Submitted by Ellen Harde, Westford Resident
The house on Main Street that was built by Allan Cameron and his wife Eleanor is 150 years old this month.
Allan Cameron came to Westford in 1857 and soon became John W. Abbot’s partner in the newly established worsted mill in Graniteville. As Abbot Worsted Company prospered, so did the Cameron and Abbot families.
In 1863, Allan bought a two-acre parcel on Main Street from his friend and partner John Abbot to build of a new home for his growing family.
Papers kept by Allan and Eleanor’s great granddaughters include an “Estimate of 2 Story House Feb 1876” and lists every item needed for the new Cameron house from “18,500 bricks” to 22 Doors ”complete with base and trimming.”
In 1900 on Alan Cameron’s death, the house was left to his daughter-in-law Meta who rented the house in the winter and came to Westford to live on Main Street in the summers.
In 1945, Meta sold the property at auction and the buyer. Thyra Hudgings, turned the house into the Westford Nursing Home.
When renovations were being done to return the house to a single-family home in 1998, the carpenter working on the back stairway found a plug in the newel post. After drilling out the plug, he found a handwritten note from the original builder: Walter W. Wyman Westford Mass Nov 14 1876. Wyman lived on Groton Road in Westford.
That historic artifact means that November 2026 is the 150th anniversary of the house.
