There has been one person from every town in Massachusetts who has lived at 277 Washington St.
OK, OK, that is not true. What is true, though, is that there have been residents of 277 Washington St. from all over the state.
The first hailed from Topsfield. Bricklayer William Rogers was the man who constructed the house in the 1730s. The people who expanded the house were the Chapmans, who bought the property in 1799. Samuel Chapman was born in Salem and later moved to Marblehead before buying the property. The original property, according to the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System, included extant houses at 275, 277 and 288 Washington, and a lumberyard on the south side near Hawkes Street.
After Samuel Chapman died, his heirs transferred the deed to a “small dwelling house” to their brother, Samuel Chapman Jr., who lived in Newton at the time. The document from MACRIS suggests that this may be the house that the sisters Elizabeth Dodd of Andover and Abigail Dodd of Boston owned one-eighth of and deeded to Samuel Chapman in 1799.
In 1850, a merchant named Amos E. Graves and his wife, Eliza, and his six children purchased some of the property, including 277 Washington St. Records suggest that one of the sons, James Graves, lived at 277 Washington St. with his family and a tenant household in 1870 and 1880. Graves worked in his father’s store, and was also the postmaster.
One of Graves’ sons, Eldred P. Graves, also made 277 Washington St. his home. He lived there until his death in 1934. James Graves’ heirs sold the house to Allan J. DumBreck and Elizabeth R. Cook in 1946. At this time, it was called the Hill House. Only months later, they sold the house to the Weeds, who lived there until 1983.
According to MACRIS, the next residents, the Zannis of Swampscott, purchased the house in 1983. In 2000, they put the property in trust.
Perhaps down the line there will be owners from even farther away in Massachusetts. Or maybe, somewhere even more distant.