Ponkapoag Painters — Ponkapoag, Canton's first village

Local historian George Comeau calls Ponkapoag Canton's "first village" and the town's oldest and most important part. It was the second Native American "Praying Town" established in eastern Massachusetts. Ponkapoag Pond, near Great Blue Hill, covers 216 acres on the Canton–Randolph line and lies within the Blue Hills Reservation, and it is part of the Fowl Meadow and Ponkapoag Bog Area of Critical Environmental Concern.

Some landmarks of the early village are lost. Colonel Doty's Tavern, where a pre-Revolution committee of safety met, burned in 1888. What remains includes the Redman Farm House at 2173 Washington Street, a 1795 Federal house with clapboard siding, five bays and end chimneys, listed on the National Register in 1980 and described as one of Canton's few surviving 18th-century houses. Comeau also mentions estate homes along Green Street and Cherry Hill Tavern, which was moved from its first site and preserved.

The census block group that contains 2100 and 2246 Washington Street, and reaches beyond the village, is mostly newer. Of its 1,028 units, 83.2% are single-family detached, the largest single decade is the 1960s at 22.8%, and only 7.8% were built in 1939 or earlier. About half (49.7%) predate 1980, and 14.7% were built in 2010 or later.

Woodland and wetland next door

Homes near the reservation and the pond's bog border can have trees close on several sides. Shaded clapboard and trim can hold moisture and grow mildew, so cleaning and full drying come before any coating.

A wide spread of house ages

The village keeps a 1795 Federal house, while its block group counts 234 units from the 1960s and 151 finished in 2010 or later. A newer home with factory-primed siding needs a very different prep plan from a pre-1978 house that may carry lead under its current paint.

Detached houses with all four sides exposed

With more than four in five units detached, a typical house here has four exposed sides, and a deck, porch or garage doors are separate surfaces to include in or leave out of the scope. Our deck staining and painting page for Canton covers the outdoor wood.

Gentle prep for 18th-century wood

On an 18th-century frame house, original clapboards and window trim are hard to replace in kind. Hand scraping and spot repair keep more of the old wood than aggressive sanding or wholesale replacement.