F Holland Day House Tour-The Colonial Room

 (“BLUE ROOM” (in 1893 inventory) 

• Fred Holland Day referred to this room as “The Colonial Room” and initially housed his collection of local history artifacts and objects here. Later the room was used by Day as a bedroom from 1919 until his death in 1933.  A photograph shows Day in the canopy bed (now in Lewis Day’s room on the second floor) surrounded by his research. Despite worsening health, he continued working on a history of Old South Dedham until his death in this room at 69 years of age. Alfred Tanneyhill was present at Day’s death.

• For the fireplace, Day chose Delft tiles depicting scenes from the Bible. The wallpaper is not original; the ceiling lights were installed by the Society.

• The mid-19th-century chairs belonged to the Day family.

• In keeping with these tiles, the Historical Society has used this room to display items relating to local religious history. Pewter communion vessels are from the First Congregational Church in South Dedham. South Dedham won the right to maintain its own parish in 1730 and in 1736 the first church and parsonage were built. The first minister was Thomas Balch, pictured in an oval frame hanging next to a painting of the Balch Parsonage (by 19th-century Norwood artist Mary Fogg).  The minister’s house was a vital center of village life. The building was later moved from its original site (near the Morrill Memorial Library) and eventually demolished.

• The colonial blue-painted book cabinet housed South Dedham’s first lending library, started by Rev. Jabez Chickering, the second minister of the Congregational Church. Fred Day purchased the case for his collection of old South Dedham artifacts.

• In 1828, several young families, including the Days and the Smiths, withdrew from the Congregational Church and formed the Universalist Society. In 1863, having outgrown their first meetinghouse, the Universalists sold it to the Archdiocese of Boston and it became the first Catholic church in the community. Lewis and Anna Day were major contributors to the building fund for the Universalist Church erected in 1864 at the southwest corner of Nahatan and Washington streets. This church building was destroyed by fire in 1884, and rebuilt in 1885; it is now occupied by the United Church of Norwood, founded in 1934 when the Methodist Episcopal Church of Norwood merged with the Universalist Church. In 1910, St. Catherine’s Parish completed its present brick and stone edifice at the northeast corner of the original lot.