Major Bibliographical References Bibliography (cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Previous documentation on file (NPS): Primary location of additional data preliminary determination of individual listing (36 State Historic Preservation Office CFR 67) has been requested Other State agency previously listed in the National Register Federal agency previously determined eligible by the National X Local government Register University designated a National Historic Landmark Other recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repository: # N/A Taft Memorial Library, Mendon, Mass. recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # N/A 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C.
Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number 8 Page 1 8. Narrative Statement of Significance The Nathan Aldrich House is architecturally significant under Criterion C as a distinctive example of a farmhouse built in the Greek Revival-style in the Town of Mendon. It is also historically significant under Criteria A and B for its association with significant events that shaped the town and with Catherine Regina Seabury, who used the property to the benefit of working girls in Boston. Constructed ca. 1830 with dressed granite masonry walls, the house is notable among town's distinguished collection of early 19th-century public and domestic architecture. Retaining integrity of location, design, setting, feeling, materials, workmanship, and association, this property is significant on the local and state levels.
Nathan Aldrich was a Quaker, and the restrained design and ornamentation of the house aptly reflects the Friends' principle of plainness, in spite of its large proportions and commodious interior spaces. Located outside and south of Mendon Center, the property is a prominent indication of rural development in the town during its economic heyday as agricultural improvements and industrial development in the Blackstone Valley combined to create a remarkable, if short-lived, period of architectural expression. The Nathan Aldrich House is also an important landmark of the presence of the Society of Friends in the region and their contribution to the history of Mendon and the Blackstone Valley.
Alterations made to the house and property in the late 19t* and early 20h centuries during the ownership of Catherine Regina Seabury are significant reflections of the transition that occurred on many old farms in Mendon, and elsewhere in the state, as the agricultural economy declined and city dwellers and industrial workers sought restorative retreats in the country, often the result of well- meaning philanthropists of privilege. In Seabury's case, it was especially noteworthy as she established a "rest haven" for female factory workers in Boston who were otherwise unable to afford the luxury. Daughter of an Episcopal rector of a Manhattan church and great-granddaughter of Samuel Seabury, who was appointed the first Bishop of the American Episcopal Church in 1789, Catherine Regina Seabury created the Women's Mutual Improvement Society in East Cambridge in 1889.
Following a prolonged search for a suitable location for a summer retreat, she purchased Nathan Aldrich's Mendon farm in 1892. Seabury and her family resided in the stone house, while a "club house" (demolished in the 1960s) was constructed for her philanthropic charges. A devout churchwoman, she directed the construction of the Resthaven Chapel in 1899-1900 using plans commissioned of her nephew, Gurdon Saltonstall Parker. The novice architect designed an addition that was constructed around 1912, the year Miss Seabury opened a school for girls in the stone house. The house was altered to accommodate the school with the addition of attic bed chambers and dormers for them. The school was not successful, although Catherine Regina Seabury endeavored to keep her mission going until her death in 1929.
Her heir failed in making the property into a church retreat and finally sold the Aldrich farm in 1943 to Joseph I. Ashkins, a local physician. Ashkins hired Milford architect Wendell T. Phillips to design the (continued) 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number 8 Page 2 renovation of the interior of the stone house in a 20**-century country house taste. In 1974, the owner received approval for a 23-lot subdivision of the farm, which left the house on its present 4.9-acre parcel. None of Nathan Aldrich's farm buildings exist and few features remain from the Seabury era; however the house and chapel survive as key architectural elements of events that shaped the Town of Mendon's history.
Historical Overview Mendon was one of the first towns created in Worcester County. On October 16,1660, the General Court granted the Town of Braintree the privilege to establish a plantation eight miles square, and three years later, after thirteen proprietors from Braintree and ten from Weymouth, together with their minister, were presented to the Court, a settlement was planted in an area known as Quinshepauge.' The original boundaries of the town included all or portions of the present towns of Uxbridge, Northbridge, Upton, Milford, Bellingham, Blackstone and Millville. Because of this, Mendon has become known as the "Mother of Towns." Thee town's original center remains within its bounds. Its site was determined by the construction of the first meetinghouse there in 1669. The proprietors distributed land in a manner consistent with the prevailing patterns in Massachusetts.
The deed between the Nipmucks and Moses Paine and Peter Brackett, who representing the proprietors, was conveyed to the selectmen of Mendon for the use of the inhabitants on December 12, 1670. Proprietors received grants of 150 acres for each 100 Pounds of personal estate value. In the first division, each grant was divided into a thirty-acre house lot parcel, five acres of swamp, ter acres of meadow and 105 acres in the "Great Lott" or common land.' About 34 families established homesteads spread out along a five-mile stretch of road extending from the Mill River northwest to the Upton town line, or what are presently Providence and Main Streets and North Avenue.? Mendon's first Quaker meeting was organized in 1729. The Society of Friends built a meetinghouse on what is now George Street in the vicinity of Quaker families who had settled there.
It was a Preparative Meeting for the Monthly Meeting in Smithfield, Rhode Island. In 1757 twenty-six Quaker families were listed as living in Mendon. The Friends' Burying Ground on George Street remains to mark the site.* (continued) ' John G. Metcalf, "Mendon," in History of Worcester County, vol. II. (Boston: C.F. Jewett, 1879), 42. 2 Metcalf (1879), 43. 3 "Mendon Historic Resources Survey Narrative History," Massachusetts Historical Commission, 21. 4 Peter Hackett, "An Historical Account of Mendon, Massachusetts." Mendon, Massachusetts, 1667-1967, Mother of Municipalities. (Mendon Historical Society, 1967), 44. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C.
Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number Page 3 Assessors were elected for the first time in 1694, and the first pound and stocks were built for restraining rule-breaking men or beasts, respectively. The principal official town activity was fence viewing, indicating that crop areas and the number of livestock were increasing. By 1703, there were seventy names on the Mendon tax list. No evidence of the homes and farm buildings of these people have survived, although the open landscape around the Muddy Brook north, east, and south of the center have been in agricultural uses since that time. The selectmen were active in other municipal matters, and town reports in this era record numerous civic improvements. The local road system was expanding linking the multiplying number of farms to the center.
Before the end of the 17# century, a radial network of highways extended from the center west to Uxbridge (Hastings Street), east to Milford (George Street) and Bellingham (Thayer Road), and south to Blackstone (Providence and Blackstone streets) and Millville (Millville Road). The Massachusetts General Court directed the towns in 1764 take an exact census of "dwelling houses, families and people, including as well as Indians civilized, Negroes and Mulattos." At that time 336 families comprised of 907 white males, 922 white females, resided in 184 houses. In addition, there were five Negro or Mulatto males and four Negro or Mulatto females. No Indians were counted, but a total of five French Neutrals or Acadians were recorded.® As the 18" century came to a close, the Town of Mendon was completely settled in a pattern of farms spreading in all directions from the center.
Population in the town, even with the loss of Milford, would have been around 2,000 persons. In 1800 a portion of the Ninth (Hartford-to-Boston) Turnpike was opened in Mendon following a route along the present roads of Hartford Avenue West, Uxbridge Street, Maple Street, Main Street, George Street, Neck Hill Road, and Hartford Avenue East. By this time, the north-south route through the center (Providence and Main streets and North Avenue) had emerged as an important regional highway linking Providence and Worcester. The new road routing was part of a transformation that conveyed Mendon Center from its 18"h-century landscape of dispersed farms loosely arranged around the meetinghouse to a modern commercial village. Many rural towns in Massachusetts were experiencing the same changes as local farm and commercial economies became part of broader regional networks.
New state and local governments provided the framework for this network and new transportation routes, such as turnpikes and canals, improved interregional trade and communication. Mendon Center never developed into a central place in its region like Uxbridge or Milford did; however, it grew significantly in size, density and commercial function. The early decades of the 19* century were the years where Mendon reached its peak population, its widest range of activities, its greatest prosperity, and the fullest extent of architectural development. Whatever Colonial-era buildings were left at this point were replaced. (continued) 5 Metcalf (1879), 45. 6 Hackett, 47. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C.
Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number 8 Page 4 Clearly, the most significant architectural development that occurred in the town during the Federal Period was the construction of the Second Unitarian Church in Mendon Center. The church cost $6460 to build, which was satisfied by the subscriptions of 43 members.? The monumental rectangular building with its Tuscan portico and three-stage tower topped by a steeple was designed by Worcester-based church architect Elias Carter. (The steeple was reproduced an 1936 after being destroyed by a lightning fire.) The white clapboard church signaled a certain prominence for the town and positioned it with the other ambitious communities in the region that were emerging from the rural quietude of the previous century.
This was especially dramatic in Mendon where a primitive meetinghouse nearly a century old was replaced with this impressive new landmark. The Quaker Meetinghouse on George Street was still active in this period and functioned until 1841. It was removed shortly after. It is unlikely that this was the original building constructed when the Society of Friends organized the meeting in 1729. The Friends had experienced internal divisions as well, with Hicksite and Orthodox Quakers separating in 1828. The early introduction of water-powered machinery for the processing of wool and the weaving of fabric in the Blackstone Valley put the Mendon villages of Blackstone and Millville on the map. Esek Pitts opened one of New England's earliest woolen mills in Millville in 1814, opening a thriving industrial era in the region. Textile manufacturing enterprises multiplied.
Labor forces grew rapidly and financial investment, banking and real estate speculation brought new personalities and venture capital into the town. Well-established farms, some still occupied by their founding families, prospered as improved transportation, notably the Blackstone Canal (1828), opened up new markets. A gradual shift was made from the traditional farming practices of the eighteenth century, which heavily favored beef production, to dairy and orchard products. Growing industrial village populations relied on fresh milk, poultry and garden products, and canal mules and other work animals required increasing amounts of hay. Large, lavish houses were built in the center as well as on farms along the fertile intervale along the Mill River.
Mendon Center's plan is a significant representation of the New England village or town center as it developed in the Federal Period.S As was the case in hundreds of other New England towns, the final transformation of Mendon Center into a New England village did not fully occur until 1820 when the forces of changing transportation routes, expanding economies, and town- building fervor combined to relegate the colonial idea of the town center to antiquity. Many examples of this fashionable new architecture survive in Mendon in a wide range of types including elite mansions, laborers' cottages, stores, offices, and churches in the center and substantial farmhouses and farm buildings in rural sections along North Avenue and Providence Road. (continued) Hackett, 51. 8 Joseph S. Wood and Michael Steinitz. The New England Village. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997), 88-134.
1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number Page 5 In 1845 a large, two-story public meeting hall was constructed at the main intersection in Mendon Center. Named Harrison Hall after the late president, William Henry Harrison, who had died in office in 1841, its design is credited to Dr. John G. Metcalf, a visionary local leader. Shortly after the long, rectangular building with a two-story Doric portico was built, the town voted to buy it and put it to the shared use of a town hall and school. This prominent public landmark illustrates the emergence of the Greek Revival style in Mendon, yet it also represents the end of the town's prosperous and optimistic era.
During the deliberations over moving the town hall, Mendon's selectmen were also grappling with the controversial issue of Blackstone's separation from the town. Having rejected requests for years, Mendon's leaders finally relented, and the Town of Blackstone was created in 1845. Because of the tremendous economic development in the industrial villages along the Blackstone River, the loss of Blackstone had repercussions more serious than earlier separations from mother Mendon. The town's personal and real estate valuations plummeted. Blackstone comprised nearly 60% of the town's real estate value and over 70% of its personal estate. Positioned in the center of three prospering industrial towns: Uxbridge, Milford and Blackstone, Mendon was reduced to a secondary status among them where it remained until it became fashionable to live in the country many, many years later.
Farming sustained a modest local economy, but little occurred that was reflected in the physical development of the community. There is a significant gap in the town's architectural catalog for the last half of the 19'h century, and it coincides with this period when Mendon reverted to being an isolated rural frontier once more. During this same period, eastern Massachusetts transformed from a rural landscape to an urban-industrial one. Substandard fertility of farmland combined with the industrial revolution to create a place where manufacturing mills were erected everywhere, even on even marginal waterways. Factory jobs were plentiful for new immigrants and country refugees alike. The farm economy was no longer the dominant factor in the livelihood of the Commonwealth or the New England region.
Industrial villages and cities grew and prospered, even though thousands of workers lived in squalor and had little job security. In a way, Mendon was saved from even greater disappointments experienced in Blackstone, Uxbridge and Milford, as factories ran through repeating boom and bust cycles that kept their communities in constant turmoil. Wendell Williams said of Mendon at the end of the 19th century, "I can't think of but one house erected in the village during the twenty-five years of my residence there." People from other towns could hardly point to houses in their communities that remained from that period. As these neighboring towns evolved from small, traditional rural communities to industrial villages, (continued) ° Ibid. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C.
Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number 8 Page 6 they transformed in ways that soon obliterated any connection to a tangible past and a pastoral environment. Suddenly, Mendon became that unspoiled place where there was open space, picturesque landscape, fresh air, cool temperatures, and a quiet existence. All the people who had rejected the country for the promise of the city now regarded the country with nostalgia. They began returning to Mendon as summer visitors, and the town developed renown as a rural retreat. The venerable farms and their bucolic setting attracted summer boarders seeking respite from the industrialized towns nearby. Nathan C. Aldrich Nathan C. Aldrich (1799-1866) was the fifth generation of his family to reside in Mendon. The progenitor of the clan was George Aldrich, one of the original proprietors of the town.
Arriving in Massachusetts from Derbyshire, England, in 1631, George Aldrich was recorded as a freeman living in Dorchester in 1636 where he is believed to have been a tailor. He relocated to Braintree when granted land there in 1640. One of twelve Braintree proprietors of the plantation at Quinshepauge, which was later to be called Mendon, George Aldrich established a homestead there by 1663, and his family was among those returning there after King Philip's War. This property was adjacent to the old burying ground at the south end of Mendon Center. George Aldrich willed it to his youngest son, Jacob Aldrich, and when Jacob died in 1695, his widow, Huldah Thayer Aldrich, sold the estate to their son, Jacob, for 183 Pounds. The homestead was purchased by Rev. Caleb Alexander in 1786; more lately it has been incorporated into land owned by the Gaskill family.!
The old house no longer exists. Jacob Aldrich's son Moses (1690-1761) joined the Society of Friends when he was 21 years of age, and was a founding member of the Mendon meeting in 1729. He was renowned as a preacher and spent 20 years proselytizing in other American colonies, traveling as far south as the Carolinas and Barbados. Moses also spent two years in the British Isles. He retired to Mendon and is listed among the 26 Friends residing in the town in 1757.!' When he died in 1761, he was survived by his wife, Hannah White, and twelve children. His will indicates that he had amassed a large amount of real estate in Mendon along the Muddy Brook. He conveyed his homestead on the west side of the Muddy Brook to his son Luke, which included his dwelling house, barn, malt house and blacksmith shop, as well as a half-share in a grist mill and pond.
His son Moses received land on the east side of the Muddy Brook with a dwelling house and tan yard. Five of Moses Aldrich's seven sons were provided with generous gifts of land. The will stated that a sixth son, Thomas, had already been given his full share "by learning," presumably meaning funds his father had expended on his education. Robert Aldrich only received 15 Pounds from his father's estate, which was to be paid to him by his brother Luke in compensation for land he was otherwise bequeathed. Why Robert was so conspicuously excluded from Moses Aldrich's will remains a mystery. (continued) 1° Alvin James Aldrich, The George Aldrich Genealogy, 1605-1971 (privately published, 1971). "Ibid 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C.
Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number Page 7 Robert Aldrich (1719-1794) was Nathan Comstock Aldrich's paternal grandfather. Born in Mendon, he married Patience Mann of Smithfield, Rhode Island. They were members of the Society of Friends and produced 11 children. They were living in Cumberland, Rhode Island when their son Luke was born in 1764. Luke Aldrich (1764-1814) married Sarah Comstock in 1788. She was born in West Wrentham, Massachusetts. Her maternal grandfather, Seth Arnold, had built the first mill in Woonsocket, Rhode Island in 1710. All these people and places were linked through the Society of Friends and the Smithfield Quarterly Meeting. At some point, Luke Aldrich relocated his family to his paternal town of Mendon. Luke Aldrich died in 1814 at age 50 with four of his seven children still minors.
He had provided farms that he had already conveyed a farm to his eldest son and namesake. for his three eldest sons, Luke, Jr., Anson, and Rober, who were only Luke, Tr. was 25 years of age and married. He was enumerated as a head of household in the 1810 U.S. Census with a wife, five children under the age of ten, and a free white female over 45 years of age, possibly his mother-in-law. Anson and Robert Aldrich were 23 and 20years of age, respectively. Their father willed them "my Quinset Hill Meadow Brook Meatdoon Broin a bo re2, thes,v bich ers werethnstsueed to pay stzad to their ojouty of Brother Chiron when he reached adulthood. Nathan C.
and Scammell Aldrich were willed "the farm on which I now live containing about 225 acres" as long as they provided for their mother's "rights of dower and power of thirds" for her lifetime and paid their sister, Sarah, and brother, Chiron, $200 upon her death. 14 The four youngest children likely continued to reside with their mother, Sarah Comstock Aldrich, in the homestead. Sarah, the only female child,was 18years of age, followed by Nathan Comstock (15), Scammell (13), and Chiron (9). They evidently were still in their mothers' care when the 1820 U.S. Census enumerated two households headed by Luke Aldrich, although the elder was deceased. By the time the 1830 U.S. Census was published, Nathan C. Aldrich was the head of his own household, which contained three white males and four white females.
He had married Dianna Comstock, daughter of George and Margaret (Lane) Comstock of Smithfield, Rhode Island and had settled on a farm south of the homestead that he purchased from his brother Luke.' Scammell Aldrich remained on the homestead throughout his lifetime. Luke Aldrich, Jr. appears to have moved to a property on the Hartford-Boston Turnpike near the Uxbridge line. Census entries in 1830 suggest that their mother was residing with Luke, Jr. at that time. According to the Aldrich genealogy, Sarah Comstock Aldrich died in 1838. (continued) 12 Worcester County Deeds, book 193, page 445, 1 April 1814. 13 Will of Luke Aldrich. Metcalf's 1831 Map of Mendon identified a property with Anson Aldrich in this location. 14 Will of Luke Aldrich.
The "rights of dower and power of thirds" refers to the item in the will where the deceased granted his wife, Sarah Comstock Aldrich, rights to one-third of his real estate and the privilege to occupy one-third of their house during her lifetime. 15 The George Aldrich Genealogy, 1605-1971. Dianna Comstock's grandfather, George Comstock (who resided in Mendon) and Nathan C. Aldrich's grandfather, Nathan Comstock, were brothers. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number Page 8 Nathan Comstock Aldrich (1799-1866) resided on the farm, "by estimation 130 acres, more or less," he had purchased from his brother Luke Aldrich, Jr.
on February 14, 1821 for the price of $3,000.' On the same day, Nathan conveyed to Luke, Jr. his one undivided half "of the farm whereon my late father Luke Aldrich lived and died. It being all the land and buildings devised to me [and brother Scammell Aldrich] by the last will and testament of the said Luke Aldrich, deceased."I7 It was on this farm, about the time of the birth of his only child, Elizabeth in 1831, that he built a large and distinctive residence using dressed granite stones for its exterior walls. Nathan C. Aldrich House When completed ca. 1830, the massive stone house, and its 130-acre farm, reflected wealth and status of the highest degree in the Town of Mendon. Perhaps typical of Nathan C. Aldrich's association with the Society of Friends, his personal history appears to have been quiet, modest, and unrecorded.
The situation is an elegant example of the Quaker paradox where successful Friends struggled to reconcile their material success with their principals of plain living. With no archival record of how Nathan C. Aldrich conducted his business and community affairs, his house is the only document of his mentality and lifestyle. Stone farm houses are very rare in the region. The Aldrich house is one of three such buildings that are known to exist within the present confines of the Town of Mendon. It is by far the largest and most imposing of the three; the other two are smaller 1½-story dwellings. ' Stone architecture was more common in the mill villages in the Blackstone Valley between Worcester and Providence. Early textile mills were built of the stone in the late 18'h and early 19th centuries, before brick became the preferred material.
There are also examples of multiple-unit mill worker housing and commercial buildings constructed of stone. The mason who built Nathan C. Aldrich's house would have had to be familiar with stone architecture in the broader region. Many Friends were involved in manufacturing enterprises in the Blackstone Valley. (The Brown family in Providence, who financed much of the industrial and transportation development along the Blackstone, were Quakers. Nathan's mother's grandfather, Seth Arnold, is said to have built the first mill in Woonsocket, R.I. in 1710.) The tight-knit, self-supporting Society of Friends would have brought Nathan into contact with those knowledgeable with stone construction. Recognizing this, his mason was probably a Quaker. (continued) 16 Worcester County Deeds, book 223, page 193. 1 Worcester County Deeds, book 223, page 194.
Will of Luke Aldrich, February 7, 1815, Worcester County Surrogates Records, book 46, page 106. 18 One of these houses is located on 12 George Street in the Mendon Center [See National Register Nomination Form for Mendon Center Historic District (2002), Photo 29); the other is located on Inman Hill in a rural section of the town. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number 8 Page 9 The granite utilized to construct the house was ubiquitous in the area, and the stone with which the house was constructed would have been quarried near the house, in all probability on his 130-acre property or the adjacent family homestead farm where Nathan's brother Scammell lived.
Stone masonry flourished in the region following the construction of the Blackstone Canal in the 1820s, which utilized the material in the construction of locks and other engineered features. Similar methods were employed to construct basements for local wood frame houses. The large dressed slabs that were used to face the exterior of them can still be seen on the many 19* century houses in the town. Retaining walls, walkways, stoops, gate posts and other yard whimsies fabricated from this granite distinguish so many properties in the town as to suggest that there was an active stone-cutting craft in place during this period. Why more of Mendon's elite families did not construct their houses entirely of stone is perplexing where its evidence is so prominent. How Nathan C.
Aldrich came to decide to build his house entirely of stone is also unknown, yet it did set him clearly apart from his neighbors and peers. The material was the principal design feature of Nathan C. Aldrich's house, and typical of Quaker taste, the craftsmanship of the construction is emphasized over the decoration. The precise ashlar masonry facing presents a tooled but rough surface on the exterior, and the composition is free of artful flourishes, such as quoins, arched openings, or decorative patterning. Door and window openings are spanned by heavy lintels and projecting sills. The front entrance is framed by side lights and a transom divided by slender posts and rails, and the roofline is distinguished with the simplest of wood cornices.
The interior of the house is equally restrained with a broad central passage extending past a stair with turned balustrade and pairs of rooms on each side. Stove flues were concealed within the thick stone walls of the house in another subtle expression of clever craftsmanship. In spite of its elegant proportions, a wood frame service wing containing a kitchen, wood shed, and wagon house was appended to the west end in the character of farm houses. Nathan C. Aldrich's real estate was valued at $5,000 in the 1860 U.S. Census. Twenty-three, or eight percent, of the 283 households enumerated in the Town of Mendon owned real estate assessed at $5,000 and above.
Adelaide Davenport, who occupied her deceased husband Seth Davenport's farm at the north end of North Avenue topped the assessment list with a farm valued at $12,000.' Nathan George, a farmer, lawyer, and boot manufacturer whose distinctive property can still be seen opposite the town burying ground at Main and George streets in Mendon Center, was assessed with $10,000 of real estate and a remarkable $20,000 of personal estate. The Aldrich property was one of eight valued at the low end of the range $5,000, which represented more than one-third of the elite assessments. The names of proprietor families were conspicuous in the list, e.g., Taft, Thayer, and Aldrich, as well as families that came to the town later and achieved prominence, such as Davenport, George, Gaskill, and Wood.
