Then and Now: The Elms

In this Then photo you see the Pop and Ma Neilson farm and boarding house known as The Elms. The original house was built around 1827 or the beginning part of the 1800s, date unknown. Christian and Kristine Neilson bought the property in 1904, which included 27 acres that stretched all the way to the now Town Hall, where a mill had been constructed.

Before the Neilsons bought the farm, there had been a few owners. Henry Harnden, the same Lt. Colonel of Cavalry Harnden that fought in the Civil War and captured Jefferson Davis, had lived at the farm and operated the mill before heading off to war. The Union Ice Company of Boston had also owned the mill land from 1880 until they sold it to the Neilsons.

The Neilsons had three daughters and three sons and already owned a farm on Chestnut Street and had already begun taking in boarders during the summer to help out with their farm-related chores; but when they moved to this location at Harnden Street and Glen Road, things really took off for them financially.

They operated this 16-room, 8-fireplace house along with another 8-room overflow home adjacent until around 1921 when one of their daughters, Mrs. Robert Carter, took over the business.

Many city-folk, including Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neil, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and congressman, stayed at the home and had found memories of the Neilson family, their parties and their (on-loan from a Mr. Harriman) Shetland pony named Carey.

Today, the home is a private residential home with no known boarders nor ponies.