Amesbury, Massachusetts (1868 and 1870)

Mary Baker Eddy was a guest in this home on two extended occasions. Her time here represents an important transitional period in her life, during which she began teaching her first students in Christian Science.

The Story

Shortly after her life-changing healing in 1866, Mrs. Eddy was deserted by her second husband. Over the next nine years, she would dig deeper into her discovery of Christian Science while moving repeatedly in a long succession of rented rooms. One such place she found refuge was in the small upstairs bedroom in this house in Amesbury.

The house was owned by Sarah Bagley, who provided a room to Mrs. Eddy first in June and July 1868. Here, Mrs. Eddy taught her second student — Richard Kennedy.

Later, after her year-and-a-half stay with the Wentworths in Stoughton, she returned to this house for a few weeks in the spring of 1870 and took Sarah Bagley as her fourth student. From here Mrs. Eddy moved to Lynn, where she set up a teacher-practitioner partnership with young Kennedy, and, more importantly, where she began to teach classes of students and stepped out onto a wider stage.

The House

Built circa 1780, this house was expanded over the years to meet the growing needs of the Bagley family. Squire Lowell Bagley married Sarah Osgood in 1811, and the couple raised three daughters here  — Emmeline, Mary, and Sarah. It was their daughter Sarah who, nearly fifty years later, offered shelter here to Mary Baker Eddy.

When Mrs. Longyear found this house in 1920, it still held furnishings and personal memorabilia from the previous century, reflecting the tastes and interests of the Bagley family. The exterior has been thoroughly restored to the colors and style of the 1860s. The interior presents the Bagleys’ home much as it was over 150 years ago.

Please join us for a virtual open house to take a video tour of the house and learn more about Mrs. Eddy’s time living there. This page also includes a video about the restoration of the home completed in 2022 and a special program for children.

You can also learn more at the Amesbury Restoration Project page on this website.

Visitor Information

Address

277 Main Street, Amesbury, MA 01913

Hours

Closed for the season. Reopening May 1, 2024.

May 1 through October 31

Friday and Saturday, 12–3 p.m. Closed holidays.

Also by appointment (48-hour advance notice suggested).

Tours

Call 800.277.8943, ext. 100, or message us. $7 suggested donation. Longyear members and children under 12 are free.

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