Episode 54: Jen Nicholson (Commander's Mansion)
Meet Jen Nicholson! She's the sales and events coordinator at the Commander's Mansion which also includes being a part of the Watertown City Events Team. In this conversation we dig into her experience growing up in Watertown, her years of teaching, stay-at-home parenting, and volunteering, then we get into all the aspects of the mansion from the (scandalous) story of its creation and its unique features to its private functions and now growing assortment of community events, then we finish with some thoughts on the future of the mansion and its role in Watertown.
(Click here to listen on streaming apps) (Full transcript below)
Find all the upcoming community events organized by the Commander's Mansion team here!
Join in the May 15th walk to visit the Mosesian Center for the Arts and the Commander's Mansion
—————
Sign up for the Little Local Conversations email newsletter to know when new episodes are out and keep up on everything Little Local Conversations.
Thank you Arsenal Financial for sponsoring Little Local Conversations! Listen to my Watertown Trivia episode with Arsenal Financial’s Doug Orifice to have some fun learning about Watertown!
Thanks to podcast promotional partner the Watertown Business Coalition, a nonprofit organization focused on connecting local businesses and strengthening our community. Check them out at watertownbusinesscoalition.com.
Thanks to promotional partner Watertown News, a Watertown-focused online newspaper. Check them out at watertownmanews.com.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Transcript
Matt: 0:07
Hi there, welcome to the Little Local Conversations podcast. I'm your host, Matt Hanna. Every episode, I sit down for a conversation with someone in Watertown to discover the people, places, stories, and ideas of Watertown. This time I sat down with Jen Nicholson, who works over at the Commander's Mansion, and that role also doubles as helping out as City of Watertown's events team. So let her introduce herself and then we'll get into the conversation.
Jen: 0:29
My name is Jen Nicholson. I'm the sales and events coordinator for the City of Watertown at the Commander's Mansion and we run our community events for the city here at the mansion and across the community, as well as private events, weddings, corporate events, social gatherings
Matt: 0:46
Yeah, there's lots of things that happen here, and some of them have been picking up steam, like those the winter things and the Halloween things, and that's always nice here too. So we'll get into that, but I always like to go back first. So you're a lifelong Watertown resident, right?
Jen: 1:00
I am.
Matt: 1:01
You want to talk a little bit about your experience growing up in Watertown, in the city?
Jen: 1:04
Sure, yeah, absolutely. I like jumping right into that. So my roots are here and you know when I think about it, my children are fifth generation Watertown residents. So we go, my family goes way back to my great grandfather on my dad's side. Ryan and I graduated high school together. My dad and Ryan's mom graduated high school together. So there's just like a lot of, we have all known each other. Yeah, growing up in Watertown, I think when you think about your childhood, a lot of times were spent in schools, and so my mind goes right back to there. I went through the kind of middle school, high school, k to 12. And thinking about raising my kids here now, you know the major physical differences, these schools are all brand new buildings. They're in the process of being brand new buildings. So that same school that my grandmother went to on Columbia Street, the high school, is going to be brand new by the time both my kids get there. So we all did our time. I'm really excited that, thanks to a lot of the really great fiscal oversight of Mr Driscoll, formerly town manager here. Just the fact that Watertown's been able to provide for our kids and their futures and it's just incredible. We don't see that happening anywhere else really, so that's been great.
Jen: 2:06
I think one of the major changes from growing up here and not just Watertown but society in general is kind of that shift from social, emotional, mental health discussions and topics being really more stigmatized when I was a kid growing up and now just more of a focus, an intentional focus. Part of the Watertown curriculum, public schools curriculum, is the social emotional health of children, and so that hits home to me as a kid that grew up really anxious and didn't really have outlets to help learn how to feel better and raising kids now that, obviously apples don't fall far from the tree, that they're just so open. You know, I'm like, oh yeah, I can hang out or play a video game after my therapy session and it's just like part of who they are and part of their upbringing and so I like that this next generation is breaking the cycle and that the schools are really part of it and making every effort to help in that regard.
Matt: 2:52
Yeah. So speaking of schools then, do you want to talk about your time in schools as a teacher?
Jen: 2:57
Sure, yeah. So I actually started back, my undergrad was at Boston College and I went through the business school and so I studied marketing and human resources but then always loved kids, always loved doing camp counseling, coaching basketball. And I was able to manage my last couple of years at BC, taking all classes on Tuesday, Thursdays, and evenings, and so Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I worked as a substitute teacher in the Watertown Public Schools. And that's where I said this is what I want to do, I want to go into teaching. And so I still graduated with an undergrad in business, but about a week after commencement I started my master's in elementary education and was able to continue working in Watertown as an IA when I was getting my master's and then went into classroom teaching. I was a first grade teacher for a year and then third grade for three years before taking a significant chunk of time off when my kids were born.
