Chelsea program highlights enslaved people, servants and tenant farmers at Governor Bellingham Cary House

Museum curator Janet, joined by community historians Lee Barrington and Stacy Smith, used a public program at the Governor Bellingham Cary House in Chelsea to foreground the lives of the enslaved people, indentured servants, tenant farmers and household workers who sustained the property across centuries.

Janet, the museum’s curator, opened the program by saying, "I wanted to focus today on the people that we don't hear about as often." She guided the audience through the house's sewing corner, spinning wheels and the restored 18th‑century kitchen, and displayed domestic artifacts used by workers.

The presentation placed the household work of cooking, textile processing and childcare alongside broader trade networks. Lee Barrington, a former trustee and longtime local tour guide, explained that tenant farmers and cottagers lived and worked on the property for long stretches and that records show the estate—under owners including Governor Bellingham, the Watts family and the Carey family—had ties to the trans‑Atlantic trade in enslaved labor and commodity crops.

Stacy Smith, a fifth‑generation Chelsea descendant and member of the museum’s education subcommittee, described the project as a community responsibility. "As a society, we have a moral obligation to honor those who were impacted by this tragic time in history," she said, arguing that presenting a parallel history that includes enslaved people places accountability and improves public understanding.

Speakers cited family letters, wills and estate inventories as sources. They named individuals recorded in those documents, including Menino and Angola (associated with Governor Bellingham) and, from later records, Juniper, Phyllis, Jenny, Primus, Fanny, Charlotte, Pompey, Caesar and Peg. Lee and Stacy noted Fanny Fairweather by name in family recollections; speakers said she died around 1845 and was buried in the Rumney Marsh Burying Ground in what is now Revere.

Janet and the presenters also demonstrated material culture and daily tasks: spinning and carding tools, a drop spindle, candle‑making implements, a reflector oven and beehive oven used for baking, and a primitive cheese strainer. Janet emphasized how the kitchen's physical layout — an open hearth, no running water and heavy manual labor — shaped the work and lives of those who labored there.

The program also addressed the small house near the main property that local oral history long labeled a "slave house." Barrington said documentary evidence confirms multiple working households on the estate (cottagers, tenant farmers and household servants), but that a dedicated historic assessment of the small cottage has not been completed. "A historic assessment of that property would give us so much information to be able to date it, to be able to better understand how it was used," he said.

Speakers described the Carey family's West Indies connections, including ownership and management of sugar plantations in Grenada and the financial consequences of the 1795 plantation rebellion that diminished Carey wealth and prompted the family’s return to Chelsea. Presenters stressed the complexity and contradiction of local economic life: New England producers who favored abolition could still participate in trade networks that relied on enslaved labor.

Audience members asked about documentary and archaeological evidence; presenters said additional research is needed. Stacy said the museum and local volunteers are developing a Black Heritage Trail in Chelsea to surface more sites and stories, and she encouraged the public to preserve related properties and materials. Speakers also noted current museum events and thanked program funders; Matt Frank, president of the Bellingham Cary House Association, said support from a Rev‑2‑50 partnership with the city of Chelsea and the Massachusetts Office of Tourism helped make the program possible and funded other upcoming community events.

The program closed with a question‑and‑answer period and an invitation to view related displays and a recipe table. Presenters emphasized that archival work, marker preservation and a formal assessment of the small cottage remain priorities for recording the full history of the property.

Ending: The museum said it will make reading lists and some early documents available to visitors and volunteers; presenters encouraged descendants, researchers and residents to contribute information that could clarify the cottage’s history and the lives of the workers who lived and labored on the estate.