Harriet Lawrence Hemenway lived here when, in 1896, she founded the Massachusetts Audubon Society with her cousin, Minna Hall. They were protesting the mass slaughter of birds for their feathers, which were used to ornament women’s hats. It was estimated that five million American birds of about fifty species were being killed annually for this purpose. Hemenway and Hall invited groups of women to tea, convincing about nine hundred of them to give up wearing feathered hats. They then invited prominent men to join their cause, leading to the formation of the Audubon Society with the goal of protecting birds. By 1897, their efforts resulted in Massachusetts passing a bill outlawing the trade in wild bird feathers, setting a precedent for national legislation.