Jen: 3:45
The goal was to go back to school, go back to teaching when my youngest got to be school-aged. She hit school-aged at the start of the pandemic. So that changed everything. That delayed everything a little bit. That wasn't like the time to go back. And our kids also did the full virtual track at the beginning for a lot of different health reasons. So we changed things. But I did get to actually teach at the school that the kids went to. My kids were elementary, same school I went to at the Cunniff and did math intervention for a couple of years before landing here at the Commander's Mansion. So I think oftentimes, when I interviewed for this job a lot of different things brought me here from teaching, but a lot of the tools and skills that I have from teaching carry over here in terms of presentations and writing on the whiteboard and planning and you know, multitasking, all of those things. Teaching prepares you for a lot, so I'm really grateful I had that opportunity.
Matt: 4:33
Yeah, so you want to talk about what drew you to the Commander's Mansion then, why did you apply here? And it's been, how long have you been here?
Jen: 4:41
I started right at the start of 2024 so a little over a year now. And during my time as a stay-at-home mom and it was, well, a better part of a decade of being home with the kids, I really got involved in the community on a volunteer basis. So I was part of the Cunniff PTO, I was president for 3 years there. I got involved with different nonprofits. I’ve joined a number of boards within the city. So I’m on the cable access board, the community foundation in Watertown, and the Watertown Boys and Girls Club. And I’ve also worked with Watertown SEPAC as well. And so during that time as a volunteer, I worked towards, you know, fundraising and event planning and bringing the community together and collaborating with other organizations and within the city as a whole. And so when I saw that this job was posted and I knew that the events team here did a lot with the community, outreach events, I thought that you know I could add some value to that and it's what I love to do. So it's hard to leave teaching, but I feel like it never really leaves you, so I take on what, you know, I learned from that experience and I'm still working with kids and bringing kids joy and having the opportunity to really collaborate across all departments within the city and volunteers and businesses and nonprofits. It's been really rewarding.
Matt: 5:48
Yeah, and just to take a step back. So I skipped over that whole like volunteering stage there. What drove you to get involved with all those volunteer things? Because that's not just one, you did a handful.
Jen: 5:58
There's a whole chunk there. I think, for me, growing up, my dad was a past president of the Watertown Rotary Club and involved throughout my whole childhood there. So I have memories of going to their Tuesday luncheons and being a guest speaker there and watching them volunteer with the different events that they do and they still do, like the senior citizen cookout and dancing with the stars, which I couldn't say no to last year because of my history with the Rotary Club. But you know, my dad really instilled in me and my brothers that it's like service above self. So I had the time, particularly when my kids started preschool, to really do those things that I felt like were important, and I care a lot about this community. So that was a way I felt like I could give back and make an impact.
Matt: 6:38
Yeah, and what's made you stay in Watertown your whole life, like, have you ever thought about going away? Or what keeps you here?
Jen: 6:44
What keeps me here? Yeah, no, I think it feels like home. It always has been. Ryan and I got married and spent about maybe a couple of years in a townhouse closer to the middle school, and then we ended up purchasing my childhood home off of my parents. So I'm right back where I started, and it was a great place to grow up. So I know it was going to be a great place to raise my family too.
Matt: 7:04
Okay, now we can move forward. So tell me a little bit about coming onboard here and what your work wound up being. Was it, was there any difference from what you had in your mind and then, when you got involved, was there a difference of what you thought you're going to be doing and what it's turned out to be, A little bit?
Jen: 7:17
Absolutely. So you know that marketing degree that I got as an undergrad, I feel like it was a full circle moment, because otherwise I didn't really use it when I went into teaching for all those years. So really going back to my roots in terms of like that was what I was passionate about at 18 when I decided to go to college and being able to utilize what I've learned there, I knew that there was going to be a lot of community and engaging with the community and being able to expand on the events that happen here and add more to the calendar. So we've done that and more in spades. But I think for me, I knew that the mansion is also a private event venue and that there are weddings, particularly a lot of them during peak season. And so during my interview, my manager Tammy had asked well, I know you love the community, you love community events, what about weddings? And I told her well, I've been married, so I know a little bit about weddings. But you know I love to learn. If there's anything you know a former teacher would say is that they're a lifelong learner. So I want to pick up on whatever I can and apply myself, and so it was definitely a learning curve to, you know, figure out how the weddings work from behind the scenes. But I grew my confidence in there and all the clients that we've worked with have been beautiful and the mansion's an awesome site to get married. There's just like a hidden gem tucked away back here off of Arsenal Street. So being able to share part of the beauty in Watertown with people from Watertown and outside of Watertown has been really nice in that regard too.
Matt: 8:35
What's something that people might not know about planning a wedding that you were like whoa, I didn't know that until you started doing it?
