{"nrhp_refnum":"73000285","name":"Sabbath Day House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"20 Andover Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Billerica","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.56105660700007,"lon":-71.26700230199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-08-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small one-and-a-half-story Cape Cod style house at 20 Andover Road on Billerica Hill in Billerica, Massachusetts, built circa 1765 and later enlarged with wings and an ell.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it an unusual and rare survival from pre-Revolutionary days and an important record of the customs and life-style of New England townspeople. It was built by church families as a Sabbath Day House, where they could warm themselves and eat between long Sunday meetinghouse services. It later became a private home and, in the twentieth century, the home of a long-serving local minister.","narrative":"Perched at the top of Billerica Hill near the town center, this small Cape Cod house began around 1765 as a Sabbath Day House. Church families who lived far from the meetinghouse leased a lot on Andover Street and built it so they could spend the midday break between long Sunday services in warmth, with food and company. From 1768 to 1818 it served that purpose, and it also gave townspeople a weekly chance to trade news. When the fifty-year lease ended in 1818, proprietor Theophilus Manning bought it and made it a private home. The original central section has a granite foundation, five bays, dormers and a center chimney, with hewn roof beams still visible in the attic. Early twentieth-century changes and a 1924 remodelling added wings and a rear ell. The house is valued as a rare survivor that records colonial church-going customs, and later as the home of Rev. J. Harold Dale, minister of the neighboring First Congregational Church from 1903 to 1953.","period_of_significance":"18th and 19th centuries (specific dates 1765, 1818, 1924)","architect_builder":"Built by Billerica church members John Patten, John Baldwin, Reuben Kendell, Jesse Manning, Lt. William Manning and Thomas Danforth","architectural_style":"Cape Cod","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition, altered, on its original site, occupied as a private residence, with preservation work in progress.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.629772-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/72/7961/63796172/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/73000285.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000285/78d04adf52-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000285/78d04adf52-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sabbath_Day_House,_May_2012,_Billerica_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sabbath_Day_House,_May_2012,_Billerica_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796172","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbath_Day_House_(Billerica,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7395983"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/sabbath-day-house-73000285/"}