The Town of Concord has a remarkable and extremely time-limited opportunity to save a piece of our history: the Caesar Robbins House. It is one of the very few pieces of physical evidence of Concord’s Black Heritage, and if it is demolished, a grave disservice will be done to our town’s history.

We are faced with an urgent need. The ‘Demolition Delay’ that was attached to the house expires on September 12, 2009. Our hope is that we can move, preserve and restore the home, and ultimately have it serve as an interpretive site – as Concord’s African American History Museum (of which we have many artifacts and documents from Thoreau and others in the transcendentalist movement), adding to the richness of Concord’s story.

After the September 12 deadline, the current owner is free to demolish this important and evocative piece of history.

The Drinking Gourd Project (sub-committee of the Human Rights Council) has been working hard to establish the Black Heritage and Abolitionists’ Tour in Concord. We are trying, with the Town’s backing, and that of the Historic Commission, Minuteman National Park and many concerned citizens, to coordinate the effort to save the house.

The Human Rights Council feels that this is a critical piece of history that has been too often overlooked, maybe overshadowed by the wealth of other aspects of Concord’s history.

Please help us save this piece of Concord’s history!

Donations to save this historic house can be sent to: Concord-Carlise Human Rights Council, P.O. Box 744, Concord, MA 01742, with The Drinking Gourd Project in the memo line. Thank you!

• Save The Caesar Robbins House

  The Caesar Robbins House, 324 Bedford Street, Concord, MA

  http://drinkinggourd.cchumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/3731351938_8e03a1e2c9.jpg
  

• Save The Caesar Robbins House

  Robbins House cellar detail

  http://drinkinggourd.cchumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/3731353582_17d5a78566.jpg
  

• Save The Caesar Robbins House

  Robbins House attic floor detail

  http://drinkinggourd.cchumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/3731349570_e9af0d0a78.jpg
  

• Save The Caesar Robbins House

  Robbins House windows and chair rail

  http://drinkinggourd.cchumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/3730561515_6481079ac2.jpg
  

• Save The Caesar Robbins House

  Robbins House chair rail and wainscote detail

  http://drinkinggourd.cchumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/3731355354_27daefd8c6.jpg
  

The Caesar Robbins House
324 Bedford Street
Concord, MA

As documented by Thoreau and many other abolitionists and transcendentalists, Concord, Massachusetts, was home to an inspiring African community in the 18th and 19th centuries. One house from that era remains and is currently located at 324 Bedford St. The house was the home of several generations of Concord’s early African-American families (some of whom are memorialized through Concord field and spring names or tributes in town museums and historic sites). In its original location, the house was located on the edge of the Great Meadow where the African inhabitants of the house also had ties to the Old Manse.

The Drinking Gourd Project is launching a letter campaign to raise the $40,000 needed to move the house from its current location, in order to save it from demolition after September 12th.

We would like to appeal to readers to contact us with donations, prospective donors, and the names of agencies or groups with potential interest in helping to save this historic building that is the only legacy of Concord’s African American history – before the demolition stay expires and the house can be destroyed on September 12th!

This house was the home of several generations of Concord’s early African-American families, in its original location at the edge of the Great Meadow, opposite Monument Street from the Old Manse. It is of significant historical importance, with its documented ties to residents of the Old Manse.

There are several sources of information about this house and its residents and, not surprisingly for a house of this age, they don’t all agree about the details. However, here are the generally accepted facts:

The house was originally built by one of Concord’s freed slaves, Caesar Robbins in about 1780. He married 3 times — first, Phillis (Bliss-Emerson) Robbins, who was enslaved by the Bliss-Emerson family. Their daughter, Phillis Robbins, was also enslaved by the Bliss-Emerson family; the Rev. William Emerson wrote her a postscript from Ticonderoga ‘To Phillis and tell her to be a good girl.’

After his first wife’s death, Caesar married Catherine Boaz, and had 3 children, including Peter Robbins. Caeser’s 3rd wife was Rose Robbins. Their daughter, Susan, married Jack Garrison, a former slave from New Jersey, and they lived in half of the house. Susan and Jack had 8 children, one of whom survived to adulthood and stayed in Concord (John Garrison).

John Garrison married another Susan, and they had 3 children, staying in Susan’s side of the house. The ladies of Concord used to visit for tea with Susan Garrison, and at least one Concord Female Anti-Slavery Society meeting was held there. John Garrison worked with Henry David Thoreau to put in the famous garden for the Hawthornes.

Peter Robbins, Caesar’s son, married Fatima Oliver from Acton, who already had 3 children, one of whom was Peter Hutchinson, who became the ‘hog butcher’of whom Thoreau writes. Peter Robbins also had 6 children by Fatima’s sister, Almira, causing great scandal. He raised them in Caesar’s half of the house.

Peter Robbins purchased the house in about 1850, but due to financial troubles, sold it to Daniel Shattuck. Robbins’ stepson, Peter Hutchinson, bought the house back in circa 1852. He married Nancy, from Danvers, and they raised five daughters in Caesar’s side of the house. The house was sold, circa 1870, and moved to its current location on Bedford Street and passed out of the Robbins-Garrison-Hutchinson family, after being home to this extended family for over 100 years.

The structure was listed in 1991 in the Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey of Buildings (18-898; Concord;189). That report found the building to be likely of late 18th century origin. In 1998, it was listed in the Demolition Review Bylaw for the Town of Concord.

The description includes the following text:

“#324 is significant as an example of a house-type rare in Concord today — the one-storey, five-bay, one-room deep cottage of the 18th century. …This house is extremely significant as both the residence and probably the handiwork of one of Concord’s freed slaves.”

Please help us save this piece of Concord’s history!

Donations to save this historic house can be sent to: Concord-Carlise Human Rights Council, P.O. Box 744, Concord, MA 01742, with The Drinking Gourd Project in the memo line. Thank you!