You are receiving this e-newsletter because you have expressed interest in the efforts to save and preserve the Sarah and Peter Clayes House -- at 657 Salem End Road in Framingham, MA -- for the public good.  You are part of a growing group of concerned citizens who believe wholeheartedly in the importance of preserving this historic property for the local community and beyond.  I have exciting news...

 

 

We are finally talking with the people who can make our dream of saving the house a reality and we need your help to raise the funds that will allow us to immediately take steps once we do receive the property to protect the house from the elements this winter.  Our goal is to raise $50,000 to hire a contractor to take care of buttoning up the house and also conduct a feasibility study for further fundraising. 

 

 

Words can't adequately express how excited I am about this -- and I send thanks out to every single person who has helped to bring the project to this point.  As they say, "it takes a Village" -- and as we move forward that's more true than ever.  Please, please, please consider helping us -- gifts of any amount are greatly appreciated!!!!!

 

Cheers -- 

Janice C. Thompson

Sarah Clayes Trust

(978) 604-0869

As part of the Framingham History Center's upcoming "Voices from the Old Burying Ground" I will be playing Sarah as one of the historic characters participants can visit.  It hasn't been proven historically, but it is rumored that Sarah is buried there, and the oldest gravestone is marked with the day in 1704 that she died.  Other characters will be Jonathan Maynard, the Buckminsters, and Peter Salem.  Click here for more information and to register.  The date of the event is Saturday, October 26th at 4 pm (rain date October 27th).  

Last week I stopped by Newtonville Books where Marilynne K. Roach spoke from her new book, Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials.  In her book Marilynne, a friend of the Clayes House Project, focuses on the lives of specific women, combining historic fact with fictionalized sections, showing what might have been the thoughts and feelings of those involved.  I've already started the book and I highly recommend it.  A reader on amazon.com calls it a "detailed and humanized look at the trials."  Thanks, Marilynne, for your support of our efforts to save the house of the sister of one of your book's subjects, Rebecca Nurse!