The paintings currently on the walls of the parlor in the F Holland Day house are the work of Mrs. Mary B. (Tucker) Fogg. Born in New London, Connecticut in 1824, she moved to South Dedham following her marriage to Dr. David Sylvester Fogg (1821-1893), who, in 1846, was the second physician to set up practice in South Dedham.

Mrs. Fogg was an accomplished, although untutored, amateur painter and watercolorist. Her art reflects her personal interests and her dedication to the local area.

She captured in her sketchbook and on her canvases many of the most well-known local houses, churches, industrial, and commercial sites of the nineteenth century.

Without her works, many of the scenes of Old South Dedham would be lost. Mary Fogg died at the age of 74 in 1898. A collection of her work was donated to the Norwood Historical Society by her son, Dr. Ralph Metcalf Fogg in 1934.

A similar angle of the same intersection in 2023.
“1886: Washington Street, Norwood, looking Nor. cor of Guild Street. Old corner house, built about 1820 by Captain Moses Guild for his son Ellis Guild. General Lafayette stayed overnight in the left hand corner room, North side, 2nd floor, on his way from NY to Boston 1825 to lay the cornerstone of Bunker Hill monument. House on the right is the Baptist Parsonage. In the distance is top of Village hall. On left is Joseph Day house. Painted by Mrs. Mary B. Fogg, mother of doctor Ralph M. Fogg.”
“The tree at the left of the picture is a very old landmark. I wrote an article in the Norwood Messenger, issued June 10, 1910. The limb on which Jeff Davis was hanging was destroyed in a gale. A copy of the article which Win Everett has, will go to the Hist. Society. It is very amusing. Dr. Ralph Metcalf Fogg.”

For more on Mary Tucker Fogg, see our Wonderful Women of Norwood article.

Wonderful Women of Norwood-Mary Tucker Fogg

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