Career
The Ames family was a wealthy family in Easton, Massachusetts, for generations. The Ames family was among the wealthiest in Massachusetts. Oakes Angier Ames was the oldest son of Oakes Ames, and Eveline O. Gilmore.
Oakes was a major force behind the Union Pacific Railroad and a United States. Congressman.
Oakes Angier"s brother Oliver Ames was Governor of Massachusetts. Ames" legacy to North Easton can still be seen in Queset House, his home beside the Queset Brook.
The house"s front portion design was drawn in 1854 from a plan by noted architect Andrew Jackson Downing (who died in 1852) and John Ames Mitchell, (a first cousin of Oakes Angier,) designed the rear in 1872. The famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted planned its grounds and also, in consultation with Ames, created The Rockery nearby.
Together with his family, Ames commissioned Olmsted and architect H. H. Richardson to create a remarkable set of buildings and landscapes in North Easton, including:
Ames Gate Lodge
Oakes Ames Memorial Hall
Old Colony Railroad Station
The Rockery.