);

1821

Amherst College opens with Samuel Fowler Dickinson as a principle founder.

1813

Samuel Fowler Dickinson, Emily Dickinson’s paternal Grandfather, builds the Homestead on Main Street in Amherst.

“To ascertain the House

and if the soul’s within

and hold the Wick of mine to it

to light, and then return -” (Dickinson, Fr802)

Emily Dickinson homestead, a yellow house, viewed from the sidewalk in autumn

May 1833

The Homestead is sold to the Mack family. The Dickinson family continues to live in the Homestead as tenants of the Macks, living in the eastern half of the house.