A small house at the corner of John and Tudor Streets may be one of only two surviving houses in New England where enslaved people lived, according to two residents who have asked Chelsea’s Historical Commission to recognize it. The owner does not want the designation. The commission has been weighing the request since July, and it was on the agenda again for the commission’s October 6 meeting, along with two other sites: the stone wall at Washington Park and the Apollinaire Theatre.
Minutes of the October 6 meeting have not been posted. This account comes from the commission’s meeting packet, which includes the advocates’ written request, the minutes of the September 1 meeting and the draft rules the commission is considering.
“The slave house”
Lee Farrington, a trustee of the Governor Bellingham-Cary House museum, and Stacey Smith, a member of Chelsea’s Black community, wrote to the commission in February. They said the house at 32 John Street “has always been known as the slave house,” and that it was part of the estate of the Bellingham-Cary House around the corner at 34 Parker Street.
According to their letter:
- An 1800 farm plan of the Bellingham-Cary estate shows a “Farm Cottage” that had recently been moved from directly behind the mansion to the spot where the house stands today.
- Assessments from 1765 and 1798, cited in Chamberlain’s History of Chelsea, list a smaller house in addition to the mansion. In 1798 it was “of one story, 28 ft X 13 ft,” occupied by a tenant farmer.
- Two paintings in the museum’s collection show Mr. and Mrs. Cary in front of the house, with a Black woman and her child in the yard.
- Every owner of the Bellingham-Cary House from 1659 to 1792 owned enslaved people. Captain Cary, who lived in the mansion from 1765 to 1769, owned Flora and her son Hamblett, and Ceasar and his wife, Peg. The second generation of the family returned from Grenada in 1791 with three enslaved people, Fanny, Charlotte and Pompeii.
- The house has been privately owned since 1880, when it was separated from the estate.
The letter says the only other known slave house in New England is at the Isaac Royall House in Medford. The advocates want a professional assessment of the house, including its cellar and its large chimney, to date it and test the oral history. “A formal historic assessment of the house could enable a connection to be made with other enslaved people,” they wrote. That would require the owner’s permission.
The owner’s concerns
The owner told city planning staff that they did not want the house designated historic, out of concern that it could block any redevelopment and draw more attention to the property, according to the September 1 minutes. Staff recommended against a designation and suggested working with everyone involved on a solution.
Commission members disagreed with that recommendation. Chair Cameron Kirkpatrick said a designation would not stop the owner from developing the property. Under the city’s demolition delay ordinance, it would mean that a request to fully demolish the house would be delayed so the city could look for an alternative. The city’s letter to the owner put that delay at six months. Planner Adam Roy explained that the house is on the state’s inventory of historic places but not its register, so today it is not covered by the delay.
“The Chelsea Black History is miniscule in the history of the city and this history needs to be uplifted,” the minutes summarize Member Michelle Mirthes as saying. Member David Matute worried the owner would not trust the commission if the owner’s concerns were ignored, but said a commissioner’s role is to look out for the history of Chelsea. Vice Chair Matthew Frank, who is president of the Bellingham-Cary House, said for the record that the museum has no connection to the property.
The commission had no written process for a designation, so it voted 4-0 to put off the decision until October 6 while Kirkpatrick and staff drafted findings. William Cecio, the city’s director of permitting and land use planning, said any decision “needs to be legally defensible.”
The draft rules
The October 6 packet includes draft criteria. A property could be found locally significant if the designation promotes the city’s history, “increases awareness of cultural assets,” “diversifies the stories being told,” and “aligns with the City’s vision for the future.” The draft gives the example that a house cannot qualify simply as a Second Empire home; it must be “THE Second Empire home.”
When the person asking is not the owner, the draft requires the commission to notify the owner twice before voting. A simple majority of members present could approve a designation, and the property would go on a city inventory of locally historic properties.
Washington Park’s wall, and the Apollinaire
The city itself wants the stone wall around Washington Park designated, so it can apply for Community Preservation Act money to restore it. Bladimir Hernandez, the city’s park and open space manager, wrote to staff in August that parts of the wall are falling into disrepair. While checking it, Hernandez found an inscribed doorstep set into the wall that reads: “This stone once a doorstep of the old Pratt mansion visited by Washington during the siege of Boston stands opposite the barrack grounds of Colonel Gerrish’s regiment 1775-76.” The park was dedicated to George Washington on July 4, 1887, and the wall was built between 1887 and 1897, according to the email.
The Apollinaire Theatre is also seeking the designation to become eligible for Community Preservation money, according to the September minutes.
Two new members, Charlotte Dumont and Giancarlo Saldana, joined the commission this fall, filling its last vacancies. The commission meets on the first Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. on Zoom.
From our history archive: The Governor Cary House and The Cary Family of Chelsea.
Photo: The Bellingham-Cary House at 34 Parker Street, now a museum, in 2009. Jameslwoodward, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.