Historic homes offer window into Dorchester’s past

The Pierce House on Oakton Avenue, built in 1683, has been open to the public since 1968. Photo courtesy Historic New England

Dorchesters Pierce House is a quaint, unassuming structure, nestled in a small lot directly across the street from the Kenny School. A sign on the front walkway is the only indicator of its historical significance.

However, the houses interior tells a different story. Several rooms are set up as craft and teaching spaces, with one room set up using period furniture, some of which belonged to the Pierce family. Wide slabs of wood are laid across the floor, and thick beams hold up the roof overhead.

This is all original beaming, said Ivy Wagner, the Pierce House museum teacher. She explained that most of the original architecture of the house is still in place.

Wagner was a classroom teacher before coming to Pierce House, and she said she loves the working environment, where the teaching material is also the classroom.

The house is a major primary source. Kids need to know where they came from, and this house is important to the history of Dorchester, she said. Its all hands-on learning, and it fits in exactly with their school curriculum.

The Pierce House, built in 1683, went through 10 generations of the Pierce family before it was acquired by the Historic New England in 1968. Used mostly as an architecture study, the house had very limited public presence until the early 2000s, when it was refurbished as an educational site for school children.

According to Carolin Collins, educational programs coordinator at Historic New England, several renovations had to be made before the house was declared safe for children. The siding, which was ridden with asbestos, had to be removed, though a small portion of it remains fenced off in the yard for observational purposes. Over the past few years, the Pierce House underwent several weatherization efforts, including the installation of interior storm windows, weather-stripped doors, and a high-efficiency condensing furnace. In addition to these changes, Collins described the ongoing maintenance work that a historic house like Pierce House requires. The paint needs to be kept neat, the furniture should be in good working order, and ceiling damage due to water incursion has to be fixed.

We try to retain the historic character of the house, said Collins, explaining that replacements for broken objects or furniture are always from the appropriate time period, or historically accurate replicates. Collins emphasized the importance of using these historic homes for educational purposes, and keeping them open to the public so they can remain an important part of the community.

Students who live in Dorchester are able to look at the way the area has changed from agrarian to urban. It provides a tangible sense of the area they live in, and it makes history visible, Collins said. You can walk by the Pierce House and you wouldnt know its history, how old it is, or the role its occupants played throughout history.

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Historic homes offer window into Dorchester’s past