Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Retired Historical Society President Gretchen Schuler presented the history Greenways, home of Frank Cabot Paine and his wife Virginia from 1926 to 1988, for the public open house at the Residence at the Paine Estate.
A History of Greenways
I hope to give you a bit of a picture of the history of your home and the magnificent surrounding land. Although this land was part of farms in the 18th and 19th century our story will begin with construction of this mansion house.
Edwin Farnum Greene, who built this house, was born in Hills Grove, Rhode Island in 1879. He graduated from Brown University in 1901 and married Charlotte Nichols of Haverhill in 1903. they had two sons – Edwin Farnum Greene Jr. and John Gardner Greene born 1904.
Greene came to Wayland due to his connections with Francis Shaw who owned Five Paths, his estate in the area that now is known as the Woodridge area where you will find Shaw Drive. Shaw, a wealthy Bostonian, had started buying up farms in the Cochituate Road / Old Connecticut Path area in 1890 and by 1892 had erected his elaborate classical 22-room house, truly a mansion, with formal gardens and allees.
In 1909 Shaw sold 219 acres to Greene and soon thereafter the Greenes hired Samuel Mead of Cabot, Everett & Mead as architect. Mead lived in nearby Weston and was well acquainted with Wayland as he was the lead architect for the Wayland Public Library built in 1900 – one of the few other brick buildings of that era in town.
The Greenes, who lived on Beacon Street in Boston, named their new country retreat – Greenways – a name that was retained by the Paines who purchased Greenways in 1926.
Frank Cabot Paine was born in Nahant in 1890 to Major General Charles J. and Julia Bryant Paine who lived in Boston on Mt. Vernon Street or in Weston (in the country) – but it was July when Frank Paine was born, so they were at their summer home in Nahant by then. From his family Frank inherited taste, property and a love of the sea. In 1916, Frank married Virginia Marie Lowe of Detroit having met in Annisquam. The newlyweds immediately left on a lengthy honeymoon to the Far East; however it was truncated when the United States entered WWI causing them to return early. They first lived in Salem then Boston. After the honeymoon Frank worked for a bit at Lee Higginson’s selling bonds to family and friends, but his real passion was sailing and so he turned to boat design and quickly earned a reputation as a “naval architect” of some repute. He founded the firm Burgess, Swasy and Paine with offices in Boston. When that firm dissolved Paine joined forces with Belknap and Skene. In 1925 he introduced staysail schooner rigging and his boat ‘Robin” was the first to be a 4-time winner of the Puritan cup–named for the 1885 America Cup defender. In 1930 Frank was one of the chief designers of Yankee, a 126’ sloop that was an America Cup contender but never the winner. Frank also pioneered the use of rayon and nylon for sails. He cruised out of Dark Harbor, Iseboro, Maine.
Virginia’s interests were many. She sailed with her husband, attended Symphony regularly, was a member of Shakespeare Club and started a Catholic discussion group. She had converted to Catholicism and gave generously to the church – in fact after donating the land she also underwrote most of the construction of St. Anne’s–now Church of the Good Shepard–located across Cochituate Road from the entrance to Greenways. Neighbors and friends spoke of her compassion and love of nature and her animals that so enriched her life.
For some reason, the Paines were living in Wayland for the 1930 Census which showed them here with their two daughters – Jeanie now age 14 and Frances (Frankie) (an infant) and seven servants. Other years they were living at 87 Mt. Vernon Street on Beacon Hill –……..Frank is reported to have lived in the house up to his death in 1952 but oral tradition states that he really lived in Wayland full time from 1947. After Frank’s death Virginia lived here year around. The Mt. Vernon Street house was purchased by one of the many heirs and given to the Colonial Society in 1954.
The Paines thought they were purchasing a house with old paneling from English houses installed by the Greenes when they built the house – however after they moved in Frank and Virginia realized that all the paneling had been removed. There was a small case made about it – to no avail so that they had to have all the paneling that you now enjoy reproduced and installed.
The interior spaces here were grand yet homey – formal with much informal living. The entry hall was a long dark space that was flooded with light from the conservatory under the landing (about where your entry to the dining room is) It had red brick walls, rough plaster ceiling and dark beams. (And remember Simmy lived under the stairs for 30+ years – we’ll get to him.). There was a long refectory table in the middle on which were piled the latest books and cards and under the stairs – after Simmy – was a large aquarium with goldfish. Pictures of Frank Paine’s yachts and an Italian landscape hung on the brick walls. On the landing there were portraits of family members. And lots of plants – hibiscus, crown of thorns, azaleas, camellias in front of the floor to ceiling windows.
The Library with the reproduced Tudor paneling and walls of oak shelves had a copy of John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Frank’s father – Charles Paine, and a ¾ portrait of Virginia Low Paine. And photos of yachts seemed to be everywhere including in the Library as well as a lampshade with silhouettes of Frank’s most beloved yachts. This room also had a setting for sherry before dinner as well.
The Dining Room had lots of silver plates along sideboards, the Tudor fireplace with an Audubon print and a side window to the conservatory.
The Living Room, referred to as the Trophy room or the head room, had the large English Tudor fireplace – comfortable furniture – photos of family – classical records stacked – Italian icons, Japanese paintings and seascape on the walls and a single large oriental rug. This room was little used in the old days except for dances and meetings
The breakfast room (now the conference room) had this portrait of Virginia with her border collies.
The master bedroom was over the trophy room. Halls were lined with book cases. In the southeast corner of the main house there was a chapel with an altar and a few church chairs. The northeast corner of the main block was a double guest room.
