lmost completely unknown, the 1808 William Hickling Prescott House is one of only two houses on Beacon Hill that are open to the public—and the secrets continue inside. Prescott, who lived in the house from 1845 until 1859, was left nearly blind by a freak accident at Harvard, where he was struck in one eye by a crust of bread, yet he became a renowned historian of Spanish royalty and South American and Mexican history and an integral member of Boston society. A portrait he owned of Cortez hangs in the house, and a secret stairway he built can be seen hidden behind a library bookcase. Marcus