Province House, Site of

The mansion that Court of Oyer and Terminer judge Peter Sergeant built for himself was on Washington Street. After his death in 1714, the Province of Massachusetts purchased the building, renamed it Province House, and it became the official residence of Massachusetts’s royal governors until the British evacuation in 1776. The building was demolished in 1922. All that remains of the property today are the steps that once led to Sergeant’s gardens and orchards behind the house. These steps lead down from Bosworth Street to what is now Province Street.

On the wall below the steps is a plaque honoring (almost) all of the Massachusetts governors: the British governors of the province, from William Phips to William Howe, and the governors of the Commonwealth, from John Hancock to … the beginning of Deval Patrick’s term in 2007. One hopes the information will be updated, to include the end of Patrick’s two terms in 2015, Charlie Baker’s two terms from 2015-2023, and the current Massachusetts governor, Maura Healey, who was elected in 2023.

Bosworth and Province Streets