Timothy Dexter’s William Pitt Statue in Newburyport, Massachusetts

Newburyport is one of the most well-known and vibrant coastal communities in Massachusetts. Located near the mouth of the Merrimack River and Plum Island, it has a long history of shipping, fishing, tourism, and is officially recognized as the founding location of the US Coast Guard. The Museum of Old Newbury is dedicated to the history of Newburyport, its surrounding communities, and is housed inside a grand Federal style mansion built in the early 1800s. There are many historic and unique artifacts on display, but perhaps the most striking that immediately grabs the attention of visitors, is the large wooden painted statue of a man in military uniform standing on the stairs and seemingly following you with its eyes. The peculiarity of this relic was most likely done intentionally, as it was once owned by one of the most peculiar and eccentric wealthy businessmen in early American history. 

Timothy Dexter was born in colonial Massachusetts in 1747 to a poor family of English and Irish ancestry. He dropped out of school at around age 8 to become a farmhand and at age 16 he became a tanner’s apprentice. In 1769 at age 21, he moved to Newburyport and married 32-year-old Elizabeth Frothingham, a very rich widow. Using the money he acquired, he purchased a large mansion and began his incredibly bizarre yet prosperous business ventures. After the American Revolution had ended, Continental Dollars had depreciated to the point of worthlessness and could be acquired easily. Dexter bought huge sums of these dollars and when the US government decided to honor its debt, he made a considerable profit. 

He used the money to build two ships and began an export business to the Caribbean and Europe selling rather unusual items. He sold bed warmers, designed for cold New England winters to the West Indies, a tropical climate. It seemed illogical to do so, but the local molasses industry repurposed them as ladles instead. Dexter also sent a shipment of wool gloves to the West Indies which were purchased by Russian merchants who were docked at the time and later resold in Siberia. He also exported a large number of stray cats to the Caribbean which were purchased by locals to control the rodent population. He also hoarded a lot of whalebones which were later fashioned into corset stays. 

Dexter’s success and uncommon good fortune made him the envy of New England high society who thought of ways to bankrupt him. Some suggested he “sell coal to Newcastle” in England, which was an idiom describing a pointless or futile action as the city was one of the largest coal producers in the world during the 18th century. Dexter took the suggestion literally and sent a large shipment of coal which was bought at a premium because the local miners were on strike at the time. He was also convinced to sell trousers, gloves, hides, and whale blubber to the East Indies which were bought just in time by Portuguese merchants on their way to China.  

Although snubbed and mocked by other elites in society, Dexter was proud of his particular style of business acumen and seeing value in items that others considered worthless. He used his immense wealth to decorate his home with minarets, a mausoleum for himself, and outside he placed 40 life-size sculptures of various famous men throughout his life including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte, William Pitt the Elder, and himself. The sculpture of himself he had engraved, “I am the first in the East, the first in the West, and the greatest philosopher in the Western World”. He called himself “Lord Timothy Dexter” and offered money to people who called him “Lord Chester” whenever he was staying at his estate in Chester, New Hampshire. Other eccentric aspects of his personality included telling people his wife (who was alive) had died and the woman in their home was her ghost, faking his death and holding a mock funeral just to see how many people would show up, and sending repeated petitions to be appointed for public office in which he was given the title “Informer of Deer”, which was to tell people whenever deer were in town and enforce local deer hunting laws despite the fact no deer lived in Newburyport. 

Towards the end of his life in 1802, he published a book titled A Pickle for the Knowing Ones, in which he complained mostly about politicians, the clergy, and his wife. The book is notable for having incredibly poor grammar, spelling, and having no punctuations of any kind. After his death in 1806, his estate and much of his belongings were auctioned off. The Great September Gale and New England Hurricane of 1815 destroyed most of the outdoor sculptures with those remaining being sold or salvaged for firewood. The only surviving sculpture today is the one of William Pitt the Elder which was once owned by the Smithsonian and restored before being returned to Newburyport where it’s on display at the Museum of Old Newbury. Both Dexter and the sculpture of William Pitt are certainly quite peculiar oddities and definitely worth taking a look and learning more about if you’re interested.