The John Bottume House is a historic house at 4 Woodland Road in

Stoneham, Massachusetts Stoneham ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, nine miles (14.5 km) north of downtown Boston. Its population was 23,244 at the 2020 census. Its proximity to major highways and public transportation offer convenient access to Bos ...

. Built c. 1849, this stone house was one of several built along the shore of

Spot Pond Spot Pond is a lake in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The pond is within the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a Massachusetts state park. It is almost entirely located within the boundaries of Stoneham, Massachusetts. Spot Po ...

by a

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

businessman as a retreat, and is the only one to survive. It is owned by the

Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. The DCR's mission is ...

, and houses the visitors center for the

Middlesex Fells Reservation Middlesex Fells Reservation, often referred to simply as the Fells, is a public recreation area covering more than in Malden, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham, and Winchester, Massachusetts. The state park surrounds two inactive reservoirs, Spot ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1984.

Description and history

The Botume House is located in southern Stoneham, set on the eastern shore of Spot Pond, the largest body of water in the

. It is a T-shaped stone structure, stories in height, built out of uncoursed granite stone. Its Italianate features in a bracketed roof line and gable ends, with round-arch windows at the gable ends. Its setting also has original landscaping elements, including a pair of entrance posts and a granite wall separating it from Woodland Road. The house was built about 1859 by John Botume, a Boston merchant, and was one of a half dozen houses built as summer houses along Spot Pond to capitalize on the setting. It is the only one to survive, the last of the rest, the Lang House, being demolished in 1986. The property was acquired in 1895 by the Metropolitan District Commission, predecessor to today's

, which continues to own it. The MDC was using the house as a supervisor's residence at the time the property was listed on the

in 1984. It has since been converted for use as a visitors center for the Middlesex Fells Reservation.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Houses in Stoneham, Massachusetts Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Stoneham, Massachusetts Italianate architecture in Massachusetts Houses completed in 1858 Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Stoneham, Massachusetts

Description and history

See also

References