Jen: 8:41
That's a good question. There's so many moving pieces and I think, this is my own personal experience didn't prepare me for this, because I was going to just do a really small wedding and my parents were just like, no, we're going to do a big wedding. So I let my parents really take on a lot of the planning because it was really important to them and I have some brides that will like plan their wedding to the five minute mark. It's like the first kiss is gonna be at 2:17 pm and it's wild and I love that because I'm super type A and organized as well. But there's just a lot of possibilities and so when I tour people here at the mansion, being able to tell them you know, this is a blank slate, and a beautiful blank slate at that, so we can really make your day whatever you want it to be. And I've seen some really cool traditions and activities embedded into wedding days. Like I wish I had done it, if I could do it all over. Maybe we'll renew our vows here one day and do some really cool like personalized cornhole boards with the names on them and photobooths. And during the one of the first weddings I had here, they, instead of a guest book, they did an, it's a trendy thing now where they had an old fashioned phone and you could pick it up and record voice messages to the couple. So people left voice messages and it was very timely. It fit in the parlor downstairs really nicely and so I love the creativity that people get to use and bring to their weddings. And yeah, I would definitely do some things differently if I had the opportunity myself.
Matt: 10:02
Yeah, you should have done your research before. Yeah doing the reverse order. So why don't you tell us a bit about the Commander's Mansion? Like what is this place?
Jen: 10:10
The Commander's Mansion is a fantastic place. I love the history of it so when I taught, social studies was my favorite subject to teach. So, and admittedly, before I was hired here, I knew very little about it other than that it was tied to the Watertown Arsenal. Didn't even know there was a great barber here until I started. It's tucked away behind the parking lot. And so the mansion was commissioned in 1865. It's turning 160 this summer. I'll have more on that later when we talk about community events. But commissioned for the commanding officer of the Watertown Arsenal. At that time it was Captain Rodman. We have a giant life-size portrait of him downstairs in the vestibule. He spent, Captain Rodman, the construction cost was $63,478 and change for the construction of the mansion and at that time it was considered super extravagant. It led to a lot of even congressional scrutiny and he was also, given that it was Civil War time, accused of treason against Lincoln and there was a lot of political backlash. He ended up being deployed to Rock Island, Illinois. And you would think, given you know what he went through here, that he would have learned his lesson, but he ended up spending even a bigger chunk the next time around and he built what looks like an actual like castle, not just a mansion.
Matt: 11:26
You think they would have learned their lesson, not giving him permission to build anything again.
Jen: 11:31
Exactly, I don't know how he got away with that. But so now there's, and actually Tammy was telling me that his castle in Illinois, they had reached out to us about what we do here and kind of having that Captain Rodman connection and being able to share any artifacts or stories that we have with them as well. So that was really cool. But the arsenal itself was just such a prominent fixture in Watertown's history and learning more about the mansion. Well, I wanted to learn as much as I could about the mansion but given that it was the family home of the commanding officer of a US Army base, there was very little out there like very little, that's like public. I was like I'm going to buy every book and read every book. And it's just like not there. So you dig into, like the relics of what is available in terms of what is printed or newspapers, and you can piece together who lived here, but not like a lot about their stories. I know that the veranda out back used to be screened in for tea, based on some stories and pictures that I found, but the mansion itself is a little bit of a mystery and enigma. But knowing that it was built here and the decision to pick this site specifically was from Talcott and so the street now is named after Talcott. In 1816, the arsenal was built and they considered a lot of factors.
Jen: 12:40
Number one was the proximity to Boston. So we're close enough to Boston here in Watertown that it aided in transportation, but we also weren't so close to the harbor that it made us vulnerable to naval attacks. So they knew that they didn't want to be that close to Boston, but they wanted to be able to have easy access through the Charles River to a site where they could have a lot of available land and the potential to expand, which they did considerably, including the building of the mansion. Massachusetts at the time also had a really big, growing industrial base to help support arms production. So it worked out perfectly and it really has so much history here and how the community was built. And it went to a science and research center after it was done with the Arsenal and the military connection, and my best friend's mom growing up worked at the Arsenal Scientific Center too. So and now we have Arsenal Yards as well, which is a huge upgrade from the Watertown Mall I had growing up. So just the fact that it's been adaptive in how it's been reused. So it's a piece of history, it's a piece of living history and it's also like a hub for bringing the community together. So really grateful that Watertown has prioritized keeping it here as a community resource.
Matt: 13:46
Yeah, it's an interesting thing that it is city-owned mansion property. It's a weird thing. Yeah, so how are you guys bringing the community together here? What kind of things do you do?
