Walk across Herbertson and turn left on Northbourne, proceeding up to the intersection of Northbourne/Bourne/Bournedale. It's a little bit of a walk but a good opportunity to enjoy the neighborhood. Nothing remains of the estate so you don't have to walk up the hill if you do not want to.
Up the hill at the crest of the hill on Bournedale is the site of the original “Woodbourne”. This was the summer house built by William Minot on land he purchased in 1845 from Ebenezer Weld. It was named for a fictional estate in the novel, Guy Mannering by Sir Walter Scott (published in 1815). Later, his children built their own year-round houses here and added more land onto their holdings. They had plentiful gardens and also raised livestock. The youngest son, William Jr. even named his oldest child Alice Woodbourne Minot demonstrating his love of the place.
William Minot (1783-1873) was a Boston Brahmin. He was 7th generation from George Minot, a founder of Dorchester. He graduated from Harvard College in 1802 and then became an attorney specializing in trusts, estates and wills. In 1811 he was appointed as the Treasurer of the Franklin Fund (Boston). This fund had been endowed by Benjamin Franklin in his will. Franklin left 1000 pounds to both Boston (the place he was born) and Philadelphia where he died in 1790. Franklin wanted this money to be loaned out to skilled tradesmen to help them start up a business (in the way he started his printing career). The repayments of the loans would grow the fund and in 200 years the final amount could then be used by each City for public improvements. It was essentially micro-financing. Minot managed the fund until his retirement in 1866 (when he would be living here in Woodbourne). Finding less and less young tradesmen requesting loans he first moved the funds into a savings account in an attempt to keep interest piling up. Eventually, he invested the Franklin Fund principal into the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company (founded and run by Nathaniel Bowditch). It was sort of the equivalent to a venture capital fund today. The return was 5 to 6% per annum.
William’s wife, Louisa Davis Minot was an accomplished artist and has been belatedly recognized as among the earliest artists of the Hudson River School. Louisa taught at the Boston Public Schools where she helped introduce drawing classes into the curriculum. Louisa wrote the book Methods of Teaching Linear Drawing Adapted for the Public Schools which was published by her friend, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (the educational reformer).
As we look up the street we can get a feel for how the original Woodbourne estate was situated on this ridge overlooking the Stony Brook Valley and still get a feeling for why they choose to build here. Eventually, most of the Minots had passed on and William Jr. began selling off bits of the land. By 1912 thirty acres of it was in the hands of a single owner, the Boston Dwelling House Company. They had the idea to build a philanthropic housing development for workers here (allowing those in the working class to own their home in a pleasant environment) and adopted the name of the former estate for their development.
William Jr's 4th son was Henry Davis Minot who was an ornithologist and railroad executive. The City of Minot, North Dakota was named for him.
Image is Louisa's painting of Niagara Falls (we don't have any of the house that was here, sorry!)