[49] of which was so much drunkenness and fighting that the civil authorities were obliged to interpose. A few of these adventurers remained, and became good citizens; and among their descendants we may name the Fulton, Wier, Faulkner, and McClure families. The mother of the late Mrs. Fulton was a Wier. There was a “Pest-house,” so called, erected in 1730, near the “Bower,” south of Pine Hill, where remains of a cellar mark the spot, and near which three graves of those who died of the small-pox are still visible. The land was owned by John Bishop, Esq. These oldest ruins of Medford may not be so interesting as those of Delphi or the Roman Forum; but they serve to show that a part of our town, long since covered with wood, was formerly the abode of an industrious and thriving population. The three brick buildings, mentioned above and called forts, having descended to us as specimens of ancestral architecture, may well compare with any specimens left in the neighboring towns. They show that the style of building here was ample and strong ; which style has been fashionable ever since. The house of Col. Royal was the most expensive
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| Col. Isaac Royal's house. |
