[MassHistPres] Fwd: Mass Audubon demolishes 1696 house in Natick -- correction.

[Lucy Allen]

Fellow Listers, 
I have been following this issue with great interest.  I serve as Chair of the Barre (MA) Historical Commission, Historian and a Director of the Barre Historical Society, and personally, I am the abutter of an Audubon Nature Sanctury in Barre.  
In the 1930s, the widowed owner of a private park in Barre decided to leave the park to Mass. Audubon rather than to the Town of Barre, as was expected.  I do not know her reason for changing her mind.  She left her house and an endowment for maintenance of this property, which at the time was more than 50 acres right near the center of town, to Audubon.  Audubon turned it into a nature sanctuary and summer camp.  The home of the property's former owners was turned into a residence for the sanctuary/summer camp director and for years was well maintained.  In the 1970s, Audubon decided that the summer camp should be closed and the director's home, a lovely Victorian-era structure, was left vacant.  Finally, in the 1980s,  Audubon came up with a plan to sell off the home on a small lot.  This was met with opposition by townspeople, because the understanding of the townspeople was that the home was an integral part of the sanctuary.  In the meantime, another historic home next door was destroyed by fire and its owners failed to demolish the ruins.  Audubon determined that it should own the 20 acre parcel of land on which the burned house had stood as it was essential to creating the appropriate link of green spaces.  The purchase of this property (of which I was also an abutter) was financed by the sale of the former owner's residence on a 1/4 acre lot.  As an abutter, I had to sign off on both the sale of the former owner's house and the purchase of the property with the burnt-out ruins.  I did so, but later came to understand some issues that I wish I had realized at that time.  The old home with its small lot was sold by Audubon to a private owner at a bargain sale price on the condition that the new owner find a way to demolish the ruins on the newly purchased Audubon property next door.  This did not happen.  The new private owner also did not care for the former house on the Audubon property he bought at a bargain sale price (he was seriously ill).  He subsequently died and the house was purchased by someone who also has not cared for it.  It has been vacant now for decades, right at the entrance to the sanctuary but no longer owned by Audubon.  I am doubtful that it is in salvageable condition.  It is not as historically important as the one in Natick, but it was at one time one of the town's nicest homes.
In the meantime, another of my neighbors attempted to sell 20 acres of back land that had no road access to Audubon, which declined, according to my neighbors, because the neighbors would have to provide a perpetual financial endowment for the care of this property.  The neighbors could not see the point of financing an endowment in return for giving up ownership of their land (which they were willing to donate).
I am telling this complicated story to illustrate several important lessons I have learned over the past 40 years or so.  My intent is not to slam Mass. Audubon because for the most part, they have been a very satisfactory abutter and neighbor and I support their land conservance efforts.  However, people should understand several things.
If you donate or bargain sell property to Mass. Audubon, that does not mean that your gift property is to be preserved for open space or historical purposes.  If Mass. Audubon determines that the property does not match its land-saving goals, they will sell it or otherwise make money off of it.  According to Audubon's mission, it would have to use the money it earned from sale of the donated land/buildings to further its mission of conserving land.  So it Mass. Audubon determines that the property you donated is not as crucial to conserve as another piece, Audubon can sell your property to finance the purchase of a more sensitive property.
If you want to leave or give property to Mass. Audubon, make sure that you place the apporpriate conservation restriction on it (if open space) or preservation restriction (if a building).  This may not guarantee that the property will be treated as you expected, but it will make demolition of a building or inappropriate development of open space a lot more difficult.
While I am very disappointed by the destruction of the 1696 house in Natick, I would like to know more about HOW Audubon obtained the property, what conditions or restrictions were placed on the gift or sale, etc.  This sad incident can serve as a wakeup call to all of us who want to preserve open space and historic buildings. 


Lucy Allen
lucyiallen at aol.com
 

    On Monday, March 3, 2025 at 09:55:43 AM EST, Leah Stanton via MassHistPres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> wrote:   

 The article says:
“A plan was presented at the Town Meeting in 2014 but did not pan out.”
Would love to know more details there. Wonder what went wrong at the town meeting!? Perhaps the town voted not to pay for it. It is sad to lose this bit of history.
Leah StantonWesthampton
On Sun, Mar 2, 2025 at 1:40 PM Dennis De Witt via MassHistPres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu> wrote:

I provided a bad link.  Here is the correct one.

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| Mass Audubon demolishes the oldest house in Natickboston.com |

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Dennis De WittBrookline

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