporting the porch, whose rear section is enclosed.Samuel HarrisonRev. Samuel Harrison was a 19th-century African American born into slavery in 1818. By 1821, he and his mother were given their freedom. At an early age, he had the desire to become a minister. He sought out an education at the Peterboro Manual Labor school in Peterboro, New York. This school was closed shortly after his arrival. He then traveled to Hudson, Ohio where he attended and graduated from the Preparatory School at Western Reserve College (now Western Reserve Academy). In 1850, Samuel Harrison moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts and became the first minister of the Second Congregational Church in Pittsfield.