The 1823 Wendell Parsonage

Located in the hills of Eastern Franklin County, Massachusetts, the Wendell Parsonage is one of the few remaining nineteenth-century homes in this rural hill town. In 1823 Judge Joshua Green donated land to the Wendell Congregational Church where a home for pastors and their families was built. From 1823 through 1923 the Parsonage was the residence for 21 pastors. The short walk to the church on the Wendell Town Common made the Parsonage another location for church events, prayer meetings, weddings and celebrations.

By 1923 ministers no longer lived in Wendell but traveled in from neighboring towns. With the Great Depression the Wendell Congregational Church used the vacant home to generate much needed revenue. In 1935, the Parsonage was rented out to tenants who sometimes used it as a storefront and once as an ice-cream parlor. In the late 1930s the church was forced to sell the Parsonage after losing all its investment in the bankrupt Interstate Mortgage Company of Parsons, Kansas. The decision to sell was not without its opponents. In 1941 after a hearing in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the Wendell Congregational Church won the right to put the Parsonage up for sale.

Since 1941 the Parsonage has been owned by the Carey family (1941-1965) and the Judice family (1965-2000). Today the Wendell Parsonage is owned by Edward Hines and Sheila Dever who have spent over thirty years preserving, restoring and upgrading this historic building and the surrounding lands. This website is a history of a former ministerial residence in a unique New England town. We hope you enjoy visiting this "beautiful home with great vibes."