History
The White House is not a replica, but a restoration of the "house in the fields" that was built during the winter of 1809-1810. Mother Seton named this building Saint Joseph's House. It was a log building, later faced with clapboard and painted white. The dining room, scullery, and bake room were in the basement, which was at least partly above ground to allow daylight through the windows. Sleeping quarters were on the second floor. Mother Seton and her twelve sister companions, two students, her sister-in-law, and her three daughters—nineteen in all—moved into the White House on February 20, 1810.
The first Mass was celebrated in the White House Chapel on March 19, 1810, the feast of Saint Joseph. The chapel was originally one story and built as a "lean-to" addition. The altar, altar rail, folding doors, and fanlight date from Mother Seton's time. The present sacristy was the "Strangers' Chapel." The altar rail was used in the Strangers' Chapel for the laity. Mother Seton may have knelt at the spot indicated, but not at the altar rail in its present location.
Elizabeth Ann Seton requested Stations of the Cross in a letter to George Weis, a friend in Baltimore who lived near Saint Mary's Seminary. Medallions of the Stations of the Cross were carved from Meerschaum, the mineral magnesium silicate and which is easily carved, takes a good polish, and used chiefly in pipe bowls. These may be the ones she received at that time. Such medallions were very popular in the nineteenth century.
School
Students were received on February 22, 1810. The school is usually considered the cradle of the Catholic school system in the United States, although Saint Joseph's Academy and Free School were neither attached to nor founded by a parish, but sponsored by the Sisters of Charity for the education of young women. Parochial education did not develop in the United States until later in the nineteenth century. Mother Seton was a pioneer educator and by May 1810, there were some boarders whose fees enabled the Sisters to accept girls who could pay little or nothing for their education. One year after Mother Seton's death in 1821, there were about 80 boarders, and 60 Sisters.
The schoolroom is a replica of an early classroom. The grandfather clock, made by a German clock master, was a gift from a neighbor in thanksgiving for the Sisters' prayers. The piano was a gift to Mother Seton by Dr. Richard Wells. The Madonna above the fireplace was a gift to Mother Seton from her godson, Petrus O'Conway, brother of Sister Cecilia O'Conway, the first American Sister of Charity. Much of the needlework displayed in the classroom of the White House was made by the academy students.
On the classroom walls are samplers and paintings done by early students. The miniature on the desk of Michael de Burgio Egan, later President of Mount Saint Mary's, and his sister Mary, who later became a Sister of Charity, belonged to Mother Seton. There are also scenes of the original buildings, which were painted by Mother Seton's brother-in-law, Edward Augustus Seton.
To the right of the chapel is the room where Mother Seton died on January 4, 1821. The bed is not the original bed. The intricate Calvary wood carving above the mantel was given to Mother Seton by the Filicchi family of Livorno, Italy. The chest of drawers also belonged to Mother Seton.
The dining room was probably used for the instruction of the students, as the dining room in Mother Seton's day was beneath the first floor. Although most of the furniture are period pieces, the drop-leaf table belonged to Mother Seton, and the " Baltimore chairs" were used here at Emmitsburg and date from around 1820.
Restoration
The White House was originally located east of the brick chapel, which is now a part of the adjacent National Emergency Training Center. It was enlarged around 1826, and again around 1838. In order to construct other buildings, it was decided to move the White House. Mother Xavier Clark supervised this project and restored the house to the way it looked in Mother Seton's time, so that it could provide a residence for orphans. The result was called Seton Cottage.
The White House was moved for the second time in 1917 under the supervision of John T. Bramble of Baltimore. The house was "rotting away" because it sat directly on the ground. A cellar was dug, as in Mother Seton's time, and the remains of the house were reconstructed and restored on a site about 50 feet northwest. Most of the logs were good, but many of the beams were rotten. The mantels, baseboards, most of the molding and chair rails, and the banister to the second floor are original.
