Then & Now: The Porter-Bradstreet House

The Porter-Bradstreet house on Locust Street in Danvers has a substantial family history behind it. The house sits on 500 acres of land, which was originally purchased by Emanuel Downing. Downing then sold the land to Joseph Porter in the 1600’s. Porter built the home and was able to keep it in his family for quite a few generations.

The Porter family was able to keep their house in the family until 1810, when the youngest, and fourth generation, Joseph Porter left the house to his brother-in-law Captain Dudley Bradstreet. Bradstreet, and his wife Polly Porter, lived in the home until Bradstreet’s death in 1833. In the tradition of keeping the home in the family, the house was then passed on to his son John Bradstreet. The home stayed in family for one more generation, ending with John Bradstreet’s son Harrison in 1869.

In recent years, the old Porter-Bradstreet home has been turned into the popular . This school has had quite an impact on the community since its founding in 1978 . The school encourages creative learning techniques, with a focus on personal attention to a student’s varying needs, for children in kindergarten through high school.

Over the decades, this impressive house has held many prominent families in the community. Not many homes have had so many generations living in them, and this one in particular, had been passed down to so many descendants. Luckily, the home is still being used today and is still a very important landmark in Danvers.