Keene House Rescue Project
Thank you to everyone who attended Town Meeting on May 1st and voted YES to save the 300 year old Keene House! This is the first of many steps to save this historic house from demolition. This house is the LAST of the houses built by the four Perry sons, who originally settled the town. It was scheduled to be demolished in May 2023, but with the help and support of the Town of Bourne, the Bourne Historical Commission, the Community Preservation Committee and many of YOU, the Bourne Historical Society now has the funds and support to save the house. Thank you to everyone who has been part of this ongoing effort to save the Keene House!. You have sent a clear signal that demolition is NOT always the answer and we don’t want our history lost forever.
The Perry-Ellis-Keene house has survived for over 300 years. It is the only existing house built by the Perry brothers, original settlers, in the 1690’s. It was also the home of our noted town historian, Betsy D. Keene. It is a symbol of Bourne’s beginnings and one of the oldest remaining pieces of our history. On May 1, 2023 the people of the Town of Bourne voted to save this house by providing Community Preservation Act funding to the Bourne Historical Society in order to move it.
Why the Keene House Matters
Did you know that the Town of Bourne was not settled by the “Bourne” family?
Contrary to what our Town name might suggest, Ezra and Elizabeth Perry were the first Europeans to settle the historic Village of Bourne. Ezra Perry was born in 1625 in Devonshire, England. He came to this area from Sandwich at the approximate time of his marriage to Elizabeth Burgess in 1651.
We believe that Ezra and Elizabeth settled in what was then called Manamet near the present day Bourne Post Office. You can find a plaque on Keene Street which marks the approximate site.
Ezra and Elizabeth had seven children. Their first four children were born in Sandwich: Ezra, Jr. (1653); Deborah (1654); John (1657); and Sarah (1659). Three more children were born here in Bourne: Samuel (1667); Benjamin (1670); and Remembrance (1676).
Starting in 1690 (or thereabouts), Ezra’s four sons – Ezra Jr., John, Samuel, and Benjamin – built homes all within ½ mile of their father and ½ mile of each other. This practice was common as Ezra likely gave his sons land (when they reached the age of 18) and other valuable goods, such as livestock and furniture, when they married. According to Betsey Keene, a local historian and Perry descendant, the four sons built the following four houses:
- The first son, Ezra Jr., built his house “on the brink of the hill near his father’s house.” This house was either torn down or destroyed by fire.
- The second son, John, built his home “on the northerly side of the road leading to Monument Neck.” After being owned and occupied by John’s descendants for three generations, the home burned down in 1794.
- The third son, Samuel, built his house near the Old Bourne Cemetery “on the opposite side of the road and some distance from it.” It was described as “a public house or tavern.” This house was later torn down by Samuel’s grandson, Seth Perry.
- Benjamin, the youngest of the four sons, built his house on land next to the present-day Briggs McDermott House at 22 Sandwich Road. This house is still standing.
In about 1735, Gideon Ellis bought Benjamin Perry’s house and, in 1767, moved it across the street to its current location at 9 Sandwich Road. Afterwards, it was owned by Gideon’s grandson, Thomas Ellis, until his death in 1865. Since then, and for over 270 years, the Benjamin Perry house was owned by various descendants of Gideon Ellis. The house is believed to be one of the oldest – if not the oldest – in town and is the last surviving homestead of the four Perry sons, who helped settle the area. It is very important to our history.