Stories
Old Houses
Built in 1673 by S.P.: The Benjamin Kimball House
From: Littleton History 1654-1720, Including Nashobah Plantation: An Explorative Historyby Daniel V. Boudillion Electric Kitchen Chimneys19 May 2018 On May 7, 2018, the town of Littleton voted to purchase and preserve the Benjamin Kimball house at 12 Robinson Road as…
The Sanderson Homestead: 2 King Street
This old home was built about 1724. It was owned by Thomas Mead of Lexington, Robert Gray of Andover and co-owners Eleazer Lawrence and Nathaniel Russell. Moses Sanderson, who had come to Littleton from Watertown in 1730, purchased the farm in 1750. This…
Nathan Hartwell/William L. Pickard House: 404 King Street
Directly opposite Shattuck Place on the south side of Shattuck Street, stands the former William L. Pickard farm. For many years Mr. Pickard operated a dairy farm from this location. A huge barn, torn down in the 1970’s, was attached to the house and sheltered the…
Fox Tavern: 35 Foster Street
It was for many years the village tavern and was particularly well located for the purpose, as it was at the intersection of Foster Street which originally went south from the center and the old road which ran over the hill (now called “Starr Hill”) to Newtowne,…
The Hager Homestead: 336 King Street
Once an old, handsome house with brick ends and four chimneys, it was known as the Hager homestead. It was built in 1800. Deacon James Kimball and his brother, Daniel, lived here. They were the sons of Lucy (Dutton) and Deacon Daniel Kimball (b. Haverhill, July 14,…
31 Foster Street
31 Foster Street This house was known to be standing in 1740. It was originally a four-room saltbox construction with a central fireplace and “gun stock” corners. Obviously in the late 18th century the house was enlarged by reconstructing the central…
Historic Tidbits
Holiday Recipes
Looking for some “new” Christmas or New Year’s recipes? Try these from the 1847 New England Economical Housekeeper. Try the New Year’s Cake with SEVEN pounds of flour…yummy! Esther (Allen) Howland was born in Plymouth, MA in 1801. Her regional cookbook contained…
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Like many towns in the area, Littleton had an influx of Irish during the mid and late 1800s. Many of the Irish settled during the 1840-50s when the Fitchburg Railroad came through and the Irish help set the rails. They settled along Taylor Street to be near work. In…
Lunch, Dinner and Tea at the Tory House
We all know the story of the Tory House and the bullet doors. Interesting to find that at some point between 1933 and 1945 the house was a restaurant serving Lunch, Dinner and Tea. Ms. Frances H. Tomer purchased the house from Frank and Shirley (Houde) Lawton in…
Heyward Emerson Canney
Heyward Emerson Canney was an interesting Littleton native. Born 26 Feb 1890 to George W. Canney and Alice B. Bradley, he graduated from Lawrence Academy and fell into secretarial work. For 4 years he served as secretary to Dr. Samuel Smith Drury, rector of St. Paul’s…
A Thanksgiving Find
A Thanksgiving Find while wishing you all a nice holiday however you may celebrate: The Whitney Hoar (Howe) house located at 564 Newtown Road, is in one of the oldest settled parts of town. It was built in 1685 by Josiah Whitney and is believed to be one of the oldest…
Veteran’s Day
One of our volunteers is sorting through a box of American Legion Auxillary records “At a meeting of the President’s Committee on War Relief control held in Washington, D.C. on March 30, 1943, that Committee, at the request of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast…