royall house and slave quarters

I had always been interested in the Royall House but was unaware of the history of the slave quarters. Our organization was given a thorough tour of both properties and I was quite surprised. There is much to learn about slavery in the north and this is a great place to start.

We were staying in rented accommodation in Medford for several days during August and when our hosts learned about my interest in American history they suggested that we visit Royall House and its associated Slave Quarters. Unfortunately as it turned out this was on a Monday and we were leaving Medford on the Wednesday. We duly went along on the Tuesday morning just to find that unknown to our hosts the buildings are only open on Saturdays and Sundays. However we were able to have a look at the well maintained building and grounds from the outside. If the building was just as well maintained inside then we certainly missed out on what would have been a very interesting experience. We however took a number of photos of the buildings and grounds including the Mystic Congregational Church Bell in the adjoining Royall Park to remind us of the interesting 20 minutes we spent exploring the grounds.

We stumbled upon this while driving past one day and made a point of visiting for a tour. For anyone interested in 18th century history, slavery in the United States, or just plain how people lived "back then," this is a must! Tours are provided. We ended up getting into a fascinating conversation with a couple of the volunteers after the tour. Not for young children or those who aren't interested in history.