MCC's Historic Nesmith House Decorated and Open to the Public

Middlesex Community College’s historic John Nesmith House in Lowell will be decorated for the holidays and open to the public for “Reflections,” a 20th anniversary celebration, to be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5; and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 6 and 7.

A donation of $20 will be asked at the door to benefit the Middlesex Community College Foundation Scholarship Fund. Light refreshments will be served.

Nesmith House was purchased 20 years ago by the MCC Foundation and is gift-leased to the college. Located at 229 Andover St., the 22-room, 1843 Greek Revival/Regency mansion was once a center of social and cultural affairs in Lowell. However, by the early 1990s it was boarded up and had fallen into disrepair.

“Nesmith House was renovated, elegantly decorated and opened to the public as a 1994 Designer Show House,” explained Maureen Spinney, MCC Director of Historic Homes. It opened to popular acclaim and was described as “a reflection of the vitality that is the spirit of Lowell,” she added.

“For ‘Reflections,’ in celebration of the 20th anniversary, we have asked our volunteer floral designers to embellish the marvelous talent and creative expression of those 1994 decorators with fresh greenery and flowers for the holidays,” said Spinney.

John Nesmith (1793-1869), entrepreneur, industrialist and textile manufacturer, designed Nesmith House after his 1840 marriage to Harriet Rebecca Mansur. Nesmith held many elected and appointed offices, including service as Massachusetts Lt. Governor in 1862.

For more information about “Reflections” at Nesmith House, please contact Maureen Spinney at 978-458-3722 or spinneym@middlesex.mass.edu