"Dear father,
Our poor pig is dead at last, and weighed two hundred and twenty five pounds. We think this is pretty good for so young a pig, and I think it shows pretty clearly that we can keep a pig through the winter in our sty, since although we have had no very long spell of extreme weather, the pig was so fat. In the coldest weather, when I went out to the cow in the evenings sometimes, I would throw over to him some of the hay the cow had done with, so as to have it near the door of his house, and he would take up in his mouth and carry to his bed-chamber such of the hay that suited his habits of cleanliness. ... I miss the poor old fellow very much indeed, for when I was at work out in the barn with the back barn door open, he would waddle out to see me .... "
--Letter, John Carver Palfrey, age 15, to his Father, 1848

After a few months living in Divinity Hall with his students, Palfrey decided to build a home in Cambridge for his family. He bought twelve acres north of the college from Edward Everett, borrowed money from his father-in-law, and built Hazelwood. This house still stands, now hidden behind the Cyclotron Laboratory and called Palfrey House. The current streets in this area named Hammond, Gorham, and Carver are all family names. (One can only imagine what the landscape looked like then; for most of the 19th century, there were no buildings between his house and Divinity Hall.)

The family and two servants moved here in Oct. 1831, shortly after the birth of son Francis (Frank). Except for the early 1840s and during the Civil War, this was the Palfrey home until 1916, when Harvard acquired the property.

"Palfrey House" (Hazelwood), Feb. 1997. Photograph by: C. Wunderlich. Additional views

This online exhibit was prepared in 1997.
Copyright © 1997-2005 by the President & Fellows of Harvard College
Address corrections or comments to Clifford Wunderlich.

Main Page | Exhibits | Library Home Page