A (continued) 19 See National Register Nomination Form for North Avenue Rural Historic District, Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts (2002). 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number Page 10 cursory review of the census entries revealed median farm values to be in the $1,500 to $2,000 range. The majority of families recorded in the census were of the laboring class employed on farms and in boot and broom shops. Many of them did not own real estate; those that did had homes assessed in the $500 to $600 range. A typical example was Peter Moore, an Irish-born boot bottomer. He owned a dwelling valued at $600 where his wife and eight children resided.
His two eldest boys were also recorded as boot bottomers. Thus, Nathan C. Aldrich and his family lived in relative comfort in a home valued three or four times more than the average farmer in the town and as much as ten time more than a common laborer. Later Family History Nathan's brother, Scammell, still resided nearby in the family homestead in 1860. His real estate was assessed at $4,000. (Census records indicate that Luke, Jr., who was 70 years of age in 1860, was residing with his wife in a small house in Woonsocket. None of the other brothers surfaced in a digital search of the 1869 U.S. Census?) Another neighbor, the widow Ann Swan, owned real estate valued at $8,000 and had a personal estate amounting to $5,000.
Part of her wealth was associated with the saw and cotton batting mill her husband had established on the Muddy Brook."' She is important to the story of the stone house because her son, Willard Henry Swan, married Nathan C. and Dianna Aldrich's only daughter, Elizabeth, in 1851. The marriage produced a son, William, in 1853 and sufficient unhappiness to result in Elizabeth suing for divorce in 1866 on the grounds of desertion and non-support. Willard Swan was living with his mother in 1860, and Elizabeth and their son remained in her parent's household. Willard H. Swan remarried in 1868, while Elizabeth and her son had their names legally changed back to Aldrich in 1874. William Henry Swan became known as Theodore William Aldrich.?2 Nathan Comstock Aldrich died in 1866.
In his brief will, he conveyed one-half of his real and personal estate to his widow and the other half to his daughter and grandson. His real estate was valued at $8,400 and his personal estate at $1,458.2 A tax list published by the Town of Mendon on May 1, 1868 included an entry for Dianna C. Aldrich as executrix of will of Nathan C. Aldrich. It valued the house at $1,000 along with a barn at $600, a crib at $25, 164 acres of land at $5,100, two oxen at $225, two steers at $100, three cows at $200, a horse at $100, and a buggy and harness at $50. The tax assessed was $62.90, which was a figure at the highest end of the range, indicating that the property had maintained a premium value. As late as the 1895 tax list, the taxes paid to the town on the property remained in the top eight percent of assessments.
In that year the house was assessed at $1,500, a value that was exceeded by only three other properties, the highest being $1,900.4 (continued) 20 Searches were made using ProQuest.com. 21 Beers Atlas of the Town of Mendon (1870). 22 U.S. Census for 1860; Worcester County Registry, Surrogates Court Records. 23 Worcester County Wills, Book 397, page 544, August 30, 1866. Also Worcester County Surrogates Court Records, Book 345, page 260, October 24, 1866. 24 Tax Lists for 1868 and 1895. Mendon Town Reports. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number Page 11 On January 7, 1882 Dianna C. Aldrich and Theodore W. Aldrich conveyed their shares of the farm to Elizabeth C.
Aldrich, and she became sole owner of the farm.?5 The deed stated that the property was subject to three mortgages held by Samuel Gaskill amounting to $2,400. (A fourth mortgage to Gaskill for $119 had been discharged in 1879.) There evidently were financial problems in the household. Although a precise date is not known, it appears that Dianna died shortly thereafter. Elizabeth sold the farm to Welcome A. Thayer of Blackstone on October 6, 1883 for only $500. The depressed price reflected that the property was still subject to the three mortgages to Samuel Gaskill as well as taxes for 1883.26 The Thayers were another of Mendon's founding families who had joined the Society of Friends. Five months later Elizabeth married Stephen D. Nichols in Milford. Nichols worked as a laborer on the farm and had been recorded in the Aldrich household since the 1870 U.S. Census.
His military pension papers indicate that he was widowed in 1879. Thayer sold the farm to George Fox Allen, whose family had long lived nearby.?? Since both Thayer and Allen lived elsewhere, it is possible that Elizabeth Aldrich Nichols and what remained of her family continued to live on the farm and that the owning parties were guided somewhat by charity. There is no particular evidence that they were living anywhere else during this time. However, when George Fox Allen sold the property to Catherine Regina Seabury for a summer retreat in 1892, they would have had to vacate the property? By 1900 Elizabeth Nichols was widowed and living with Daniel D. and Agnes Smith on Woonsocket Hill Road in North Smithfield, Rhode Island.? Agnes Smith was Elizabeth's adopted daughter who had been in the Aldrich household since she was at least three years of age.3° She had married Daniel D.
Smith in 1897. Elizabeth's son Theodore William Aldrich had relocated to Grove County, Kansas where he married an Iowa-born woman in 1891.' Elizabeth died at her daughter's home in 1918. Catherine Regina Seabury and the Creation of Resthaven The nominated property had additional significance for its association with Catherine Regina Seabury and her efforts to improve the spiritual and recreational opportunities of working women. Her creation of a rural retreat for working women at Resthaven in 1891 was an early instance of this social service. Seabury formed the Women's Mutual Improvement Society in 1889 from her Sunday school at the Church of the Ascension in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. After a two-year search of appropriate (continued) 25 Worcester County Deeds, Book 1108, page 458. 26 Worcester County Deeds, Book 1160, page 110, October 6, 1883.
27 Worcester County Deeds, Book 1236, page 592, April 25, 1887. Metcalf's Map of Mendon (1831); Beers's Worcester County Atlas (1870). George F. Allen's real estate was assessed at only $1,500 in the 1860 U.S. Census 28 Worcester County Deeds, Book 1389, page 147, July, 3, 1892. 29 U.S. Census, North Smithfield RI (1900). 30 U.S. Census, Mendon MA (1880). 3" U.S. Census, Baker Township, KS (1900). 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number 8 Page 12 vacation locations, she purchased Nathan C. Aldrich's 140-acre farm in Mendon.
The imposing stone farmhouse was adapted into a country home for Seabury and her sister's family, while an old schoolhouse on the property was renovated into the clubhouse for the working women. One nephew, Stanley B. Parker designed the clubhouse renovations, while another, Gurdon Saltonstall Parker, designed the two stages of a chapel built behind the house. The first section of the chapel was built in 1899-1900 with family members contributing funds and furnishings. Her brother-in-law, the Rev. Henry Ainsworth Parker, conducted services at the chapel every Sunday during the summer. In 1912 Seabury opened a progressive college-preparatory school for girls at Resthaven. While the boarding school was not groundbreaking in its mission, it still represented an important moment in the movement to provide academic education for women.
The school operated for only a few brief years until it was closed during the First World War. Seabury's reopened it after the war but was frustrated by ill health and a bout of blindness. The chapel played an important role in the school's program. The Resthaven Club donated $1000 to enlarge the building, which occurred ca. 1912. Catherine Regina Seabury died in 1929. Her nephew, Reginald S. Parker, inherited the property and deeded the clubhouse to the Resthaven Association, which was created for its continued operation. An unsuccessful attempt was made to raise funds to support Resthaven as a retreat for clergy and church layworkers. Parker used the property and the chapel for his private use until he sold the property in 1943. Organizations for working girls were uncommon in 1889 when Catherine Regina Seabury created the Women's Mutual Improvement Society in East Cambridge.
They were generally created by a philanthropic individual or institution to ameliorate the unpleasant working and social conditions in industrial cittes (although there are also examples of rural improvement societies). The first "adult school" is said to have begun in Nottingham, England in 1798 to meet the needs of young women in lace and hosiery factories. It was independent of any other organization and run by William Singleton, a Methodist, and Samuel Fox, a Quaker. 32 Seabury's "club" evolved out of a Sunday School class she led at the Church of the Ascension where her sister's husband, The Rev. Henry Ainsworth Parker, was the rector. Sunday schools were the more usual means of churches' efforts to educate and socialize the working poor. Religious training was not the sole purpose, as is the case today, and school was held on Sunday because it was the only free day workers had.