Jen: 13:56
Yeah, so before I started here, the mansion had mostly part-time staff. The main focus was on weddings, predominantly, and private events, and the mansion had started over the last five, six years adding some holiday based events. So the Poppy Social was one of the first ones and I believe it started as the Poppy Picnic and that was in partnership with Veterans Services. We also created a Freedom Garden out front in the circular driveway where memorial bricks are placed every Memorial Day and unveiled, and it's really growing every year. We get more of them added to it so it's a special day. And we invite all Watertown veterans and the whole public to come. That's going to be in May. It's the fifth or sixth year of the Poppy Social. The team also had introduced a Halloween event, then a winter holiday Christmas event as well. So those ones were kind of the key pieces prior to my arrival. My team also, the year right before I started, it was their first year taking over the planning of the Faire in the Square as well. So kind of like these really big community events are falling under our umbrella now and we also have added quite a bit, quite a bit. I should have printed the schedule. But yeah, I think, as city events are evolving, we're excited to really spotlight different initiatives that we're using the expertise of colleagues across the city. So while we are event planners and we love to do the logistics of the events and we have a site if it wants to be done here within the city, we bring a lot to the table for the planning of the events, but in terms of the content and what can be spotlighted here, we have our first ever Resilient Watertown EcoFest in collaboration with the sustainability team in the community development and planning department that we're also part of. And so you know we're learning so much about being green and sustainability and we wouldn't be able to have necessarily our team put on such a successful, well-rounded event in that area. And so having the sustainability team working with us is going to bring a lot of life into that.
Jen: 15:47
Similarly, we had the city's first classic car show last summer, Watertown Wheels. I love cars but my extent of it was the Disney cars trilogy growing up with my son. So like I could do the marketing for it, I could get people here, I could plan the timeline, but really in terms of knowing the cars ins and outs, that was Lenny from the DPW and it's his passion. And so he was able to connect with his network outside of Watertown and we filled the lot and the easement and the front of the mansion with, you know, over 40 classic cars and it was amazing. And so that was year one and we're bringing it back for year two. Already having new ideas on how to grow and expand that. And so a lot of the value that we have in the community events, we, our team, just genuinely loves to collaborate. So it's we're looking for we're always looking for more opportunities to be able to do that. So I love that we have that.
Jen: 16:34
And we also took over the planning of Watertown Pride. It had started originally with the library with their Pride extravaganza and it passed hands last year. Our team took over the planning of it and this year we grew to have a Pride planning committee of residents as well. So we're working in collaboration with Pride planning committee this year and really excited about that. That's for the festival and parade on June 1st. And we're expanding the parade route to start from Moxley at the temporary High School. We'll be closing Main Street for a short period of time. But really having that visibility and having the community be able to participate in the parade all the way to Saltonstall. So we're excited about that. And we have some surprises in plan, not quite ready to reveal them, but those will be coming up soon. So excited about that.
Jen: 17:18
And then the mansion also wanted to add a second Pride event. So last year we had our first ever Tipsy Tea Party. It was a 21 plus ticketed event out in the reception tent that we have on site for peak season. And you know, when you do a first year event, you're not sure if it's going to really take off, and thankfully all of them have, but this one to such a large extent. I mean we sold out, the tent was packed. We had almost a dozen food vendors come and brought more food than we could ever imagine. We had drag performances and thought we would maybe get you know two or three songs out of each of them and they played for almost three hours. It was just, it exceeded our expectations. So we're excited to be able to continue growing that one and we're gonna have tickets on sale in May for this year's Tipsy Tea party as well. I'm going to keep going. There are so many events and now I'm on a roll.
Jen: 18:05
Speaking of first year events. The mansion's 160th is in July, so we are excited to be planning, in the early stages, a 160th birthday bash. We have some really exciting partnerships. We're going to be able to do a wine tasting on site as part of that event. So 21 plus again evening event. Still working on some other details, but it's going to be a really fun evening and celebrate this building and the resource and assets that it is for the community. So stay tuned for more on that as well. And then the Faire on the Square is the big one. That one is we've been planning.
Matt: 18:36
No rain this year. No rain.
Jen: 18:38
No rain is absolutely. We did our time in two years with rain. So, yes, no rain dances, or rain dances if that helps get them away. But that is just a constant. We're just planning that from, like, the day after the last fair ends. The planning never ends for the fair. So while vendor registration just opened, you know talks have been happening the whole time and we'll continue to ramp up as we get closer. But the fair takes a lot. It's a lot. And then there's back to Halloween. It had started as, I believe, the Little Monster Mash in-person event and then during COVID, this is before my time, but I came as a community member with my own children so it turned into the Haunted Joy Ride as a response to the pandemic, and not being able to have large groups all together, became a drive-through experience. So my kids were like that perfect age when they did the first one of that. And I mean the grounds were just turned into, it was, that's what a perfect name, it was a Haunted Joy Ride. It was just like it was not too scary, but it was so well decorated and really had, you know, entertainment here, recreation here, handing out candy bags, and I think there were people from Watertown Savings Bank dressed up as like the witches, and they were phenomenal and interacting with everyone as you drove through. So that was just really responsive to the times and still being able to have a really nice way to bring the community together.
