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SAVE
THE CLAYES HOUSE IN FRAMINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS
Introduction by Janice Thompson ©2010 |
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| The
house stands, windows boarded, unoccupied and in
desperate disrepair on 657 Salem End Road. Not
many people notice it. Very few Framingham
residents are aware of how this single house
represents the deepest roots of their town. The original house was
built in 1693 by Peter and Sarah Clayes, who had
fled the witch hysteria that had terrorized Salem
Village the year before. Known in that town as
Cloyce, Sarah, along with her sisters Rebecca
Nurse and Mary Esty and countless others, had
been accused and jailed for witchcraft. It is
unknown why Sarah escaped the noose while her
sisters were not so lucky. Whether she escaped or
was set free from jail is not certain –
though most historians agree that she was set
free along with most everyone else who was jailed
at the time, after the last hanging in September
of 1692 -- but we do know that she and her
husband Peter, along with members of her extended
family, settled in an area 40 miles away, in the
early part of the following year.
Their new home was
in a region known as "Danforth's Farms," so named because it was
owned by Thomas Danforth, Deputy Governor of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony under Governor Simon
Bradstreet. Danforth himself was, in fact, one of
the magistrates who oversaw Sarah's pre-trial
examination in April of 1692, before the Court of
Terminer and Oyer was established that summer.
Later on, Danforth – along with his good
friend and colleague Samuel Sewall -- was known
to change his opinion about the trials, and
worked behind the scenes to put a stop to the
madness.
We don't know for
sure the true connection between Danforth and
Sarah and Peter Clayes. Did Danforth invite them
to settle on his land out of some feeling of
guilt? Or was the move just a coincidence? But
what we do know is that the Clayes, along with
their brethren Towne, Barton, Bridges and Nurse,
were among the first residents of a town
newly-incorporated in the year 1700 as Framingham
(after "Framlingham," Danforth's home
in Suffolk, England); indeed, these surnames can
be found in many early local government records
as elected officials and leaders.
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| The Enormous
Importance of the Clayes House to Framingham and
Beyond |
| As we stand at
the beginning of the 21st century, in a
futuristic era of constant change, high
technology, and continual advances in the way we
do business, it is more important than ever to
preserve our roots. In order to know where we are
going, we need to understand where we come from.
Within the quickening pace of everyday life,
there is an urgent need for a sense of community
and place. The
Town of Framingham – and, indeed, all of the
New England region – has seen enormous
change over the last decades and centuries. Yet
this is where modern American history began. We
cannot afford to lose the artifacts of our
beginnings.
The Clayes House
is a tangible reminder of some of these early
stories, preserving for new generations a whole
range of important lessons. The birth of a town.
The connection between Salem and Framingham. The
personal story of Sarah Clayes, Mary Esty, and
Rebecca Nurse. The larger context in which their
story took place: the Salem witch hysteria of
1692, and how that historical moment involved so
many different elements: religion, intense fear
of a seemingly wild and untamed new world,
conflicts over land boundaries,
“groupthink,” misogyny, and social
injustice. The Clayes House even has potential
for architectural history: Stephen Herring,
recent Framingham Town Historian, has called the
property “one of the five most important
houses in Framingham;” it is likely one of
the very last houses with first-period details
that has not been preserved or razed in the
entire New England region.
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| The Current
Situation |
Unfortunately,
the state of the house is in crisis. It has been
empty for years and is now in such poor condition
that it may not be able to withstand another
winter without falling down. This progressively
bad situation is the result of many variables,
including a divorce of past owners, difficulties
with liens, problems between potential buyers and
a bank that holds the mortgage, and back taxes.
In the meantime, local teenagers are using the
place for a gathering and drinking hang-out,
vandalizing windows and doors. Over the years,
concerned citizens have made progress in trying
to save the Clayes house from destruction. They
have been successful at:
- Boarding up
the first floor windows, thus deterring
any future trespassing and vandalism by
local youths;
- Garnering,
through the non-profIt organization The
Framingham Preservation Trust, the
$65,000 lien and the right of fIrst
refusal from the divorced wife of the
last mortgage holder
- Enlisting the
help of Vanessa Redgrave, who played
Sarah in the 1984 PBS production entitled
“Three Sovereigns for Sarah”
- Applying for
and receiving recognition for the house
on the 2006 10 Most Endangered Properties
in Massachusetts from Preservation Mass
- Bringing the
case to the attention of local officials
and funding sources including The
National Trust for Historic Preservation,
Historic New England and The Trust for
Public Land
- Getting the
story out to the media through several
articles
- Working with
the Town of Framingham to create a single
property local historic district in order
to prevent any future owner from razing
or significantly changing the appearance
of the house
- Enlisting the
cooperation of the last mortgage holder
- Working with
the Town to extend the demolition delay
from 6 to 12 months for all houses on the
Cultural Resources Inventory, including
the Clayes house
- Making
emergency repairs to the house when
possible.
The property is
still in foreclosure, and whoever currently holds
the mortgage could attempt to auction the house
at any given moment. Given the current situation
with banks bundling mortgages, it has been
difficult to actually determine who holds the
mortgage, but there are parties who are tracking
this down. At the same time, now that the house
carries preservation restrictions and it is in
such terrible disrepair, it is very unlikely that
any private buyer will want to purchase the
place: the property costs, the back taxes, the
lien, and the enormous costs of renovation seem
too high for an individual owner to invest.
Without immediate
and decisive action, the house will continue to
remain in limbo, and will be destroyed by
neglect.
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| Options for Moving
Forward |
| There are several
individuals and organization in Framingham who
are working to save this important property. One
option is to find a private buyer who will be
willing to put the money and effort into
purchasing and restoring the house. Another is to
raise money to make the house into a public
resource. If
you would like to hear more about current
progress, please contact Janice C. Thompson at
janice@janicethompson.net, or 978-604-0869
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| Janice welcomes
correspondence regarding the Sarah Clayes home. |
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HOME
Updated
23 Jan 2010
Web Content Contributed by Janice Thompson ©
2006-2010
Web Pages Designed & Maintained by P.
Davidson-Peters © 1999
All Rights Reserved.
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