Boarding house room
By 1854, the Otis House was once again under a single owner. Four unmarried sisters rented the house to use as a boarding house from 1854 to 1868. Genteel boarding houses like the Otis House provided a comfortable, respectable middle-class home-like setting. Boarders could expect to live in sizable, well-kept rooms furnished with their own and/or “house” furniture, to sit down to three home-cooked meals per day in the dining room, and to entertain their guests in a well-appointed communal parlor on the first floor. For many, these boarding houses were like a large family. Keepers and borders could establish stable, long-term relationships and serve as surrogate family members for one another. Running a respectable boarding house could be a successful long-term business for single women and widows. There were few options available to middle-class women who needed to support themselves; operating a boarding house was respectable because it allowed women to stay at home and earn money. Women who could attract a high-end clientele were able to maintain their status, live comfortably, and save enough money to support themselves in their old age.
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