Spurr, John, House

The John Spurr House is on the easterly side of Common Road (Main Street) opposite the Charlton Common in Charlton Center. To the east of the house is a wide expanse nasterzy stde oe of open fields and woodlands and to the south are professional, educational and municipal buildings of the town. Across the Common and to the north are other resi- dences, dating primarily from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The John Spurr House was built in the late eighteenth century - early records showing General Spurr first taxed for a house worth $1500 in 1798. The two-story dwelling is 34% feet wide and 30 feet deep, with an ell measuring 20% feet by 21% feet at the rear (east)- The ell may be of a slightly earlier period but is essentially contemporary with the house.

From the kitchen ell a two-story garage and shed ex- tends north at a right angle. The foundation of the house is of dry fieldstone construction, topped with granite slabs. The house and ell are covered with clapboards painted white on the main house and red on the shed. The house, ell, and shed sections all have ridge roofs covered with black asphalt shingles. Iwo brick chimneys rise through the peak of the roof of the main house. The facade is five bays wide with shuttered windows having six-over-six lights. The center entrance is flanked with fluted pilasters which have plain capitals and sup- port a dentiled entablature. The south side of the house has two equally spaced windows on each story and a side entrance in the middle of the first story.

This six-paneled door is surmounted by simple molding, and an open elliptical topped lattice work entry surrounds the door.

/ARCHITECT STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The John Spurr House is significant as the home of Major General John Spurr, a leader in Charlton affairs and participant in the Boston Tea Party and various Revolutionary War encounters. The house is also one of the more interesting architectural examples in Charlton. John Spurr was born in Stoughton, Massachusetts on May 31, 1759. As a young man, Spurr was among the group of patriots who threw overboard the hated tea from the ships Dartmouth and Eleanor at Griffin's Wharf in Boston on December 16, 1773. Following the Boston Tea Party, he was among the ranks which fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Commissioned an officer on January 1, 1777, Spurr served in Colonel Nixon's 4th Massachusetts Regiment until 1779 when he transferred to the 6th Regiment as a major in 1780 and again in 1791-1792. John Spurr moved to Charlton in 1788 to take up title to 3000 acres of confiscated Tory lands acquired through his wife. Spurr soon entered the social and political life of the area. Called Colonel at the time of his second marriage, he later became a Major General of the State Militia. His marriage to Sally Davis and his daughter's marriage to Salem Town, Jr. united the three most influential families 2222 in the south county. In politics General Spurr was a strong Jeffersonian Democrat, opposing the Federalists which were represented by the Town family.

Spurr was elected to the General Court in 1805-1811. He died on March 3, 1816. John Spurr's sons followed his example in service to the town and state. John Spurr, Jr.