Sabbath Day House
In the middle of the 18th century, the meetinghouse in Billerica had no heat. In those days, regular attendance in church was a requirement for the freeman to vote. David Osgood leased the land for 50 years to build a "Sabbath Day House" where church members living at a distance could repair to on Sunday noon to warm themselves, eat lunch, put hot coals in their footstoves, and then return for the afternoon service. After David died, his wife Sarah remained at the house as housekeeper.
In 1818, when the church members no longer needed the house, one of the proprietors, Theophilus Manning, bought out the others; thus, he became the first private owner. His daughter, Sarah, who married Ambrose Page of East Billerica, was the mother of Anne Page Hall who later gave the house as a wedding present to her niece, Katharine Eastman Dale, and the Rev. Dr. John Harold Dale, minister for 50 years of the First Congregational Church next door. Mrs. Dale's daughter, Carolyn Abbot, resided with her husband, Sydney Abbot, in the 1970s.
The minister library contains over 2,000 volumes on all subjects, some published in the 19th century and of great interest, as well as a general encyclopedia of 16 volumes which includes many articles on religion and biographies of ecclesiastical leaders. The additions were made in about 1926 at the time of the Dale's marriage.