A Swan Song at 1047 Essex Street: A Reflection

BY SISTER MAUREEN O’BRIEN, SNDdeN

Saturday, August 2, was the Swan Song party for an old duplex in Lawrence, Massachusetts—a building with a long Notre Dame pedigree.

Since 1946, generations of Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and students have found their way to St.

In 1859, the pastor at St.Mary’s in Lawrence, Massachusetts, bought a tenement house and had it converted into a convent. The photo was taken around the time of the construction of the new St. Augustine’s convent in 1893.

Augustine’s Convent on Tower Hill, as well as the parish school and small church located around the corner on Ames Street, whether through summer school or continuing professional education programs at Bon Secours Hospital in Methuen. The choice of the party name was apt. Swans are silent, majestic birds. The myth is that they only sing before dying. Not true! They have a variety of haunting calls, with an emphasis on song.

Houses can also sing—and they do—they tell stories and welcome storytellers. Sisters came from Boston, Ipswich, Stoneham and neighborhoods in the Merrimack Valley, as well as Windsor, Connecticut. A few had lived at 1047 Essex Street and came on a pilgrimage to see their old bedrooms. Others were curious about the house on the hill, hoping to see it one last time before its next incarnation. All were invited to share lunch and pop into the second-floor library to take a piece or two of nostalgia, including books, statues, plants and framed pictures. Over the course of the afternoon, all enjoyed gathering to talk and reminisce.

The heart thrives on laughter, food and the experience of being together in a house that sings!

This story is also featured in the Winter 2025 edition of our  Sowing Goodness magazine.