Last week’s Revelator concerning two properties on Pleasant Street sparked memories and additional background information. One was a home at 278 Pleasant St., soon to become a counseling and medical management center for Riverbend Community Mental Health, and the other a white house that sits on the Dartmouth-Hitchcock clinic property and is excepted to be torn down or sold and moved due to safety issues.
The house at 278 Pleasant St., built in 1850 according to property records, was owned by James Langley, who owned the Concord Monitor until it was sold in 1961. Several readers wrote to point this out, and one person, Mary Wardrop, even helped us get in touch with Langley’s grandson when she sent us a link to a photo of Langley standing in front of the house. (The website owner happened to be the grandson.) Thanks, Mary!
Here’s the note we got from Langley’s grandson, James Langley III:
I graduated from CHS in 1971, went to Keene State and moved out here to Santa Cruz, Calif., in 1982. The house wasn’t sold until my grandmother Florence died around 1988.
FYI: The attached illustration was an ad and artwork for business cards for my grandmother’s antiques business. She was a well known antiques collector and dealer on the East Coast for many years. Also, in case you didn’t know, my grandfather, James Langley, was the owner of the Concord Monitor and also the editor and publisher. He also helped build the Concord Hospital, and even more interesting, in light of the current world situation, he was the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan. We always wonder what he would say about what’s going on in the Middle East today. He was laser-sharp in words and actions and had a keen sense of humor.
Oh, almost forgot. In the article, there’s mention of the Winants. I can only offer that I heard my grandparents talk of the Winants when I was growing up, and I recall them saying that they were neighbors, but I don’t know what property was theirs. I believe it was close by, though.
Best wishes,
Jim Langley
The other home we wrote about sits on the Dartmouth-Hitchcock clinic property. The city planning department told us that the land transfer involved a life estate for owner Mary Lavery. Until Mary died, the clinic could not reuse or demolish the home. Mary’s granddaughter, Susan Lavery, e-mailed to fill in some of the background information:
My grandfather, Richard Lavery, grew up in that house and married Mary Delbianco and proceeded to raise three children there, Michael, Marcia and William. William died at an early age, Richard died in 1967 and Michael died in 1988.
When my grandfather passed away, my grandmother sold off the livestock but kept a huge vegetable garden and people would stop by to pick up fresh vegetables. For as long as she had the garden, she donated fresh vegetables to the Carmelite Monestary nearby. Mary was an accomplished seamstress and a wonderful cook. I well remember helping her can vegetables and haying in the field.
Mary entered a nursing home in Massachusetts where she stayed for five years before passing away in 2003. Prior to that, my grandmother (Mary) and my dad (Michael) sold the property to the Dartmouth Hitchcock clinic and gave Mary lifelong residence. Upon her death, the property was left for the clinic to do what they wished.
Marcia Lavery is the only living second generation left and now resides in Wellsley, Mass. I had been told that house was a historical landmark and it saddens me to see it untouched and run down. Minor work was done, such as removing the screens off the porch, pulling up the fence and poles and eventually boarding up the windows. I recall a similar story with their neighbor, the Tuttles, whose house was moved. It truly saddens me to see it all end and soon that family dwelling will be just a memory – but a happy one.
I want to thank you for publishing the article on this residence.
Susan Lavery
