This house (the two-story 32 ft. portion) was the L, or wing of the tavern belonging to the
Middlesex canal, and formerly stood between the present Arlington and Tontine streets and fronting on the present Boston avenue.
The writer first made its acquaintance in May, 1870, when he made extensive repairs upon it; the first work he did in
Medford.
At that time there were but fifteen houses on this side the railroad, between High street and the river, and but two beyond the river on the slope of the hill.
The course of the canal was plainly visible, and the ruins of the aqueduct over the river still remained, though the gates and timber of the lock had been removed.
The old tavern was removed from its former location in May, 1889, to its present sites.
This portion is undoubtedly older than its larger main house, and sat upon a separate foundation of trench wall, but no cellar.
Under the present kitchen was a well, some
[p. 79] of the curved bricks of which are in the base of the present chimney.
It had a large fire-place, brick oven, and set boiler for laundry work.
These were removed in 1870, and an ordinary chimney built in their place and under that in the second story.
Before the removal of the house all the chimneys were taken down and the bricks used in rebuilding.
The old chimney stood in the place where the patch of planed boards will be found.
The shingles just now removed were of white cedar of fair quality and of the kind known in the market at that time as ‘shaved,’
i.e., split from the wood and formed by hand with a draw-knife instead of being sawed.
These were laid on the roof in 1870 in the month of June, thus making nearly thirty-one years of service.
The shingles
they replaced were of pine and made in the same way. The boards of the roof at the present show but three sets of nailing for shingles.
It is safe to conclude that the original shingles lasted from forty to fifty years. In removing the shingles of 1870 at this time the workmen found one of those removed in 1870 in the cornice.
It was much more worn by the weather during its service than its successor.
Near the present location of the house was a willow which was over four feet in diameter when removed in 1889 to make room for this and new buildings.
The willow now in the adjoining lot is a sprout from its stump.
The
Middlesex canal, which for fifty years was a waterway from the
Charles to the
Merrimac river, passed along the location of Boston avenue and was, at its construction, the greatest inland improvement of the country.
Begun in the closing years of the eighteenth and opened in the early years of the nineteenth, we may contrast it with the means of travel and carriage of this present year of the new century, and wonder if the coming years will witness as much change, and as many improvements.
Just how old this house is we have no means of knowing, but it is probably much more than a century, and has not outlived its usefullness.
West Medford, May 25, 1901.
[Name here.]