Count Rumford Museum and Birth Place

90 Elm St North Woburn
telephone: 781-933-4976         e-mail: LadyGarak@butter.toast.net

Photo Tour				Music OFF
	The Count Rumford Museum, also known as the Benjamin Thompson House, is the birthplace of scientist and inventor Benjamin Thompson (1753-1814). The house is on the List of National Historic Landmarks and the List of National Register of Historic Places. Benjamin Thompson (Jr.), later to become Count Rumford of the Holy Roman Empire as well as Sir Benjamin Thompson of the United Kingdom, was born on March 26, 1753, in the west end of this house. The house, which had been built by his grandfather, Captain Ebenezer Thompson, was also the home of his parents. Young Benjamin's father died on November 7, 1754. Benjamin stayed on in the house with his grandfather and his mother until she married Josiah Pierce, Jr., of Woburn. After his mother remarried, he was taken to live in his step-father's house. The Rumford Historical Association, founded in 1877, owns and maintains this house at 90 Elm Street in North Woburn Massachusetts. The Museum contains reconstructed models of Count Rumford’s scientific experiments on the nature of heat and his inventions. A copy of a portrait of Count Rumford by Gainsborough is on display as is Thompson's original baby cradle. The house also has a library of Rumford biographies and essays. Public hours are on most weekends between 1 - 4:30 PM with free admission. School groups and those who might need to tour during weekdays should contact the museum well prior to any visit.