The main learning activities were reading and writing, since illiteracy was a universal and debilitating problem. The Bible was the principal source. Social activists in Boston and elsewhere also formed reading clubs and societies in local libraries. As mutual improvement societies and adult schools developed, for both men and women, these organizations addressed other deficiencies in working class life than education, such as financial management, nutrition, recreation and, particularly for women, self-reliance. According to one of her biographies, Catherine Regina Seabury was one of the first patrons "to seek a place where her girls could spend their vacations in sunshine and fresh air and the fragrance of the woods."33 (continued) 32 J. W. Rowntree & H. B. Binns. A History of the Adult School Movement (London: Headley Brothers, 1903) 10-11, 26-28.
33 "Seabury House, Resthaven, Mendon Massachusetts." in Local History Files, Taft Memorial Library, Mendon MA. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number 8 Page 13 Catherine Regina Seabury was particularly well-suited to the challenge. She came from one of the most distinguished American Episcopal families. Her great-grandfather Samuel Seabury, was appointed the first Bishop of the American Episcopal Church in 1789.34 Catherine Regina Seabury's father was the grandson and namesake of the legendary Bishop. Samuel Seabury (1801-1872) was also an ordained Episcopal minister and was rector of the Church of the Annunciation on 14* Street in Manhattan from 1838 to 1863.
He was a member of the faculty of the General Theological Seminary as well. Between 1833 and 1851, Rev. Seabury was the editor of The Churchman, the official periodical publication of the American Episcopal Church. Catherine's brother, Rev. Dr. William Jones Seabury assumed their father's ecclesiastical and academic posts following his retirement. Her sister was married to another Episcopalian minister, Henry Ainsworth Parker, at whose East Cambridge parish she began the Women's Mutual Improvement Society. Catherine Regina Seabury's aunt Catherine was the first woman to be inducted into the Episcopal Sisterhood in America. Catherine was consecrated into full Sister of the Holy Communion in 1854. She attended to the sick and the poor and served in the parish infirmary, which became St. Luke's Hospital in 1858.
Through her efforts, a Shelter for Respectable Girls and a Babies' Shelter were established in the parish. At the time she created the Women's Mutual Improvement Society, Catherine Regina Seabury was a devout churchwoman, although she was never consecrated into the sisterhood. She was a teacher at St. Agnes's School of the 34 Samuel Seabury (1729-1796) was raised in New London, Connecticut and Hempstead, New York where his father was the rector of Anglican churches. He attended Yale University receiving a bachelor's degree in 1748 and a master's degree in 1751 in theology under the direction of his father. He then studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh while waiting to receive his ordination, which occurred in 1753. On his return to America, Seabury was elected rector of Christ Church in New Brunswick, New Jersey and served this parish from 1754 to 1757.
While at New Brunswick he was married, on October 12, 1756, to Mary, the daughter of Edward Hicks of New York. He was then called to Grace Church, in Jamaica on Long Island, where he was rector from 1757 to 1766, and in 1766 he was inducted into the rectorship of St. Peter's, West Chester, which he held until the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. By 1774, with much of America verging on armed revolt, Seabury was publishing his anonymous "Letters of a Westchester Framer," in which he declared: "If I must be enslaved, let it be by a KING... If I must be devoured, let it be by the jaws of a lion, and not...by rats and vermin!" Seabury's outspoken loyalism led to his imprisonment in New Haven. He was released six weeks later at the request of the governor of New York as he had been taken from his province without process of law.
Unable to continue his duties he closed the church and took refuge in New York City where he supported his family by the practice of medicine. He also served as chaplain of the King's American Regiment, under commission of Sir Henry Clinton. Following independence Samuel Seabury was elected by the clergy of English ordination in Connecticut (Woodbury, March 25, 1783), to be the bishop of the church in that state, and sailed for England with credentials as an applicant for consecration by the English bishops. The English bishops could not legally confer consecration without the oath of allegiance to the king, which could not be taken by one who was to exercise his office in a foreign state. Seabury then went to Scotland where at Aberdeen, Nov. 14, 1784, he was consecrated by the Scotch bishops, returning to America as the first Bishop of Connecticut, as well as of the American Church.
At the General Convention of 1789 in Philadelphia, by action of the House of Bishops, he became by virtue of seniority of consecration the first to hold the office of presiding bishop. During the exercise of his episcopate he resided in New London, Connecticut being the rector of St. James church from 1785 to 1796. In 1790, he was also made bishop of Rhode Island. His first and only act of consecration occurred on Sept. 17, 1792, making Thomas John Claggett bishop of Maryland, through whom every subsequent bishop of the American Church traces his Episcopal lineage. [The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, vol. IX, (Boston: The Biographical Society, 1904) 256.] 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C.
Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number Page 14 Episcopal Diocese in Albany, New York and she apparently lived in that city for many years before moving permanently to Resthaven.3S In her desire to find a vacation place for the girls of the Women's Mutual Improvement Society, Catherine Regina Seabury traveled throughout eastern Massachusetts, including coastal towns, such as Duxbury, and elevated areas, such as Princeton on the south slope of Mt. Wachusett. When she discovered Nathan C. Aldrich's old farm in Mendon, her search ended. The 140-acre farm enjoyed an unspoiled rural setting. It had the unusual feature of a large and elegant stone house that would provide a comfortable residence for her and her family, as well as provide housing and for the girls.
The property may have been somewhat run down, as the Aldrich's had experienced financial difficulties in their later years, but caring for the farm and its animals would provide suitable vacation work. Catherine Regina Seabury named the retreat Resthaven, and for the next ten summers she welcomed working women for rest and recreation. Many were the happy gatherings there, thirty and forty girls at a time, bubbling over with fun and frolic, yet always singing the club song, "Onward, ever Onward," and always ready to reach a helping hand to those less fortunate than themselves. Countless stories are told of those happy days when Miss Seabury was at once hostess, leader and the inspiration of them all.36 On summer Sundays, the Rev.
Henry Ainsworth Parker would travel from East Cambridge to Resthaven and hold services in a pine grove on the farm using a stone for an altar.3 The Parkers, and perhaps other relatives, were frequent houseguests in the summers, and soon the stone house was overcrowded. The club spirit remained strong and welcomed new members each year, yet the girls had grown older, fewer and scattered as they married and had families of their own. A cottage was created for the club residence from an abandoned school house on the property. Stanley B.
Parker drafted plans and Sister Catherine provided funds to renovate the building with cousins Louisa Lee Schuyler and Georgiana Schuyler of New York contributing a staircase and another friend paying for the fireplace.38 This building was (continued) Herbert Mitgang, The Man who Rode the Tiger: The Life and Times of Judge Samuel Seabury (NY: Lippincott, 1963). Mary Caroline Crawford, "A Little School for Little Girls, Resthaven in Mendon, Massachusetts" and "1854-1904," Booklet honoring the fiftieth anniversary of the Sisterhood of Sister Catherine in Local History Files, Taft Memorial Library. 36 "Seabury House, Resthaven, Mendon Massachusetts." An appeal of the Resthaven Association, [1932]. Local History Files, Taft memorial Library. 37 Crawford.
38 "Seabury House ..." 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number 8 Page 15 demolished ca. 1960. At about the same time Gurdon Saltonstall Parker drew plans for a small stone chapel in which his father could conduct his services. A student at the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University, he designed the building in the manner of private chapels in England. Construction began of the western portion of the chapel in 1899. Strong white oxen borrowed from a neighbor were pressed into service to haul from the confines of the old estates the stones for the outer wall of the chapel, and the younger brothers of the youthful architect, assisted by a country mason, laid its sturdy foundations.