Jen: 19:49
This past year we transitioned back to Halloween being an in-person event. So we transitioned it to Wicked Watertown and it was so cool. It was so cool. It was a lot of fun. We were able to do haunted mansion tours inside the mansion. The library was here doing stories by flashlight. Out in the north lawn we had a pumpkin carving contest where people could enter and there were voting happening on that. Watertown Recreation set up basically a circus in the tent of over a dozen games that kids could win tickets and enter raffle prizes. We had Natalie Nigito here doing a photo booth where she uploaded all the photos to a portal and people could download afterwards. So there were just a lot of really cool experiences and a lot of people really step up to want to make these events awesome. Because the three of us, it's definitely not just the three of us. Like we rely and appreciate the help that so many people want to give to these events. So that was a big one.
Jen: 20:40
And then lastly, the formerly the Whoville Jubilee. And so many changes after I started, but they really weren't me changing them, they were team decisions. But it had started as a Christmas event for just Whoville and so the north lawn was decorated with lights and little houses and the Whoville characters and it was an awesome event. But it just continued to grow. That Whoville kind of became one specific zone of the event. So we had different city staff dressed up in different characters. We had the Grinch there, Buddy the Elf, all different characters out in the north lawn. But we evolved it to have a train ride. We included an artificial snowball fight with foam and cotton snowballs with rec out there in the back. We had partners with the Watertown Cultural Council and Mosesian doing crafts inside. The library, back again, of course, doing books inside. And we also introduced this past year, Winter Holidays Around the World Showcase. That was grant funded by the Mass Cultural Council.
Jen: 21:32
So we wanted to make sure that the event felt super inclusive and while we have the lighting of the first Christmas tree, there's a lot more to celebrate than just Christmas. So that was a big jump for us as well. And we had live entertainment in the stage with singing and dancing. A lot of families come to see that as well as a holiday bazaar in the tent as well with vendors. And so this year there's already kind of preliminary talks to have Merry Mingle be expanded in the sense of being more this whole campus. The Mosesian and the mansion and having some connections between maybe fun transportation back and forth but having some of the zones or some of the elements of the event take place at the Mosesian while other ones take place here. Such an awesome potential to be able to do so much. And they have the stages and they have the classrooms and they have a lot of connections and a lot of resources and so allow us to really focus on what we can do here best and be able to partner with them. So I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so excited. And the Christmas tree actually we're having planted. Our tree warden from the DPW is planting it and the ribbon cutting will take place at EcoFest. And so instead of having to buy a tree every year, it's going to be a starter tree right now this year, but it's going to grow on site here at the mansion every year. So talk about sustainable, but it's also going to be that tree that we get to use and see it grow. So all of it connects in different ways and it's been really so much fun planning all of them.
Matt: 22:55
Yeah, so you mentioned it's a team of three of you. So how, what is the juggle between, like these public community events and the private events? Like, how many private events do you guys do in a year?
Jen: 23:07
Yeah, that's a great question. So the last couple of years, the last main peak season and this peak season, were at about a dozen private events. Weddings mostly, and then there'll be a few more pickup for the holiday events closer, the corporate ones for the holidays afterwards. Those ones don't get booked as far out as weddings do. But it's May, June, and September, tend to be every weekend and those are like the prime wedding weekends for us and we have some into October this year as well. July and August, it's your baking. Well, we do occasionally have sprinkled in some July and August weddings, we see spring and fall really ramp up for weddings. You know the focus for wearing two very distinct hats in this job is we are still trying to figure out what makes the most sense for us and evolving as a team. With my hiring my position went from part-time to full-time and Tammy's position also went to full-time at the same time. So with the additional hours came the additional responsibility of taking on so many of these community events for the city.
Jen: 24:09
So we are looking at, you know, maybe scheduling tours on certain days or certain times so that we can really have like uninterrupted time to focus on and collaborate with others on the community events, but we need to be able to be mindful of, we need to get people in here to see it and tour it. So we're playing around with other possible public tour options and different time frames. But we're still tweaking to figure out what works the best for our team. And my job, specifically as the sales and marketing coordinator, in terms of running the tours and being the first point of contact with potential clients and showing them the property and answering their questions and showing them pictures and videos of what could be, and so really just interacting with clients through email and in person. And then the marketing is more dual for me in terms of doing the mansions, marketing and social media and website, but also the community pieces as well. So like I do the promotions and the maps and all the graphics that get used as signage and that, so I love that piece. And I love that both aspects of my job just are about making people happy and like really some of like the happiest days, the happiest day of their life in a lot of ways. So just being able to be a part of both of those are really special.
