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INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET Community Property
Bolton 165 Century Mill Rd.
Clifford Walcott House
Massachusetts Historical Commission
Massachusetts Archives Building
220 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, Massachusetts 02125 Area(s)
E Form No.
144; 241
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BY ANNE FORBES, CONSULTANT TO BOLTON HISTORICAL COMMISSION, MARCH 1998:
ASSESSOR'S PARCEL: 3C-38 ACREAGE: 1.6 acres FILM ROLL/NEGATIVE: I--28-30
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION, cont.
This house has grown considerably from the two-story vernacular gable-front cottage it was when constructed in 1872. Its first addition may have been the large wall dormer on the west side, where two 2-over-2-sash windows repeat the design of the 2-over-2's at the second-story of the two-bay main facade. The one-story rear ell may be original to the house, but its west side has been altered by the addition of a twentieth-century shed-roofed dormer. Across the front of the house is a former facade-width porch, now enclosed in clapboard and banks of multi-paned windows. The east side of the building is marked by a large two-story, shed-roofed extension, probably dating to the mid-twentieth century, and behind it, a one-story gable-roofed ell that appears to be of recent construction. This section has a roof of uneven pitch, a large rear
chimney, and glass sliding doors.
Aside from the earlier 2-over-2-sash windows, the fenestration is a varied mix of dates, sizes and window types, including a 6-over-6-sash window in the peak of the facade gable, a ca. 1980 polygonal bay window with wood-shingle roof on the west side, and casement windows in the northeast addition. The building is clad in clapboard, stands on a mortared stone foundation, and has an asphalt shingle roof.
There are two outbuildings on the property. Dating to the 1930's or 1940's is a low one-story barn (#241) sided with both vertical board and beveled "dropsiding", possibly a pony barn that may have been a chicken coop at one time. Behind the house is a mid-twentieth-century split-log garage/shed.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE, cont.
Formerly called the Mill Tenant House, current research has resulted in a name change to the Clifford Walcott House.
Built in 1872, it was probably the first building erected on the new Walcott Road (later called Century Mill Road), which was put through that year by the town from 197 Century Mill Rd. (see Form #144) to Hudson Road on the order of the Worcester County Commissioners. The first owner of the house, and probably the builder, as well, was Clifford Walcott, son of Freeman Walcott who owned the sawmill, cidermill, and old gristmill on the millpond just to the southwest. For many years, Clifford Walcott ran the business, which was called F. Walcott & Son, in conjunction with his father, continuing on his own after his father retired in 1884. Clifford was married in 1870, and before this house was built, he and his family lived with his parents next door at 197 Century Mill Road. After building this cottage the younger Walcotts lived here
from 1872 to 1884, when they moved back to the old house to help care for Clifford's elderly parents.
After January of 1884, 165 Century Mill Road was rented to employees who worked for the mill owners both at the mills and in the main house, and for decades it was called "the tenant house". In 1889 Clifford Walcott sold both houses, the mills, and the surrounding farm to Henry Otterson. He in turn sold the whole property to Col. Benjamin F. Drake in 1897, who owned it for only a short time, selling it after a few years to Charles Giddings.
In 1916 the houses, farm, and mill property were bought by Dr. George Bacon, who operated the farm as a retirement retreat, but only ran the sawmill for one year, and the gristmill for as little as a few months. After Dr. Bacon and his wife died, their grown children, Annie, Charles, and Paul Bacon retained ownership for many years. Charles and Paul apparently used the main house as a summer residence, but Annie lived there year-round, running the farm until her death. George Zink was her caretaker and farm manager, and lived with his family at 165 Century Mill. After her husband's death, Mrs. Zink, who had also worked for the Bacons for many years, became the owner of the house, receiving it either through Annie Bacon's will or from the other Bacon heirs. In 1943, Harold Potter bought the main part of the property from the Bacon family,
and in about 1947 purchased this house house from them, as well. He rented it out for two years, and then sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Albert McCracken, who owned it into at least the 1970's.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Maps and atlases: 1898 (BF Drake).
Walcott, Ruth. "Walcott's Mills", 1970.
Whitcomb, E. About Bolton, 1988.
Bolton Historical Society files: photographs, manuscripts, newspaper articles, ephemera.
Bolton street directories.
[ ] Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked, you must attach completed National Register Criteria Statement form is attached.
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