In the autumn of 1899 the first service was held here. The only roof at this time was supplied by the spreading arms of a large hickory tree, the young architect having been telegraphed by the Varsity football squad at Harvard to return for training! The next summer the roof was added and much later the bell tower.3 The Rev. Dr. William Jones Seabury, Catherine Regina Seabury's brother contributed the "churchly equipment" to the chapel, which included the "beautifully proportioned altar" and kneelers. A copy of Fra Angelico's fresco of the Virgin Mary looking into the empty tomb after the Resurrection was hung over the altar. Sister Catherine gave brass wall sconces and the altar furnishings. Catherine Regina Seabury left her position at St. Agnes's School in 1912 and opened a school of her own in the stone house at Resthaven.
She was assisted in this effort by her aunt, Sister Catherine, who had retired to Resthaven after over 50 years of service in New York, and other friends who had worked with her in the past. Morning and evening prayers were administered each day by Sister Catherine in the chapel, which soon became the "mainspring" of daily life at the school.4 Its small size became a problem, and it was enlarged with the addition of a square bell tower on its east end. Pews were installed in this space to accommodate the students and faculty more comfortably. Gurdon S. Parker is credited with the design of this addition, which he would have done before volunteering for military service during the First World War in 1917.42 The Women's Mutual Improvement Society, which was still vacationing in the Club Cottage contributed $1,000 to the chapel expansion.
The stone house was altered to accommodate the school and its students. Bed chambers were partitioned in the attic with dormers added to the roof to provide light and ventilation to them. The shed section of (continued) 39 Crawford. 40Ibid. 41 "Seabury House ..." 42 Crawford. 43 "Seabury House ..." 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number 8 Page 16 the house was raised to two stories, and the kitchen was relocated to its ground level. The original kitchen was converted to a dining room. New rooms were created on the second floor of the ell, where Catherine Regina Seabury and her aunt may have retreated for privacy.
Alterations made to the rooms in the stone section of the building in the 1940s removed any evidence of school-era use, yet main floor rooms were likely used for educational purposes. The large double parlor on the east side of the center passage may have been opened up in this period for greater space, and with four windows along the east wall, it would have had the appearance of a classroom. The later use of the front room on the west side of the passage as a library may have sustained an earlier function. Second story bed chambers would have been suitable locations for teachers' quarters, as well as boarding students. In addition to the chapel, the garage located in the southwest corner of the present property was built during the Resthaven years. It was near a barn that had survived from the Aldrich period, which since became the victim of neglect and demolition.
The 130-acre farm remained intact throughout this period, although it is likely that much of it laid fallow. The war forced the closing of the school in 1918, and while Catherine Regina Seabury always intended to reopen it, she was unable to achieve that goal. Efforts in 1924 were frustrated by a temporary bout of blindness. Before her death in 1929, she willed the property to her nephew Reginald S. Parker with a $2,000 trust fund for the preservation of the chapel. Parker deeded the Club Cottage to the Resthaven Association for its continued use and worked with other heirs with the goal of operating Resthaven as a spiritual retreat and conference center associated with the Episcopal Church. This plan never materialized, and Parker sold the property to a Milford physician, Joseph I. Ashkins in 1943.*4 Renovations by Joseph I. Ashkins Ashkins hired Milford architect Wendell T.
Phillips to develop plans for a complete renovation of the interior of the stone house. The architect worked on residential projects throughout the locality, yet his firm had particular expertise with church architecture and was the designated architect for the Springfield (MA) Roman Catholic Diocese. In addition to Springfield, Phillips designed numerous churches, schools and institutional buildings for Catholic parishes in Fall River and Worcester, Massachusetts, and Hartford, Connecticut. He also designed buildings constructed on the campus of Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana. Other projects included schools, elderly housing projects, and state armories throughout the Commonwealth. Wendell T. Phillips's son, Donald F. Phillips, succeeded him in the firm and continued its work into the 1970s.4S Donald F.
Phillips designed an addition to the public school in Mendon Center in 1964. This building was listed on the National Register as a component of the Mendon Center Historic District. (continued) 14 Worcester County Deeds, Book 2894, page 514, September 18, 1943. 45 Milford Daily News, Monday, February 28, 1955 and Thursday, June 24, 1999. Also Boston MA, Massachusetts Historical Commission, MACRIS Maker Index. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C.
Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number Page 17 Features surviving from the antique farm house and changes made to accommodate the Resthaven School were removed or altered to create a 20**-century country house plan and aesthetic and upgrade plumbing, heating, and kitchen and bathroom facilities. The most significant changes occurred on the east side of the house. A large chimney stack was constructed against the west wall of the room to provide the ambiance of a wood-burning fireplace in the center of a new living room. If this space had not been opened up into one open area for the school, it was clearly done so at this time. The Colonial Revival style design of the additions, including a wood mantelpiece, were conceived with the idea of maintaining a historic appearance in the house.
A large master bedroom was created above the living room on the second floor, with a closet and two bathrooms arranged around the chimney. More design liberties were taken in these more private areas. A library was planned for the front of the house on the west side of the passage. The existing space was enlarged by moving the north partition towards the rear of the house. A hall connecting the center passage to the dining room in the wood frame ell was constructed behind the library, which replaced the original linkage that had been located within the library. This area, which included a set of service stairs, was made into a large closet with a wet bar based on Phillips's plans. The remaining space in the rear of the house north of the new hall to the dining room was enclosed and made into a lavatory.
A small alcove was created to contain a small fireplace and Greek Revival mantelpiece that survived there. A second hearth is located at the south end of the library's west wall. The architect's plans indicate that it had been intended to cover it over with a bookcase, although those features do not exist. The dining room created by Catherine Regina Seabury in the old kitchen space was preserved with its fireplace and Craftsman style mantel. The kitchen she created in the old shed was similarly upgraded. The changes wrought by Ashkins and his architect reflect the 20*-century taste in adapting historic farm houses into country houses or weekend retreats. For Ashkins, this was more of a suburban home, as it was his primary residence, and on the eve of his retirement in 1976, he filed a subdivision plan that created 23 house lots on Nathan C.
Aldrich's 150-year old farm.*° The property containing the stone house and chapel had been reduced to its present 4.90 acres when Ashkins sold it two years earlier.47 The chapel had been maintained up to that point. The Ashkins's daughter was married there in 1958, and their granddaughters were christened there in 1960 by the rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Milford. The Ashkinses also permitted groups associated with that church to use the chapel for services. The chapel has not functioned in a religious use since their departure. The property has changed ownership four times since 1974, and remains essentially as the Ashkinses had left it. (continued) 46 Worcester County Registry, Plan Book 464, plan 61. Survey by James B. Kolloch on March 8, 1976, approved by the Town of Mendon Planning Board on July 10, 1978, and recorded on August 16,1978.
47 Worcester County Deeds, Book 5504, page 324. May 30, 1974. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number Page 18 Archaeological Significance Since patterns of ancient Native American settlement in Mendon are poorly understood, any surviving sites could be significant. Native sites in this area may contain important information that helps understand the relationships and variations between subsistence and settlement patterns based in the uplands and those concentrated in the coastal lowlands.
The Aldrich House property, while located in the southeastern part of the Worcester Plateau in the Central Massachusetts uplands, also occupies a location at the headwaters of two important regional coastal drainages. The district lies within the Mill River drainage that converges with the Blackstone River and flows southerly to Narragansett Bay. The Charles River drainage is also located approximately two miles east of the district and drains northeasterly to Boston Harbor. Ancient sites in the district may contribute important information that indicates the extent that Native Americans in the Central Massachusetts uplands adopted unique or specialized upland strategies in their exploitation of plant, animal and mineral resources that varied from the exploitation of similar resources in coastal locales.
Ancient sites may also contribute information that indicates the extent social, technological, and exchange patterns on the Worcester Plateau were affected by relationships with different socio/political groups in the Boston Harbor and Narragansett Bay regions. Historic archaeological resources described above may contribute important information related to 19th century Quaker settlement, agriculture and architecture in Mendon and later use of the house as a boarding school for girls and restorative retreat in the country. Documentary research and archaeological testing may locate changes to the Aldrich House during its occupation by the Aldrich Family and later use for the Catherine Regina Seabury female boarding school. The stone farmhouse, possibly built by Quaker masons with locally quarried stone, is reported as very rare in the region.
