The Shirley-Eustis House

07/09/2024

Yesterday marked the third annual Massachusetts Emancipation Day, or Quock Walker Day, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This day recognizes the legal end of slavery in the Commonwealth on July 8, 1783.

Quock (also Quork or Kwaku) Walker was a man enslaved by James Caldwell in Worcester County. Quock had been promised manumission at the age of 25 by Caldwell - however, Caldwell died before Quock's 25th birthday. Quock's new enslavers refused to honor the promise, so Quock emancipated himself and began working for wages elsewhere. When his former enslavers found out, they beat Quock severely. Quock sued them for assault on the grounds that he was a free man at the time of the beating, and therefore had a right to life and liberty as outlined in the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution.

Over the course of the next two years, a court found Quock's former enslavers guilty of assault on a free man - then, when the case was appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court, they too found that Quock was a free man entitled to personal rights. The case ended slavery in Massachusetts on the grounds that the Declaration of Rights had made all people free and equal in the Commonwealth. However, while slavery was effectively illegal, enslaved people still had to petition their enslavers for freedom in a court of law. Many were not aware that this was the case, nor did they have the means or time to do so.

A case cited as part of Walker's defense was that of Elizabeth Freeman, another formerly enslaved person in Massachusetts who successfully sued for her emancipation in 1781. Freeman supposedly overheard a public reading of the state Constitution upon its passage, and contacted a local lawyer on the grounds that her enslavement conflicted with the phrase "All men are born free and equal." The Supreme Judicial Court agreed with her - and she won her suit, known as "Brom & Bett v. Ashley" in August 1781. She was the first person emancipated as a result of the MA Constitution, and Walker was the second.

(Images: Snippet from the MA Constitution; Miniature of Elizabeth Freeman)

07/02/2024

Updated Summer Hours!

Our hours are changing in a few ways this summer at the Shirley-Eustis House. See below for details:

-Regular administrative office hours remain the same (Tuesdays through Fridays from 9am-5pm daily).
-Tour DAYS remain the same, but tour START TIMES are changing to 12pm and 2pm daily (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays). As a reminder, all tours begin in the front forecourt and last approximately one hour.
-Throughout the summer, we'll be hosting several Summer Saturday Open Houses! These open houses, offered on select Saturdays through September, provide an opportunity for visitors to explore the Mansion at their own pace. Guided tours will be offered on these dates to those who want them, but non-guided visitation of the Mansion is also encouraged. Please check our events here on Facebook, or on our website, for more information.

As always, please contact us with questions at [email protected] or (617)-442-2275!

07/02/2024

About two weeks ago, on June 19, we were so honored to host the Second Annual Juneteenth Freedom Cookout here at the Shirley-Eustis House! It was fantastic to once again work with the brilliant Vania at Black.Brown.Boston and Rochelle with For Black Girls Inc., who put their hearts and souls into this event. Even though the day wound up being one of the hottest of the year so far, it was an absolute blast (and the pivot from lawn games to water activities was a wise decision!). We are so grateful for our community, our neighbors, and all those who pitched in to make this year's Freedom Cookout a success.

Though our site holds a painful history of enslavement and inequality, it is special to watch as our community transforms the legacy of this space into one where freedom, joy, and hope are celebrated today. We honor and remember those who lived here without their freedoms, and we commit to working toward a more equitable world for all.

06/14/2024

We are honored to be a stop on the Black Men Run Boston annual 3/5/10k community walk run. Black Men Run is an international organization that fosters Brotherhood, Reflection, Unity and Health through the simple but regenerative act of running (or walking!) together. Learn more about BMR Boston here: https://blackmenrun.com/blackmenrun-chapters/boston/

And best wishes to all of Saturday's runners and walkers.

03/08/2024

Today is International Women's Day!

Here at the Shirley-Eustis House, our organization would not exist were it not for the remarkable life of Caroline Langdon Eustis. Madame Eustis lived in the mansion from 1819-1865, and her deep connection to the Roxbury community would lead the neighborhood to preserve the site in 1913.

Madame Eustis was self-conscious of her appearance and notoriously refused to sit for portraits (same, Caroline, same), but we still have a few things to remember her by at Shirley Place. The first is our heirloom orchard with a wide variety of apples and pears - Madame Eustis was one of the first women to exhibit plants at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society! The second is the tea set from the Eustis service, a beautiful China set which Madame Eustis likely used to host her famous tea parties while she lived at Shirley Place.

