Built in 1720 (First Period). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. 17 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1886.
One of 1,353 National Register listings published here for Middlesex County · listed in 1990 · category: Building · built in 1720, First Period.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article
The chapter on Sudbury Town in History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880 names Sudbury. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
LL authorities agree that the first settlers of Sudbury were drawn to this locality chiefly by the rich meadow-lands on either side of the river bearing the same name as the town through wliicli it flowed, as also by the abundance of woodland and the strength of the soil when once subdued. Johnson, in his Hidory of Xew England, 16o4, page 141, says: -
Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.
May 13, 1640, the court granted to the town " the addition of a mile in length upon the southeast and southwest sides of this plantation " ; and May 2, 1649, " Sudbury is granted two miles westward, next adjoining to them for their further enlargement."
Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Sudbury Town - 18,007 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 104 fires within 5 miles of Moses Brewer House between 1995 and 2020, burning about 142 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 12 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 46 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 12 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 7 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 4 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 3 September 2018 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 3 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 23 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 22 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 21 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 19 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,199 specimens collected within 10 miles of Moses Brewer House between 1898 and 1975: 783 Animalia, 272 Plantae, 137 Fungi, 4 Chromista, 2 Protozoa, 1 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. B. Seymour & M. D. Feigley, A. F. Newton and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.
| Image | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 | 1900 | not recorded | Wayland |
 | Actaea pachypoda Elliott | 1898 | Ernest Charles Smith | |
 | Antennaria howellii subsp. canadensis (Greene) R.J.Bayer | 1898 | Williams, E.F. | |
 | Antennaria parlinii subsp. fallax (Greene) R.J.Bayer & Stebbins | 1898 | not recorded | |
 | Antennaria plantaginifolia (L.) Hook. | 1898 | not recorded | |
 | Aquilegia canadensis L. | 1898 | M. I. Gunn | Natick |
 | Agaricus brunnescens Peck | 1900 | Morris, G. E. | Waltham |
 | Agonopterix atrodorsella Clemens, 1863 | 1900 | E. J. Smith | Sherborn |
 | Apantesis Walker, 1855 | 1900 | E. J. Smith | Sherborn |
 | Apatelodes torrefacta J.E.Smith, 1797 | 1900 | E. J. Smith | Sherborn |
| Araiospora pulchra Thaxt. | 1900 | Thaxter, Roland | Stony Brook, Mass. [Massachusetts] | |
 | Archips cerasivorana (Fitch, 1856) | 1900 | E. J. Smith | Sherborn |
All 1,199 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Moses Brewer House: 8 past producers, 1 unknown. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Peat. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panlini Loam Co | Peat | Past Producer | Peat | |
| Arthur Scofield Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Framington Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| New England Sand & Grv Co. Pit & Pl | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Pepperell Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Rich Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Sand & Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Stonebridge Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Town of Wayland | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sudbury, the town this property stands in, in 14 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 2 lightning, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sudbury | $75,000 | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Flood | Sudbury | $40,000 | In Sudbury, Maynard Road was flooded with two feet of water stranding several cars. Numerous other side roads also were flooded making them impassable. A large number of basements and backyards were flooded with water accumulating up to several feet in the basements. Four feet of water covered Main Street in Hudson, closing the road. In Maynard, numerous basements and backyards were flooded with water accumulating several feet in the basements. |
| August 2008 | Lightning | East Sudbury | $15,000 | Lightning struck a house on Virginia Road causing a fire. |
| August 2008 | Lightning | East Sudbury | $15,000 | Lightning struck a house on Northwood Street causing a fire. |
| August 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | East Sudbury | $10,000 | A tree was downed on Goodnow Road and another on Plympton Road by thunderstorm winds. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sudbury | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | North Sudbury | $5,000 | In Sudbury, a tree was down on wires on Marlborough Road. Also, a tree was down on a house on Fox Run Road. |
| July 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | South Sudbury | $1,000 | In Sudbury, a large pine tree was down on Pheasant Avenue. |
| September 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | North Sudbury | $800 | In Wayland, multiple trees were down on Oxbow Rd. |
| August 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | South Sudbury | $200 | In Sudbury, wires were down on Union Ave. |
| June 2020 | Hail | East Sudbury | - | Quarter size hail was reported in Sudbury. |
| July 1999 | Hail | Sudbury | - | no account filed |
| August 1999 | Hail | Sudbury | - | no account filed |
| September 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sudbury | - | no account filed |
United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
When this property was proposed for the National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is, and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain. It is reproduced in full on its own page, word for word and never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s typewriter's.
The whole case file for this property - 1,148 words, 11 pages, reproduced complete.
Quoted from the National Register nomination for reference 90000184, 11 pages, held by the National Archives in Record Group 79. See the catalogue record.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Goodnow Library | 0.3 miles | 2002 |
 | Bogle-Walker House | 0.7 miles | 1992 |
 | Sudbury Center Historic District | 1.2 miles | 1976 |
 | Old Town Bridge | 1.8 miles | 1975 |
 | Stone's Bridge | 2.2 miles | 2017 |
 | Wayside Inn Historic District | 2.8 miles | 1973 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 90000184 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Middlesex County | All 1353 listed properties in this county. |
Block
