The Loring Parsonage, built in 1730, is one of the oldest buildings in Sudbury Center. It started as a two room house, one over one, with a fireplace on the right and then it was expanded into a four room house, two over two, with a massive center chimney.
It then grew into an eight room house, as you see it now, with further additions added later. At some point it was a Saltbox style with a sloped roof in the rear down to the first floor. Eventually the giant center chimney was removed to make more interior space, and it now has two small chimneys. (If such extensive remodeling seems improbable, check out the attic which can't be used due to the beams and joists running every which way.)
The house was built for Reverend Israel Loring, as the minister's parsonage. It became “his homestead” as he refers to it in his will. He lived here with his family until his death in 1772 at age 90.
The Wheeler Family inherited this house through marriage and it continued in the Wheeler family until Walter Haynes inherited it thru his wife, who was a Wheeler. This house was kept as a tavern by Walter Haynes from about 1810 to 1830. By 1881 Walter had died, and Elisha Haynes had inherited it and was running a profitable farm with many outlying buildings and fields.
It remained in the Haynes Family until 1931 when the Town purchased the building. It has served as Town offices, Fire Department offices, and many other uses up to 2016.
The Loring Parsonage is currently being restored to serve as the new home of the Sudbury Historical Society and as the new Sudbury History Center. Restoration should be complete in 2016 with a new entrance wing to be constructed in the near future.