03/05/2024

Today marks the 254th anniversary of the event known as the "Boston Massacre," which occurred at the base of the Old State House in downtown Boston. Last year, Mayor Wu also declared March 5 "Crispus Attucks Day" in Boston.

Crispus Attucks was a mariner of African and Native American ancestry, and is widely considered the first casualty of the American Revolution. He was killed on March 5, 1770 when a group of British soldiers fired on colonial protesters. Today, he is commemorated as one name among a list of those killed during the Massacre on a headstone in the Granary Burying Ground.

However, City Councilor Brian Worrell called this week for a standalone statue commemorating Attucks to be placed in Boston. Not only was Attucks killed while protesting for colonists' freedom from Britain, but he had also emancipated himself from slavery at some earlier point in his life. Attucks fled enslavement in Framingham and worked onboard ships across the Atlantic, preferring a life at sea to one spent in bo***ge.

We echo Councilor Worrell's call for a greater commemoration of Crispus Attucks in Boston, and aim to work toward greater recognition for all of those who witnessed white colonists fight for freedom while they still enslaved African and Indigenous people.

02/19/2024

Today we recognize Presidents' Day! We have several Presidential connections, one of which is in our collections: a portrait of William Eustis by Presidential portraitist Gilbert Stuart.

Stuart painted nearly a thousand people over the course of his career, most famously the first six American Presidents. His "Athenaeum Portrait" of George Washington is perhaps his most well-known, as it is printed on all $1 bills. Though he spent the Revolutionary period in London, he also painted a wide swath of Revolutionary Americans upon his return to the states in 1793, from Horatio Gates to Dolley Madison to John Jay. Stuart painted Washington several times throughout the latter's Presidency, and would go on to paint John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams.

In 1806, Stuart painted our very own William Eustis, who was then a Congressman in the Massachusetts State Legislature. Five years later, Eustis would serve as the U.S. Secretary of War under President James Madison, and from 1814 - 1818, the U.S. Envoy to the Netherlands. In 1820 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (a seat he had held prior to his tenure as Secretary of War), and in 1823 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, a position he served in until his death in 1825. Stuart's portrait of Eustis gives us a clear picture of what this occupant of Shirley Place looked like, albeit about thirteen years before he lived at our site.

02/16/2024

Reminder: Registration is now open for "A Colonial History of Beer and Brewing," an online lecture by Historian Malcolm Purinton on Thursday, Feb. 29 at 6pm!

Beer and brewing have been an important part of Boston history from before the American Revolution through to today’s Craft Beer Revolution. We’ll follow the colonial beginning of a local brewing industry through the stylistic changes of the nineteenth century from ale to lager beer production and into the end of the twentieth century when Samuel Adams Brewing and Harpoon led the way into the era of Craft Beer. We're taking a look at beer's history from Sam Adams the man to Sam Adams the brand! Feel free to sip your favorite brew while listening in from home.

Registration is $10 for the public and free for those who qualify for Mass Cultural Council's Card to Culture program (WIC, EBT, and Connector Care recipients). To register, use this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/815880459417?aff=oddtdtcreator

01/15/2024

Today we honor Civil Rights leader and social justice advocate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King's tireless work brought discussions of racial and economic inequality to the forefront of Americans' minds. Just before his assassination, he began work on what he called "The Poor People's Campaign" - a multiracial effort to combat economic inequality in the United States. The Campaign advocated for a universal basic income, increased amounts of low-income housing, and legislation to level the playing field regarding income disparities in the country.

Dr. King knew that poverty was not only a present problem, but a generational, systemic one. The roots of economic inequality in America can be found in our colonial history. Colonial economies exploited the labor of the poor, indentured, and enslaved, as well as the resources of colonized land.

It is only by learning about this history, and implementing programs to promote equity well into future generations, that we can begin to combat racial and social inequality in the present day. Systemic injustices may not be our generation's fault, but they are now our responsibility.

11/28/2023

Attention Roxbury and Dorchester community members!

Join us this Thursday for DSNI's monthly Community Development meeting via Zoom, where we'll discuss our plans for the newly acquired building at 42-44 Shirley Street. We'd love to get your thoughts and input on the building's future, especially as we begin a master planning process.

09/01/2023

The news is out!

The Shirley-Eustis House has closed on the purchase of 42-44 Shirley Street. This building is remarkable because it was an original outbuilding of Shirley Place. It was built as both a stable for Governor Shirley's collection of fine horses and, in the upper floor, housing for the enslaved men who cared for the horses. This would have included grooms, stableboys, footmen, and others.

