Sagamore Hill Painters — West of Nahant Street, above the bay

Published detail on this neighborhood is thin, and most of it comes from the 1996 National Register nomination for the Diamond District next door. That document describes a natural rise of Sagamore Hill forming a steep slope above Nahant Bay at Nahant and Sagamore Streets, and it calls the area west of Nahant Street 'the adjacent Sagamore Hill district'. It also records a significant Native site on the hill at Sachem Street, and notes that Nahant Street served as the original highway to the bay.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission's town report adds that in the Federal period Lynn kept working wharves along Broad Street 'from the millpond to Sagamore Hill', which drew some settlement. Its list of notable sites also names late-nineteenth-century boarding houses on Newhall and Surfside Streets at the Lynnway; Newhall Street runs into Sagamore Street.

The census tract that holds Sagamore and Newhall Streets is far larger than the hill and is dominated by big apartment buildings: 50.7% of its 2,742 units are in buildings of 50 or more, and only 12.2% of occupied homes are owner-occupied. Still, 713 of those units date from 1939 or earlier, so older buildings are part of the mix.

Weather off the bay

On a house that looks out toward Nahant Bay, the walls facing the water are the ones to inspect first: check for cupped clapboards, failed caulk at window heads and paint lifting at the bottom edges before picking a finish. Our Lynn exterior painting page covers prep and timing.

Next door to a National Register district

The Diamond District's western line runs along the back lot lines of the houses on the west side of Nahant Street, so those houses are inside it while the streets behind them are not. Either way, the National Park Service says Register listing places no limits on a private owner's paint job unless federal money is involved. If your street sits right at that line, our Diamond District page describes the houses across it.

Steep-gabled Gothic cottages on the edge

At 2 Sagamore Street–85 Nahant Street, the nomination describes the Holder House of about 1842–52: a cruciform Gothic Revival house with lattice window bays and two-story steep gables. Steep dormer gables are, in the nomination's words, the Gothic feature typical of local Lynn design. Gables like that mean tall ladders or staging and plenty of narrow trim to scrape and prime.

Houses and apartment blocks side by side

In the census tract, 88.4% of units are in buildings of five or more apartments, so smaller frame houses are the minority. If you manage units in a larger building, hallway and common-area work follows a different plan; see condo and apartment painting in Lynn.