Matt: 25:20
Yeah. Now is there any other piece of the mansion that I'm missing here? You know we have the private events, the public events. Is there something else that is missing in that equation?
Jen: 25:29
I think, just the mansion itself, like maintaining the grounds and maintaining the building, and it is a historic National Registry site. So the fact that we have and we have to be able to balance right now we have some capital projects happening, public buildings is involved. That impacts the tours that we can schedule. You know you're not wanting to necessarily show people the mansion while it's in disarray. So it's another big piece of making sure you know, walking the grounds and checking that everything is okay. It's a 160-year-old building, so. There is a term that I'm struggling to grasp for but it has to do with, like site management or venue. Yeah, that is a big piece of. We're the only ones here on a regular basis, so being able to be responsible for and making sure the integrity of the mansion is upheld as best we can is a big piece of it.
Matt: 26:16
Yeah, do you want to talk about the mansion itself a little bit?
Jen: 26:21
Yes, yes, I do so. I pop quizzed myself quite a bit at the beginning of working here in terms of the design and architecture, and that's where my family, my dad and my brothers, are in real estate. So, like that's another piece that I really love about the mansion. But there's more about the building of the mansion and the choices in terms of layout and how it's adorned that really is spectacular. So the mansion was designed by architects George W Horn and Thomas J French, and it's in an Italiante style. It has a Victorian veranda adorned with intricate ironwork, three stories with a hipped roof, ornate cornices, and elaborate moldings, ceiling medallions and 11 marble fireplaces, and 11 chandeliers. So that's part of my job as I come in, and I turn them all on in the morning usually, especially when it's a full day of tours. And so there's some really cool pieces of history in here that I pick up on as I go, and not in the room that we're in right now, but other ones, there's remnants of the early bell system. Where, if you go down to the dining room right in the center, was a push button that the lady of the house could use her foot to press and it would call in the next plate as part of dinner or to clean the dinner off the table. There's a few of those and there's pieces of how that worked. The bell system in itself started in mansions in the late 1800s, before it moved to hotels, so knowing that it, like the history of it, started here is a really cool piece.
Jen: 27:42
I love the floors here. The first floor, the main areas of the house, predominantly, they display polychromatic original flooring. So we're always very mindful of felting things and being careful with trying to preserve the floors as respectfully as we can. But the floors are made from chestnut, butternut, black walnut, cedar, and spruce woods and they're spectacular. They really are. Like you walk in and you're just like whoa, it's a statement piece. So the choices that Rodman spent that $63,000
Matt: 28:13
He had taste at least. He didn't just blow it on nothing.
Jen: 28:17
Exactly, they are beautiful. So most of the house is, with the exception of our office area in the back and a little bit of storage, because for such a big house they didn't make closets particularly for storage. So we took over one room for storage and one room for our offices to share. But the rest of the house is all included with exclusive rentals. So when somebody rents the mansion they have both floors, they have the grounds. During peak season they have the reception tent, which is also beautiful. It's 40 by 80 feet, fabric lined over brick pavers. It's really, it's really lovely. Usually the weddings take place, the ceremonies themselves in the great barber. We also have what we call a smoke tree in the back. I know that's not the scientific term for it, but when it blooms it blooms very billowy and puffy and it looks like pink smoke, and so it's really a really nice backdrop for a wedding ceremony as well. And the mansion is just, I still pinch myself every day that I get to like come in here and call it my office. It's a great place to feel like a second home, so I'm really grateful.
Matt: 29:14
And when you give a tour, is there a particular place that you're like, oh, I always have to show somebody this thing? Like is there one favorite thing?
Jen: 29:21
Yeah, I think, so like I talked about a little bit about the lack of storage, but there is a butler's pantry and a baker's pantry that has some cool historical significance. You can see where the bakers had their drawers that you could open and where they put the salt, where they put the sugar, where they put the flour. Right now it's not used for those purposes anymore, but you can really like transport yourself back in time, knowing that these are the spaces that were used and how the houses used them. Also, all the rooms have built-in shutters, so you can just open the shutter and close all the windows from the built-in shutters, which I always say I wish my house, I wish they still made houses that way, because it's very cool, better than many blinds. But another really intricate fancy detail. I love to just show the whole house. So like being able to walk from room to room and talk about how you can potentially use it and being able to show examples of how they have been used, but also just the potential that any client can bring to using it the way they want to. It's harder to tour the mansion in the off season because I'm like I promise you it doesn't look like this. But we're getting back to the time where it's like really fun to tour the mansion, where it's lush and green and you don't see North Beacon Street. You don't even hear North Beacon Street.