While the building has changed significantly over the years, much of its interior framing, plaster, and lathe are original to the 18th century. The property's front yard also contains many archeological features and artifacts that have yet to be unearthed.

We're pleased to have saved the building from demolition with the help of a Community Preservation Act from the City of Boston. But the work doesn't end there - soon, we're launching a larger fundraising campaign to pay off the remaining $450,000 on our purchase and renovate the building into exhibits and gathering space for community members. Learn more about this expansive project on our website: https://shirleyeustishouse.squarespace.com/the-42-44-shirley-project

And be sure to read Tiana Woodard's great article on our purchase of 42-44 Shirley Street in the Boston Globe here: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/09/01/metro/roxbury-shirley-eustis-house/

08/23/2023

Collections highlight!

One of the first objects visitors notice when entering the Shirley-Eustis House's Great Hall is our magnificent chandelier. It dates back to the early Federal period and may even be made of Waterford crystal, a radiant glassware famously produced in the town of the same name in Ireland.

Before it became part of our collections, it purportedly hung in a building at St. John's College at Oxford University. Then it crossed the Atlantic to dazzle in the stately home of the Whittington family, located in Virginia. It was purchased by the Shirley-Eustis House Association at auction in 1985 thanks to a generous donation. Just last fall, thanks to a grant from the Society of Colonial Wars, we were able to have the chandelier deep-cleaned for the first time since its purchase. Now it holds battery-powered electric candles and provides a glittering, glowy ambiance to our tours and events.

(Bonus: check out the video clips on this post over on our Instagram using the link below for two different perspectives on raising/lowering the chandelier. While one person turns the crank in our attic to slowly raise or lower the fixture, another stays on the first floor to ensure it stops at the perfect height! https://www.instagram.com/p/CwTM_csO5pO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)

08/19/2023

Thanks to Accidentally Wes Anderson for featuring us in the "stories" section of your website and in your e-newsletter!

For our followers: Accidentally Wes Anderson is an online community for fans of acclaimed director Wes Anderson, quirky places, architecture, or people who just love learning the stories of unique buildings and locations. Check out their profile of the Shirley-Eustis House below, and be sure to explore the other locations featured on their website!

Accidentally Wes Anderson Boston's Restored Relic History Lesson

08/07/2023

We are happy and grateful to announce that The Shirley-Eustis House has been selected as the recipient of this year's Dine Out Boston charitable proceeds! Thanks to Meet Boston for selecting us and to the staff at Old North Church for nominating us for this opportunity.

Dine Out Boston is a yearly program that offers discounted prix fixe meals to folks who want to try out new restaurants or simply enjoy an old favorite. If you'd rather get takeout, you can still participate in the online auction! Find out more about the program at the link below.

Dine out Boston runs until August 19, and the online auction until August 23.

Learn More: https://www.meetboston.com/event/dine-out-boston/76625/

08/03/2023

If you've toured Shirley Place, chances are you've had an encounter with this woman. Her portrait hangs to the left of Governor Shirley's in our Great Hall.

Her name is Deborah Lyde Brinley. Her husband was Francis Brinley, an English government official and colonial landowner. The Brinleys constructed a Georgian estate called Datchet House in 1729 in the area of Dorchester's Mission Hill neighborhood - it has since been demolished. The last photo is an image taken right before it was torn down in 1903.

Mrs. Brinley's portrait, painted by John Smibert, exemplifies the ideals of English beauty in the 17th and 18th centuries. An English book called "The Dictionary of Love" outlined the most valued characteristics: a plump face, long hair, pale and unblemished skin, youthful appearance, and dimpled chin. Among the English, these characteristics made you a catch on the marriage market. But of course, your net worth was perhaps a more important consideration. Deborah herself was an heiress.

Beauty standards would evolve and diversify with time. But in her era, Deborah Brinley was considered quite lovely. And, indeed, wealthy, as well.

07/26/2023

Our plants and pollinators are loving this heat, humidity, and rain! Our non-AC equipped historic house... not so much.

For up-to-date opening and closing information, be sure to check our website homepage at www.shirleyeustishouse.org ! We recently added a calendar there which shows our upcoming public tours and events. Check it out to learn what's happening at Shirley Place! It will also be updated in the event of high temperatures - for the safety of our staff and visitors, Shirley Place will be closed when temperatures reach 90°+.

