Land of the Massachusett

When the Massachusetts Bay Colony inhabitants arrived in 1630, Pequusset – now Watertown – was occupied by indigenous people under the name Massachusett, who inhabited what is now the Metro Boston region. The Massachusett utilized the rich natural resources, especially fishing and beaver trapping, associated with the river they called Quinobequin (“meandering”), which the English named the Charles. The land associated with the Browne House originally ran south to the river and access to the river undoubtedly enhanced its value. These same attractive characteristics of the land also appealed to the English settlers.

By 1620, indigenous nations in New England experienced a devastating population decline from European diseases. When the Massachusetts Bay Company arrived ten years later, they encountered far fewer native inhabitants than their predecessors. Colony governor, John Winthrop stated in a 1634 letter, “For the natives, they are near all dead of the smallpox, so the Lord hath cleared our title to what we possess.” This ideology of divine providence, along with the Royal Decree from King Charles claiming New England territory, emboldened settlers to assume ownership of the land. However, the land was still seasonally occupied and utilized by the Massachusett and land ownership was an unfamiliar custom.

Descendants of the first people of Massachusetts persist today through the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag, the Praying Indians of Natick, and other federally recognized or unrecognized indigenous nations.

Early Settlement of Browne Land

Browne House is named for the family that owned this Watertown, Massachusetts, land from 1640 to 1897.

Abraham Browne came from Hawkedon, Suffolk, England in the 1630s when thousands of English settlers came to New England. The Massachusetts Bay Colony divided land among the wealthy male settlers of Watertown and Browne was granted 130 in 1638. Browne was responsible for surveying the lots granted and played a key role in determining the location of roads, farms, and other settlements in Watertown.

By 1642 his estate totaled thirty-nine acres, consisting of fifteen non-contiguous lots. Abraham Browne died by 1650. The house that he built in East Watertown did not survive, and the exact location remains unknown.

Two of Abraham Browne’s sons were in Watertown, Massachusetts, with him. Jonathan Browne (1635-?) lived in his father’s house on the eastern portion of the land. Abraham Browne Jr. (1640-1667) built his house on the western portion, on the site of the current Browne House.

A New House and a Family Farm

Jonathan’s son, Captain Abraham Browne (1671-1729), consolidated the entire estate in 1694 and built the house that survives today around 1698. In 1709 the Browne family sold the eastern half of the property with its original house. That portion of the farm passed out of the family’s hands permanently at that time.

Like his grandfather before him, Captain Abraham Browne held many important posts in town, including treasurer, assessor, selectman, town clerk, and captain of the militia. He was licensed for four years as an innholder, beginning in 1709. He had nine children, eight of whom lived to adulthood. In 1708 Captain Abraham was also guardian to Ephraim Williams, whose son later founded Williams College.

Neglect and Rescue

Peter J. Brandley bought the house and property from the Browne family in 1897. In the intervening years the property deteriorated to what was described as “a number of somewhat dilapidated farm buildings that once were part of the larger estate.” The Historical Society of Watertown gave permission for the house’s demolition because of its severe deterioration.

Restoration Process

In 1910 William Sumner Appleton founded the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, now Historic New England, the first regional historic preservation organization in the United States. The organization and its mission were his life’s work until his death in 1947.

The purchase and preservation of Browne House helped define Appleton’s systems of management, scientific methodology, and historical research. He described it in 1915 as “one of the very best old houses still standing in New England.” His goal was to save simple, old, vernacular-style houses because many others deemed them unimportant.

A Tea Room

William Sumner Appleton pioneered the adaptive reuse of restored properties as a means of earning income to assist with property maintenance. Beginning in 1924, Miss Celestia Lapham and Miss Katharine M. Millea rented Browne House from Historic New England, as a residence in the north and western ells, and as a tea room and gift shop located in the lower chamber of the seventeenth-century portion of the house. Heating radiators and other plumbing were added in the summer of 1924 for this purpose.

There continued to be a succession of custodians, some of whom maintained a tea room in the house, including Mrs. Sue Burnham and her family in 1933, Mrs. Marcus Osborn, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Burnham, and Mr. and Mrs. Christopher J. Fitzpatrick Jr.

Becoming a Museum

Browne House reveals aspects of seventeenth-century architecture otherwise lost today. Its restoration exemplifies the transition from traditional reconstructions, found at places like Paul Revere House and the House of the Seven Gables, to the use of historical and scientific methodology, which is now the norm of such work. Historic New England maintains the house as a significant as example of now rare and in some cases unique architectural features, and as an early example of a documented building restoration.