Matt: 30:28
You got a lot of trees in between there. And what about for anyone in Watertown who, like you, grew up not knowing much about the mansion? How can they find out more about the mansion?
Jen: 30:37
That is a goal of mine for sure in terms of getting the community to come in here and see it more. We had a summer intern last year through Watertown High. She was spectacular, Evelyn. She helped kind of pilot a public tour program. It was really successful. We got a great turnout for all of the public tours that she ran, and so I want to make sure we find more opportunities to get the public in here and be able to see it. We encourage people to come to as many community events as they can to come here as well. We want to keep expanding those, and so there's opportunities in May between EcoFest and the Poppy Social to come in. And then you know, 21 plus for the Tipsy Tea Party, we’ll be using the mansion as well as the tent this year. So we definitely encourage people to come to all of our events. But I want to make sure that, as we continue to grow and evolve, more opportunities for the public to come in and see just how beautiful it is in here. So that's on my priority list is to implement something like that for sure.
Matt: 31:30
Yeah, was there anything else in terms, I mean, you talked about so many things that have been done and things coming up, but is there anything else you want to talk to in terms of, like, success stories or particular challenges, anything along those lines that you want to talk about?
Jen: 31:44
Yeah, when I was kind of brainstorming with the team about that and knowing that during the pandemic and in general, having to be responsive to changes and how events looked, they had introduced a petite package where you could have a little micro wedding here. And they incorporated like a champagne toast and cupcakes and it allowed the ceremony to take place with social distancing intact. And it was really impressive the way that they adapted and evolved based on what was needed at the time. You know we're looking at weddings here now and, given the way society is and the costs associated with things, we're seeing that you know, a lot of people getting married are maybe not choosing these big, elaborate weddings, nine, ten hour wedding days. So we've reintroduced a petite package to be able to do a smaller, more intimate ceremony and reception on site that isn't at the same extent as a grandiose, big, giant wedding package. And I think we're going to continue to try to find ways to appeal to, like, the next generation of people getting married that are, you know, maybe more concerned with buying a house and different things like that. So we want to be able to make sure the mansion is used to the best of its potential and having to consider all of these societal factors are things that are playing a role in our decisions here and what we can do.
Matt: 32:58
Yeah, yeah, and you want to just talk a little bit about your other teammates, Tammy and Tracey.
Jen: 33:02
Absolutely. Tammy and Tracy are phenomenal to work with. Tammy is the events manager here and Tracy is our administrative specialist. I have learned so much from them, as women, as mothers, as professionals, and I'm really grateful for the opportunity to get to know them. They've taught me more about confidence and just standing your ground and using your voice and knowing that what I have to say adds value. And so I have always tended to be more of like a behind the scenes, which is a really silly thing to say, because I ran for public office twice and was on Dancing with the Stars and those are just all very out of character things for me. But I appreciate them for seeing me and seeing the value that I can add to our team and our community and helping me feel like I belong here and that I can make a difference. So they are just really two intelligent, strong women that it's just a pleasure to be able to be working with them. And that brought me right to one of the things I didn't mention, with such a busy winter and spring so far, was the new Empowering Women in Leadership program that we put on in partnership with the Watertown Business Coalition. That was another first time, you know what kind of workshop could we bring, that there's a need that we could fill. And being a woman-led team and it was Women's History Month in March, we put on, on March 19th, two panel discussions, one from city leadership and another from local business owners. And we were at capacity inside the parlors. We maxed out at about 60 people that we could sit comfortably in there. It was just another event that exceeded our expectations. And the vulnerability and the insight that all the panelists shared, I learned so much from just those two 30-minute conversations and everyone in the room really felt the same way that we're excited to continue moving forward with this and not make it just like a one-time thing but more of a series or a full blown initiative and, knowing that was so well-received at that first time and the potential to build that. Need to move it to the tent so we can fit more people next time. But we didn't want to lose momentum and so we're already working with different groups and different individuals that we feel like will be able to add to these conversations and do some more interactive approaches as opposed to just all panel discussions. And the potential to add some mentoring, especially with middle high school age girls, and I know that one of your most recent interviews was with the peer leaders and they're fantastic and impressive and just being able to invite them after school or during the summer. And we're excited for what could be with this and we don't want to lose steam. We're going to keep moving forward with that because that was another big success it felt like for us and for the city to be able to bring that to Watertown. And I think, rather than just being empowering women in leadership, it's going to be just empowering women in Watertown, the initiative moving forward. So we're excited for that as well.
Matt: 35:45
Nice, before we wrap up here, you mentioned you ran for office twice. What are those two things you ran for office for?