04/22/2023

As the chilly weather lingers, we’re keeping the insulated cover on the beehive at Shirley Place. That hasn’t stopped the bees from getting, uh, busy, however, pollinating the thousands of blooms in our orchard. Look closely and you’ll see some of the bees returning to the hive weighed down by the fat yellow “pollen pants” on their legs. BTW their ruler is Queen Bee-Lizabeth.

04/19/2023

Today marks the 248th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and earlier this week, on April 17th, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts celebrated Patriots’ Day.

Patriots’ Day honors the militiamen who fought in the Battles of Lexington and Concord, recognized as the first military engagement of the Revolutionary War. More broadly, it commemorates the idea of American “Patriots” - those who have struggled, fought, and died to create and preserve American liberties. The Shirley-Eustis House has been home to many Patriots over its lifetime. On this Patriots’ Day, we honor one man who was living at the house when British regulars marched on Lexington and Concord: Thomas Scipio.

Scipio was enslaved by the Shirley family and served as Governor Shirley’s personal valet and attendant. After the Governor’s death in 1770, Scipio’s ownership passed to Elizabeth, Shirley’s eldest daughter. He continued to labor at Shirley Place until 1775, when Elizabeth and her family fled to downtown Boston and then England as war broke out between the colonists and British army. Scipio was then left, likely alone, to care for the 33-acre Shirley estate. He was in his seventies.

Thomas Scipio probably saw and heard events unfold from the Shirley-Eustis House cupola. Both the British and Continental armies were fortifying their positions throughout Boston, readying for a looming battle which eventually broke out at Breed’s Hill in Charlestown on June 17, 1775. After that, colonial forces moved into Roxbury and Dorchester, bringing the war right to the doorstep of Shirley Place. The mansion was used as a barracks and hospital for the Continental Army.

It’s hard to imagine what went through Scipio’s mind as he cared for the Shirley estate in the summer and autumn of 1775. Was he resistant to colonial forces commandeering the building? Did he welcome the men who opposed British colonialism and tyranny? Or did he assume that the colonists would treat him just as the British had – as an enslaved man whose life and liberty were less important to them than those of white men? After Elizabeth Shirley Hutchinson had re-settled in England in 1776, she sold Thomas Scipio to a man living in Ludlow, England. Scipio lived out the rest of his days as an enslaved man.

Thomas Scipio does not fit into the neatly defined boxes of “redcoat” or “patriot,” but on this Patriots’ Day, we honor him nonetheless. His experiences during the war echo those of other named and nameless enslaved people whose lives intersected with the Revolutionary War – but who, at its close, remained in bo***ge.

Image: A 1775-1776 map by "J. DeCosta" of Boston and the surrounding area. Shirley Place would have been located near the base of the area labeled "Roxbury Hill."

04/19/2023

04/19/2023

04/13/2023

THIS SATURDAY - Join us between 11am and 3pm on the Shirley-Eustis House lawn for Dudley Farm Day! Activities will include a baby animal petting zoo, butter churning, crafts, seed packet giveaways, information on local urban beekeeping, wool spinning, resources from our friends at DSNI, fresh popcorn, treats from Sweet T**z Bakery, and much more.

The best part? It's all FREE thanks to a generous grant from Mass Cultural Council. Help us ring in this beautiful Roxbury spring on Saturday!

For questions, please contact us at (617)-442-2275 or [email protected].

03/14/2023

This women’s history month, we want to remember Madam Eustis (as she liked to be called), the longest occupant of the Shirley-Eustis House.

Caroline Langdon Eustis lived in Shirley Place from 1819 to 1865. Born into a wealthy New England family, she married William Eustis in 1810. While he held various government positions, she hosted stately and refined receptions to foster relations between the United States and its allies. According to a friend of Caroline’s nursemaid, Madam Eustis was such good friends with the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, that the pair traded their sets of upholstered chairs because they each preferred the color of the other’s set more than their own. One of her closest friends was Dolly Madison – the two met while living in Washington, D.C. and wrote each other many letters after Caroline moved to Europe and then Massachusetts.

One of Madam Eustis’ lifelong hobbies was horticulture. She cultivated an orchard at Shirley Place that contained apples, pears, and citrus, among other fruits. She installed a greenhouse on one of the porches of the home, and exhibited her fruits at the Massachusetts Historical Society under her own name, an unusual practice in an era when women were commonly considered an extension of their husbands in the public sphere. Today, our grounds are home to an heirloom orchard in her honor.

