The original portion of the Royall House appears to have been a farmhouse constructed in 1637 by Governor Winthrop as part of his "Ten Hills Farm." New Hampshire Lieutenant Governor John Usher enlarged the house and lived in it from 1692 until 1726. Colonel Isaac Royall, Sr., a wealthy merchant, purchased the property in 1732 and commissioned the rebuilding of the residence. He lived there from 1737 until his death in 1739. From 1739 until 1775, Isaac Royall, Jr. resided here in a lavish manner. Despite his apparent sympathy toward the Patriots' cause, Royall fled to England after the outbreak of the Revolutionary War and never returned. General John Stark headquartered here before the British evacuation in 1776, and Generals Washington, Lee, and Sullivan visited the mansion. Washington's aide, Colonel Cary, resided in the mansion from 1782 to 1784. In 1806, the estate was returned to the heirs of Isaac Royall, who subsequently sold it, and a portion of the money was used in the founding of Harvard Law School. Ownership changed several times until, in 1908, the Sarah Bradlee Fulton Chapter of the D.A.R. assisted in raising funds for its purchase by the Royall House Association, which continues to maintain the property. The small slave quarters building was constructed in 1732 by Colonel Isaac Royall, Sr. as housing for the twenty-seven Black men and women he brought from Antigua. Several of the former Royall slaves became prominent members of the Medford community. This building is the only surviving slave quarters in the Northern United States, and the Royall House is a Registered National Historic Landmark.
