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By Laura Eisener
Sunday afternoon Historic New England hosted a community day at the Boardman House on Howard Street, with tours and lectures as well as some show-and-tell from the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site and the Saugus Historical Society. Members of the community came out to hear more about this fascinating 17th-century house. It is in remarkably good condition for 331 years old!
This house was built in 1692 for William Boardman III and his family. The household also included an enslaved person named Mark. While William Boardman himself only lived a few more years after moving here, his descendants lived in the home until 1911. In 1914 the preservationist William Sumner Appleton acquired it for the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), now known as Historic New England. SPNEA, founded in 1910, is the oldest and largest historic preservation organization in the United States, and focuses on preservation of properties in the New England states. For several decades the house was believed to have been the residence of Scottish prisoners who were indentured to work at the Saugus Iron Works, and the house was often called the “Scotch” house, but it is now believed that the prisoners lived elsewhere on the then-extensive property, possibly near where Village Park Plaza stands today. The house has some amazing fireplaces and shows interesting aspects of colonial construction methods.
On Sunday, two guided tours offered visitors a view of the house interior from basement to attic. Lectures were offered on topics ranging from slavery in Colonial New England by Erika Slocumb, Boardman House Preservation by Christina Pokwatka and the recent reconstruction of the two-seater outhouse by its restorer, Dave Maloney. The outhouse itself was also open for viewing. There were also children’s games on the back lawn and bubbles available.
Abigail Stewart, who organized the event, also arranged for Gavin Gardner from Saugus Iron Works to be on hand to answer questions about the Scottish indentured workers at the Iron Works, and for Jack Klecker and Laura Eisener from the Saugus Historical Society to answer questions about general Saugus History. Jack is building a model of the Boardman House, which he brought with him to show Abigail the work in progress. Many visitors came from the surrounding area, Saugus and beyond, to see the house interior and to participate in the afternoon events.