Madam Eustis lived until she was in her eighties. By that time, she was forced to lease parts of Shirley Place and its grounds to local families to make ends meet. She was well-respected among her neighbors, and hosted afternoon teas for young women in Roxbury. Throughout the Civil War, she knitted socks for soldiers. Her one wish, according to journalist Ida Ayres, was to live until the end of the war. She did just that, passing away on October 12, 1865 at 84 years old.

To learn more about Madam Eustis’ remarkable life, visit us at the Shirley-Eustis House.

(Images: an apple blossom in the Shirley Place orchard; a letter written from Caroline Eustis to Dolly Madison with Madam Eustis' signature at the bottom right; a 19th c. sketch of an orange; a sketch of Shirley Place at the time of Caroline's residence)

02/02/2023

What were the Shirley-Eustis House's connections to enslavement? How do we shed light on a shameful, painful past, and how should we move forward as an organization while cognizant of it?

Join us on Zoom Thursday, February 16 at 7pm as our Executive Director, Suzy Buchanan, shares updates on the Shirley-Eustis House's ongoing efforts to recognize its connection to the British slave trade. Suzy will discuss the research already done, how it has become part of the story we tell at our site, and how it may influence the future of our work at Shirley Place. A short Q&A session will follow.

The lecture is free. Sign up here for Zoom access: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/recovering-enslaved-lives-through-historic-preservation-tickets-518013441147

(Image: Baron Nagle's Running Footman, c.1795, by Ozias Humphry)

12/15/2022

Many thanks to everyone who joined us for this year's Holiday Party! We had a fantastic time seeing friends old and new, sharing food and beverages, and getting into the holiday spirit.

Happy Holidays from all of us at the Shirley-Eustis House.

11/23/2022

The Shirley-Eustis House will be closed Thursday 11/24 and Friday 11/25 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. We hope everyone has a safe and restful time with friends and family.

11/04/2022

Free for lunch?

Join us next Thursday, November 10 at 12pm for "Male Physicians, Female Practitioners: Early 19th Century Medicine," a brown bag lecture co-hosted with the Center for the History of Medicine, Countway Library, Harvard Medical School and The Society of the Cincinnati.

Historian Olivia Weisser (Associate Professor, UMass Boston) will examine the professionalization of medicine in the early nineteenth century, when medicine was less a unified field and more a loose link between the disparate--and sometimes conflicting--practices of surgeons, apothecaries, physicians, and midwives. Professor Weisser will also discuss how traditional midwives were gradually forced out of their role in childbirth in this era, often with deadly results.

This hybrid lecture will be hosted both in-person at the Shirley-Eustis House and on Zoom. In-person attendees have the option to buy a lunch through SEHA or bring their own. Get tickets here:

How did people in the early 19th century think about health? When did the use of at-home herbs give way to the modern scientific process?

11/02/2022

On November 2 each year, Día de los Mu***os (The Day of the Dead) is celebrated in Mexican culture. This holiday honors and remembers those who have died with gifts, flowers, and stories about their lives.

The image below, an elegant female skeleton known as La Catrina, has come to symbolize Día de los Mu***os. First introduced as an image in 1910, La Catrina's roots go back even further to the Aztec "Lady of the Dead," Mictecacihuatl. The combination of Aztec traditions with Christian Hallowtide observances formed today's Día de los Mu***os and also resulted in the creation of La Catrina. Her first iteration in 1910, printed by Jose Guadalupe Posada, satirized native Mexicans who shunned their traditional culture for European dress and mannerisms, including wearing makeup on their faces to appear more white. "La Calavera Garbancera," or "the elegant skull," was a phrase used to describe such people, and was also the first name for La Catrina. Her image reminds us that no matter your background or wealth in life, death is a certainty for all.

(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons. For further reading, check out "La Catrina: Mexico's Grande Dame of Death" at SFGate https://www.sfgate.com/mexico/mexicomix/article/La-Catrina-Mexico-s-grande-dame-of-death-2318009.php)

10/27/2022

A warm welcome to fall (and goodbye to our gorgeous leaves).

09/21/2022

The Shirley-Eustis House will be closed on Thursday 9/22 for a private event. We will reopen for tours and visitation on Friday 9/23.

09/08/2022

Join us on September 24 at 1pm for Chamber Music at Shirley Place! Musicians Mark Kroll and Carol Lieberman will be playing popular songs from the Federal Era on our restored 1825 pianoforte, hearkening back to Governor and Madam Eustis’ time at Shirley Place. Selections include Bach, Mozart, and Moscheles, as well as American composer James Hewitt. You won’t want to miss this event at the intersection of history and music. Get tickets here: https://chambermusicatshirleyplace.eventbrite.com