Weston Historical Society

Weston Historical Society
... collecting, preserving, educating


	Featured exhibit: The present exhibit on the Sears Estate, “Haleiwa,” will be at the library through August 30, to be followed by “Remaking Weston: The Creation of the Town Green.” Exhibits go first to the library, where they remain for approximately six weeks and then move to Town Hall.

	The Horace Sears mansion, completed in the first years of the 20th century, was located on the north side of Boston Post Road in the 300 block. The landscape elements (walls, gates, steps, retaining walls, and fountains) still remain.

	Horace Sears is shown here in an early theatrical production (second from the left). Sears was a founder of the Friendly Society, which was established in the mid-1880s to help with fundraising for a new First Parish Church.

	Entrance post for the Sears Estate, "Haleiwa" on Boston Post Road. The house was demolished after World War II.


	WHAT’S NEW Did you know that the Weston Historical Society has display cases at Weston Public Library and Town Hall? Our newest exhibit on the Sears Estate, "Haleiwa," will be at the Library through August 30th. Unlike many estate owners in Weston, Horace S. Sears grew up in the town, the son of beloved First Parish minister Rev. Dr. Edmund Hamilton Sears. His formal education ended with graduation from Weston High School in 1871 at age 16. The first of his many civic contributions, accomplished the following year, was the organization of the Weston High School Alumni Association. Sears began his career as a clerk and became a bookkeeper for a Boston ship chandler selling heavy canvas “duck cloth.” His financial ability led to a steady rise culminating in partnership in the textile firm of Wellington, Sears & Co. Sears was the founder and first president of the First Parish Friendly Society, established in 1885 to help raise money for a new church building. Later he was a major force behind the Village Improvement Plan that created the Town Green. His financial contributions to the Town Hall of 1917 are commemorated in the name of the upstairs “Sears Hall.” In 1898, at age 43, Sears began the long process of developing his estate, Haleiwa. He employed two of the most prominent landscape design firms of his day, Olmsted Brothers (for the initial site layout, location of the driveway, and general planting plan) and later Arthur Shurcliff (for the Italianate landscape elements including fountains, walls, stairs, terraces, and balustrades still visible on the north side of Boston Post Road in the 300 block.) The first part of the monumental Italian Renaissance Revival mansion, completed in 1901, was a 200-seat theatre used for Friendly Society productions and other entertainments often open to the public. The historical society’s exhibit at the Weston Public Library (through August 30 and at Town Hall from September 1-October 15) includes photographs of the mansion, demolished in the late 1940s, as well as present day photos of landscape elements that still remain.
	Click here for previous "WHAT'S NEW?" features.
	Headquarters The Weston Historical Society is located in the Josiah Smith Tavern, 358 Boston Post Road, across from the Weston Town Green.

	Josiah Smith Tavern at Christmas 2008
	Open Hours Wednesdays 10-12 noon and by appointment (781-893-3093)
	Mailing Address Weston Historical Society P.O. Box 343 Weston, MA 02493

Updated July 16, 2010