Animals were most important to Virginia bringing her much joy and played a large part in life at Greenways. Border collies were the preferred breed in her later years. In 1979 Virginia was visiting someone in Dedham where her dog who accompanied her ran off and could not be found before she had to leave. She was off to Europe for a visit, possibly with her daughter Frankie who lived in England, but left rather distraught about her beloved dog. When she returned the dog was here to greet her having found his way home – weakened and thin, but alive. Her last dog – found at the Highway Department (when it was on Cochituate Road in front of the Middle School – on a wet and rainy day – had been gone for days….and when returned to his home, bounded up the stairs to Mrs. Paine’s bedroom.
Simmy was a monkey brought back from Africa where they had gone on safari in 1929. He was orphaned – adopted by Virginia – brought back to live at Greenways where his cage rested under the stairs for another 30+ years. During the summers when the family went to Nahant Simmy moved to a shed near the farmers house up on Old Connecticut Path – still referred to as the “monkey shed.”
The Pet Cemetery was Mrs. Paine’s way of honoring her treasured canine friends and preserving their memory. She even had the farmer make a wooden bench on which to sit nearby (long since rotted) There are epitaphs on the stones telling of the animals buried here – Michael, faithful and loving; Mossy, gay loving shepherdess; Timmy, a little dog with a great heart; Dancer, faithful companion; Buddy a good boy; and of course Simmy, “this little life is woven with the substance of our home 1929-1960”.
On the property there were other houses –the chauffeur’s house – brick Dutch Colonial with an attached 4-car garage on Cochituate Road and on Old Connecticut Path, another house that had been built by the Whittemore brothers in the mid-19th century and purchased by Shaw when he was buying up land. This is where some of the servants lived. One, Beatrice Leonard who I think lived in that house was Mrs. Paine’s cook who worked here all her life starting in 1926 (died in 1989) was heard to say of Mrs. Paine that she “only listened to Frank and to God.”
Then there is the Noyes-Parris House – the oldest existing house in Wayland – built by Peter Noyes who was a miller and eventually lived in by the Rev. Samuel Parris famous for his association with the Salem Witch Trials. He married one of Noyes daughters, Dorothy, and lived here briefly. Later on, his son by another marriage owned the Noyes-Parris House for much of the 18th century. It is a most unusual setting – and nearly the same as it was when Thoreau noticed the house and wrote about it.
In 1851 Thoreau told of taking a long walk with Ellery Channing, the well-known transcendentalist poet, from Concord all the way to Lake Cochituate and he noted: “Soon got into a country new to us, in Wayland opposite to Pelham or Heard Pond, going across…..cedar hills and valley near the river. A well placed farmhouse with great old chestnuts, the largest collection of chestnut trees which I remember to have seen…..”
And in 1854 when rowing with Channing, Thoreau wrote: “Above the Pelham Pond Bridge a short distance further we dined and went on. An interesting view and part of the river – quite broad with the Great Chestnut house and a good land just before on the left went half a mile or more above the chestnut house on the west side all in Wayland. And in 1855 while skating on the river he made a map of things to see marking the Chestnut House.
But by the time the Paines came here the Noyes-Parris House was known as Cedar Croft. In 1938, the Paines had Cedar Croft restored including a small addition with the help of Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, now known as Historic New England. Then they leased it beginning in 1939 to William and Ellen Dunnell who also lived in Boston and came here as their rural retreat until moving here permanently in the 60s (I think). Mrs. Dunnell told of canoeing along the Sudbury River with her husband and reading Thoreau and exploring the area to see what Thoreau had seen. They found the house – contacted the Paines and the rest was history. Mrs. Dunnell lamented that there were no more chestnut tress even when they came in 1939.
After Mrs. Paine died in 1988 the property sat idle for many years. The trustees for her estate had the task of finding the highest and best use for the property and even though Mrs. Paine’s daughters were eager to see some preservation they were only two of the over 100 beneficiaries as the property was always in trust –the Charles Paine Trust (Frank’s father) for which there were a multitude of beneficiaries – not all alive by 1988 but a lot – M/M Charles Paine had 6 children, 20 grandchildren, 63 great grandchildren and 101 great, great grandchildren. The property went on the market in the early 1990s and there were a few potential buyers but nothing that ever came to fruition until finally the Town of Wayland partnered with Sudbury Valley Trustees – established a Paine Estate committee to investigate the potential of the town purchasing. In a four-month period the Committee and its subcommittees and over 100 volunteers determined that we could raise the funds at Town Meeting to purchase the property with the help of SVT and developed a land use plan – the 12th version of which was adopted. The total purchase price for the 166 acres plus four residences was about $5.3 million. The town committed $3.3 million and the balance was to come from US Fish and Wildlife and from SVT that would offset the expense through sale of the Noyes-Parris House and some acreage and of course donations. US Fish and Wildlife would purchase land along the river. The town’s participation was also offset by the sale of 26 acres including the main house – this Greenways mansion – for senior living, Parmenter’s Hospice Care and some family housing – 17 houses along Green Way. The Town voted almost unanimously twice to acquire in 1994 and 1995. In 1997 it adopted a new zoning bylaw to accommodate the mixed uses here and soon thereafter the 26 acres were sold to the developer who implemented the plan that refitted the mansion house as your home.
Information from Growing Paines: Paternal Patterns and Matrimonial Matters in a Family of Boston Born and Bred. Snatched from Oblivion by Thomas M. Paine, Wellesley, MA 1991
