Saving the Frye House

4/1/26    We Have Two Months to Save a Piece of American History

The clock is ticking on one of the most significant historic properties in our region’s history.   In June 2026, the demolition delay on the Colonel James Frye House at 169 Chestnut Street, North Andover expires. And unless someone steps forward to save it, a direct, tangible connection we have to the American Revolution will be gone forever.

It’s time to speak plainly.  Colonel James Frye III didn’t just witness the American Revolution. He helped prepare it. Right here in (North) Andover, he trained the minutemen who would go on to fight at Lexington and Bunker Hill. He was at Bunker Hill himself; where under his leadership, ordinary men made an extraordinary decision to stand their ground against the most powerful military force in the world.  

These minutemen weren’t professional soldiers. They were the farmers, craftsmen and shopkeepers of Northern Essex who had been trained to fight and inspired by Colonel Frye to believe that freedom was worth fighting for.   Some of Frye’s Brigade didn’t come home from Bunker Hill, but the house where that preparation happened is still standing, for now.

The Colonel Frye House has survived nearly three centuries of New England winters, economic upheavals, the passing of time and the march of progress.  It has good structural bones and is restorable. When  I walked through its’ rooms after being given the opportunity to by the current owner, the sense of history was palpable. Here, decisions were made 250 years ago that echo through American history and inform our actions and values today.   We can’t replicate that. We can’t rebuild it when it’s gone. An historical marker on a lot is not the same as standing in the actual space where history happened.  Anyone who has visited the house at 169 Chestnut Street over the years has felt that particular, irreplaceable chill of authentic place, understands the difference.   In two months, we could lose that forever.

This isn’t someone else’s problem. I’ve heard the arguments. The town has too many historic properties. The restoration costs are significant. There are other financial priorities for the town.  These are understandable concerns, and I don’t dismiss them.  But I want to ask the people of North Andover and our region a question. If not this, what? If a house directly connected to the training of our minutemen and militia in the 1770’s, built in the 1730’s, owned by a man who fought and led his men at Bunker Hill doesn’t meet our threshold for preservation, what does?

This isn’t a peripheral footnote in local history.  This is the story of how old Andover and the Merrimack Valley contributed to the founding of the United States of America. This is the story we tell young people when we want them to understand that individuals matter, that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, that the place where they live has genuine significance in the sweep of American history. 

Are we really going to let that story lose its home?

There is a path forward…

I am not asking the town to take on an expensive, permanent burden. There is a realistic, practical solution available to us. 

What we need is a private buyer; an individual, family, or company, who sees the value in owning and stewarding a piece of American history.  Someone who may place a preservation easement on the property, restore it, and possibly allow the community limited access each year. But someone who would buy and continue to support the idea that history matters, and that future generations will be inspired to do extraordinary things, just like the ordinary people of the 1770’s.  Someone for whom this is a passion project, a legacy, a statement about what matters. That person exists. I believe that. We simply haven’t found them yet; or perhaps more accurately, they haven’t found us yet. And this is why I’m writing this letter. We Need Help.

If you are someone, or you know someone, who has the means and the passion to take this on, please reach out to me at the North Andover Historical Society immediately.

Purchase a Save the Frye House yard sign (coming April). Time is a luxury we don’t have.  

If you are a real estate professional with clients who seek distinctive, historically significant properties, please think of the Frye House. 

If you are a business leader with connections to American Revolutionary history (defense companies, veterans organizations, patriotic foundations), please consider whether this aligns with your values and mission.

If you are a media outlet, television producer, or a journalist who covers historic preservation, this story needs to be told more widely than our local community.  The right buyer might be watching the news in Boston or reading a magazine across the country. Help us reach them.

And if you’re simply a North Andover resident who cares about what we leave behind for the next generation, please share this. Talk about the Frye House, make noise, tell your neighbors, colleagues, representatives. The Frye House needs advocates, and advocates start with people who care enough to speak.

Joanna Collantine Kerr, Executive Director

Email Director@NorthAndoverHistoricalSociety.org