Constructions features may exist that reflect specialized construction techniques unlike those used for timber-framed dwellings. Analysis of the stone used for construction and identification of the quarry; possibly located on the property, may contribute information related to 19h century Quaker quarry technology and masonry techniques. Archaeological survey and testing may help identify the sites of barns and outbuildings located on the farm during its period of agricultural use. The latter information may help identify the functions and organization of 19* century Quaker farms. The location and detailed analysis of the contents of occupational-related features (trash pits, privies, wells) may also contribute important information related to the functioning and organization of 19th century Quaker farms and the social, cultural, and economic aspects of the inhabitants of the farm.
Occupational-related features may contain information that helps understand the principles attributed to the Society of Friends. For example, the Aldrich House is reported to reflect the Friends principle of (continued) 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Section number Page 19 plainness while at the same time reflecting wealth and status of the highest degree in Mendon. Occupational related features may contribute important information that clarifies this apparent contradiction. Information from occupational-related features may help better understand Quaker lifeways and agricultural methods. Occupational-related features may also exist related to the Seabury female boarding school.
Detailed analysis of the contents of deposits associated with the school may contribute important social, cultural, and economic information related to the lives of 19t century female factory workers and their activities and standard of living at the Seabury School. (end) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Mass. Section number Page 1 9. Bibliography Aldrich, Alvin James, comp. The George Aldrich Genealogy, 1605-1971. Privately Printed, 1971. Baldwin, Thomas W., comp. Records of Mendon, Massachusetts to the year 1850. Boston, 1920. Coleman, E. Jane. "Summer Hotels in Mendon or Mendon as a Summer Resort." Read to the Hopedale Community Historical Society 23 March 1964.
Mendon Historical Society Collections, "G-H" Binder, Mendon-Upton Public Library. "Decadence of Farming Towns," Milford Daily Journal. August 2, 1890. Hackett, Peter. "An Historical Account of Mendon, Massachusetts." in Mendon, Massachusetts, 1667-1967, Mother of Municipalities. Mendon Historical Society, 1967. Mendon, MA. Annual Reports of the Town of Mendon. Mendon MA. Taft Memorial Library. Local History Files. Resthaven "1854-1904." Booklet honoring the fiftieth anniversary of the Sisterhood of Sister Catherine. Crawford, Mary Caroline. "A Little School for Little Girls, Resthaven in Mendon, Massachusetts." The Churchman, August 2, 1924, pp. 10-11. "Mendon Lady Leaves Estate of $20,000; Nephew Gets $10,000." [probably Milford Daily News, March 1929] "Resthaven, A Country School for Girls," Prospectus for 1916-1917.
"Seabury House, Resthaven, Mendon Massachusetts." An appeal of the Resthaven Association, [1932]. Mendon Historical Society Collection. Aldrich Papers Metcalf, John G. "Mendon," in History of Worcester County, vol. II. Boston: C.F. Jewett, 1879, 42-63. Annals of the Town of Mendon from 1659 to 1880. Providence, 1880. Mitgang, Herbert. The Man who Rode the Tiger: The Life and Times of Judge Samuel Seabury. NY: Lippincott, 1963. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Mass. Section number 9 Page 2 Nason, Elias. A Gazetteer of the State of Massachusetts. Boston: 1874. Resident and Business Directory of Upton, Hopedale and Mendon, Massachusetts for 1898. Needham MA: A.E.
Foss & Co., 1898. Rowntree, J. W. and H. B. Binns. A History of the Adult School Movement. London: Headley Brothers, 1903. The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Boston: The Biographical Society, 1904. Williams, Wendell. "Early Reminiscence of Mendon." A personal account made 17 May 1950. Mendon Historical Society Collections, "Mendon" Binder, Mendon-Upton Public Library. Wood, Joseph S. and Michael Steinitz. The New England Village. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997. Worcester MA. Registry of Deeds. . Registry of the Surrogates Court. Maps & Atlases 1831 Map of Mendon, Massachusetts. John G. Metcalf. 1858 Map of Mendon, Massachusetts. H.F. Walling. 1870 Map of Mendon, Massachusetts. F.W. Beers. 1898 Map of Mendon, Massachusetts. L.J. Richards (end) Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Name of Property 10.
Geographical Data Acreage of property 4.90 acres UTM References (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet.) Worcester County, Mass County and State 1 19 Zone 290540 Easting 4662310 Northing 3 Zone Easting Northing 2 4 See continuation sheet Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11. Form Prepared By name/title Neil Larson with Betsy Friedberg, Massachusetts Historical Commission organization Massachusetts Historical Commission street & number 220 Morrissey Boulevard city or town - Boston state date telephone Mass. Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: April 2006 617-727-8470 zip code 02125 Continuation Sheets Maps A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location.
A Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Photographs Representative black and white photographs of the property. Additional items (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items) Property Owner (Complete this item at the request of the SHPO or FPO.) name Thomas and Colleen Conley street & number 111 Providence Street city or town Mendon telephone state MA zip code 01756 Paperwork Reduction ActStatement: This information is being collected forapplications to the National Register ofHistoric Places t nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties and to amend existing listings.
Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C.470 et seq.) Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 18.1 hours per response including time fo reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this from to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.O. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Projects (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Nathan C.
Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester County, Mass. Section number 10 Page 1 Verbal Boundary Description The 4.90-acre property is bounded on the east by Providence Road and on the other sides by surveyed lines as indicated on the survey map included with this nomination form. Boundary Justification The existing boundaries were established in 1974 when the house and chapel were separated from the historic Nathan C. Aldrich farm, which was subdivided into building lots. The property represents the only historic setting that remains for the historic buildings. PHOTOGRAPHS Photographer: Neil Larson Date: 2004 Location of negatives: with owner 1. View of house from east at Providence Road 2. View of front of house, south façade 3. Detail of front entrance 4. View of rear façade from northeast 5. Interior-windows on east side of living room 6.
Interior-fireplace in northeast alcove on first floor 7. Interior-view of center passage from rear (north) 8. Interior-dining room looking west towards kitchen 9. Interior-fireplace in living room 10. View of chapel looking northeast from corner of house 11. Chapel from southeast 12. Interior-Chapel looking west 13. Chapel, west façade 14. Garage and barn foundation looking south (end) DINIESEM ALCOV LI 13'x RITKY FILE Tsaheo-TLsa} Ladwu TT LIYINSXS - O a M -FIR SCA L E -FRST - JOSEPI ME N WENDTLI GURST 18 X cLoS CHA M B LT CHAM BEL BATH BATH MASTEE CLOs - SECOND FLOOR PLAN- ECALk t"1a" RESIDENCY JOSEPH OF ASHKINS MENDON MASS M. D WENDELL MILFORD - ARCHITIC T RESTHAVEN - MENDON, MASS. .R. ONNE CED AND SHUCTCHED.ION SeALe-t. E20" Worcester County Registry Plan Book 397, Plan 98 May 31, 1974 SR-TRE 1139 Askkims BOUNDARY MAP Mendon, Worcester County, Mass.
NATHAN C. ALDRICH HOUSE AND RESTHAVEN CHAPEL ,OS1St M.05:05-.256 Askhins 134:-16272 420.02 *1.. Lot "1 Area 4.90 Reree 244511256 4: 423.58 PROVIDENCE Met Soala -941:53:264 R- 2430' (1953 Layon) 60.00') BP-TPE *3SE 181.81 Plare of land tre the towrne of MENDON, MASS. property Joseph /. gcale 1º60 Ashuins Fobreary 21, 1974 Blacksione Valley Survey /Enginere d Inc. oe Uotes iralton, Ittes JANCS Emilo 1 Lavrelta Y Corsinear TeR MA -PM ATT 188.43 N53-31-30 48476° ROAD anning Dogra Approval Unde ubdtvtstor Coutrol Law Ilot Reguire Donald Q.
Wsule alhat1 lah Porman l loger 1/39 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Aldrich, Nathan C., House and Resthaven Chapel NAME : MULTIPLE NAME : STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Worcester DATE RECEIVED: DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 4/06/06 5/11/06 DATE OF PENDING LIST: 4/26/06 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 5/20/06 REFERENCE NUMBER: 06000399 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N I LESS THAN 50 YEARS: OTHER: N PDIL: N PERIOD: N PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: COMMENT WAIVER: N VACCEPT RETURN REJECT 5- ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS : N N N Entered in the Vstonal Rofiesse RECOM./CRITERIA REVIEWER DISCIPLINE TELEPHONE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N If a nomination is returned to the nominating authority, the nomination is no longer under consideration by the NPS.
NathanC. Aldrich House &Pesthaven Chapcl Menden, Worcester Co., Massachusetts Photo by Neil Larson, 2004 Neg. at owne PHoTo 1: View of house fram cast at Providence Road Natwan C. Aldrich House +Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Woreester Co., Massachusitts Photo by Neil Larson, 2004 Neg. at ouner PHOTO 2: Viciu o front of house (souta faeade) Natuan C. Aldrich Honse +Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester Co; M Massachusetts Phato by Neil Lavsm, 2004 Neg. at owner PHOTO 3: Detail of front eutrance Nathan C. Aldrich House &Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester Co., Marsachusettz avJ voue s0 Photo by Neil Larsen, 2004 Neg. at ouner PIOTO 4: Viciuo recn facade from nortneast Nathan C. Aldnch Heuse + Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester Co., Massachusetts Photo by Neil Lansm, 2003 Neg. at ouner PHOTO 5: Windows on east side d living room Nathan C.
Aldvich Honce + Resthaven Chapcl Mendo, Worcester Co., Massachusetts Photo by Neil Larson, 2003 Neg. at ouner PHoTo 6: Fireplace in NE alcove an first feom Nathan C. Aldrich Honse + Resthaven Chape Menden, Warcester Co., Massachusetts Ploto by Neil Larsan, 2003 Neg. at ouner PHoTo 7: Viciuo/ ceuter passage fram Ha (horth) Nathan C. Aldrich House & Resthaven Chapel Mendm, Worcester Co.,Massachusehts Photo by Neil Larson, 2003 Neg. at ousen PHoto 8: Dining room lookung west towards latchen Nathan C. Aldiich Honse + Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Warcester Co., Massachusehts Photo by Neil Larsmn, 2003 Neg. et oumer PHoTo 9 : Fireplace in lving romm Nathan C.Aldrich Houre & Resthaven Chapel 002 03 Menden Woreester Co., Massachusetts Photo by Neil Larsm, 2004 Ney. at ouner PHOTO 10: Viei o chapel looking NE from sE corner & house Natnan C.
Aldrich House +Resthaven Chapel Menden, Worcester Co., Massachusetts V006 03 Photo by Neil Larson, 2004 Neg. at ouner PHoTo II: Resthaven Chapel from Sontheart Natwan C. Aldrich Have + Resthaven Chapel Mendm, Worcester Go, Massachusetts Plato bn Neil Lavsmn, 2004 Neg. at omer PHoTD 12: Chapdl intenor looking west Natnan C. Aldnich House +Resthaven Chapel Menden, Worcester Co., Massachusetts 030 Photo by Neil Larson, 2004 Neg. at ouner PHOTO 13: Front (west) facade of chapel AvOTO Nathan C.Aldrich House &Resthaven Chapel Mendon, Worcester Co., Massachusetts XvO v002 30 7002 Photo by Neil Larson, 2004 Neg.at: ouner PHoTO 14: Garage (nght) and baun foundatin (left) trokring south 15 510's 349.45 619.31 245.44 275.0 40,495s f 275.0° 546.75 80 159 g 5597 0.25 a. 1983 TOWN OF MENDON 253- OPEN SPACE A 7.74 a. 26 ,62915 2.65' 16501 185.09 1.86 a. 449.06 HAR 1.45 d.
FORD 347.83 203 40,000s f 199.97' 1B1.89 89.29* 117.45' 1,980. 25 PROVIDENCE 582' 2.810. 150' 532.21 203 270.50 40,038 sf 2 70.50' 1:47a. 223.12 222.51' 10 560' 1.35 a. 557' 600.98 3,3a 3.15 a. 269.891 269.46 466.20 1.38a 474.80' 473.87 (1A9) ROAD 2.16 240 82.29 /38:36 146.19 1.37a 8. 40° INMAN 113,89 91.55 136.90 746.5129631 5ID 265.06%,20 36.86 3,42 13638' 139.59 138 Oc 5/C 76.31 1.54 2.44a. 332952 1 519 124.59 200 201.40° VINCENT 239) 200.62 490 96261 48B 330.49' 2.06 a. 316.32 200 1.38 o. 354.57 147.16° 150' DPr1? 150 200 30,000sf 200 30,638sf STREET 161,95' 20197 188.43 1.62 12 2.42 4.900. 2.03 a. 2.36 a. 440.56 421.0z' 268.04 283.01 -190. 174.10 150.36 398.94' 5.12 a. 2.06 a. 2.70 a. 225.47 -224.61°- 373508' 540.57 (103) 226.57' HKINS 226.57 DRIVE 488.50 243.08 2.42 a. 1.40 a. 205.96 22 LUNDVALL 47.12' RD 435.89 4.54 a. 328.26' 2.26 a. 160.- 198.74 DRAINLOT 26243 1.55 a.
108.301 314.49 1.11 a. 29 174.66 31 32 8 33 34 29'811 42,338 sf 30 336.57 40,000sf 447.94 43,189 sf 380.46 40,514 sf 372.85' 1.39 a. 2e1= 3069 313.69' 240000 329.60' 503.55 280° AVENUE 1A 1.38 a. 350. 200' 8162/ EAST 2 A 347.73' 1140 136,27 1235 ,82'69 28.5/ 350' 241,789st 343.03 36 1.13a 28I0E 35 1.50 a. 32 372.81 1.38 2 B 4.230. SWANDALE CEMETERY 165.76 (69.65' 95.39 22.88 6.80 a. 592.58' 2.10 a. 118.32 370's 249 1.43 a. 9L 1EZ 630 2.0la. 540.23 1.86a. 5 39.6.4 . 341.26 229.99 7497 1.090. 322' 1.280. 468' 10 3.7-5 a. 205 31,58 1,40a 11 712.00' 1.9lo. 657C0 s1) 236 280's 1,93o. 448.79' 451.50: 1.2o. 305 30% 8 3 65.19 -TeLo 535.34 295 = 43,389 sf (206) 271.75 i,6! o. 150.41 229.25 1.18 a. 294.75 2 364.98° 150.41 41,717sf 41,339 st 3.02 g. 1.040. 5I0.10 -340.80' 56- 470 300.42 3.090 2.17 a.
328.68 23 409.91' 107.82 1165.88 21 298.3 1697 46.4cQ B The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission April 4, 2006 Dr. John Roberts National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service 1201 Eye Street, NW 8t floor Washington, DC 20005 FRECEINED 22800 APR - 6 2006 NAT. REGISTER OF HISTOBIG PEACE JATIONAL PA Dear Dr. Roberts: Enclosed please find the following nomination form: Nathan C. Aldrich House and Resthaven Chapel, 111 Providence Street Mendon (Worcester), MA The nomination has been voted eligible by the State Review Board and has been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. The owners of the property were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 30 to 45 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment.
Sincerely, Betey Fredhey Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure CC: Neil Larson, preservation consultant Thomas and Colleen Conley Kenneth O'Brien, Board of Selectmen Kathleen Coffey-Daniels, Planning Board 220 Morrissey Boulevard. Boston, Massachusetts 02125 (617) 727-8470 - Fax: (617) 727-5128 www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc
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