Jen: 35:49
I ran for school committee, in ‘21 and in ‘23. I found that a lot of what I wanted to do behind the reason to run for that position, I'm not political. I'm not political enough to be elected. And I don't even take that as a slight at myself by any means. I just couldn't be like the door knocker and I'm just like way too transparent to like give political answers. You're going to get the answer from me that it is. And so, while I had like the best intentions to run and to serve, because I love this community and I love the schools and I thought I could bring a different approach and a different vibe to that role, that elected role. Tammy and Tracey like to say that things work out as they should, and so the fact that I did not get elected opened me up to this opportunity. And really you go back and look at my platform, so much of what I wanted to accomplish in that endeavor I get to do here and I get to do it with the schools, but also with all the other departments across the city and with the greater community. And so you'll always kind of see my signature spin on like making sure that there's kid friendly and sensory sensitive areas to events, and so we incorporate a lot of that background in there. But I also am doing it at a different scale and a different scope and so I'm grateful for what I learned about myself during those processes and the connections that I made with a lot of people. Some of my running mates I've become really close friends with. And I appreciate that, you know, they're giving of their time because these elected roles are no joke, full time jobs on themselves. And so I have so much respect for people that do that. And for now I feel like I found my home here and I'm grateful that I get to do so much of what I love on a regular basis.
Matt: 37:25
Nice. Any lessons learned from Dancing with the Stars?
Jen: 37:27
You know, my favorite Dancing with the Stars story is even before it started, was when the Rotary announced through Watertown News that it was returning because it had taken a break during the pandemic time as well, Ryan had just been appointed to fire chief at the time. And so I read the article and I said, oh, do you think the new fire chief is going to get asked to do Dancing with the Stars? And he's like, oh, I don't think so. And the next day I got called and asked to do it. I said I'm so sorry, you're the less famous Nicholson, so that's OK. But they've tried to get him since and it's just not for him, not for everybody. But it was a really, really cool experience. Again, you know, I couldn't say no. I don't say no to too many things in general, that's kind of a trend. But given my background in my childhood, with my dad being part of the Rotary Club, it felt like the right thing to do. I also, my kids had participated in the Cunniff school had put on a Moana Junior production and third and fifth grade at the time. And my son, who had never sang or danced or acted in his entire life, got cast as Maui in the performance. And so in large part he joined because of the teachers that were giving their time, completely donated their time, like four hours a week of rehearsal and countless more time preparing, I'm sure for that for many months. It was a lot for my son to make that jump to like I just thought I'd kind of be cast as somebody standing in the back. It was not easy for him to like open up to that situation and they believed in him and he was phenomenal, like he was so phenomenal. But I got asked about Dancing with the Stars at the same time he got cast in his role and I said to myself, if I'm expecting him to be able to go out on stage and to show himself that he can do it, I was like I better put my money where my mouth is and not turn down an opportunity for, you know, a good cause and again to grow. I had never danced before, like zero, zero dance ability. And so that was a really fun experience again, all about the community in general. But I learned some dance moves that I did not think were possible. And I did a tribute to Moana. I did a montage of How Far I'll Go and You're Welcome, so I was able to bring both my kids out at the end as little cameos in their roles as the ocean ensemble and Maui in my performance.
Jen: 39:35
So I encourage people, I couldn't get my husband to do it, but I encourage people if they're asked to do it because it's awesome. And I know that they had to move this year's to September. But another you know connection is we've already been in talks with the Rotary Club about they have their show, I think, planned for the day before the fair. So we're hoping to get the winning dance couple to come redo their performance at the fair so anyone that couldn't make it the night before will be able to see it again. So we love being able to do that and to spotlight all the really awesome things that are happening.
Matt: 40:03
Yeah, awesome. Well, I'm glad Ryan was able to sit down for this podcast.
Jen: 40:07
He was very comfortable. Yeah, no, you know, what's really funny is I didn't even think to say it, I wrote it down after the fact. But this reminds me of our high school time. And so Ryan and I were part of like all the radio and TV production courses that Watertown High had at the time. And I was co-host of the Raider News program and he was like behind the scenes doing like the Dan Hogan-esque editing, and so I was the Dan Hogan on stage or on the set and he was doing the editing. And so that brought me to Cable Access in terms of when there was an opening there. And it was like I have the least technical experience to be on the Cable Access board, but the community engagement and knowing that this was my background, it's really cool to be able to be a part of that as well. And they do phenomenal, I mean, they are just such a resource, Cable, for the community. It's amazing. So grateful for them.
Matt: 40:53
Yeah. Cool, well, was there anything else that we didn't hit on that you wanted to touch on?
Jen: 40:57
I wanted to. I think there was one question about how do we fit into the city, so I printed out because I think it is interesting to know just how webby it is. And I think the city has been really good about having these organizational charts. I know that city manager Proakis loves them and so it really helps give a better picture of how the city is organized. So our team is under the Community Development and Planning Department under Assistant City Manager Steve Magoon. And there are three divisions in our department and three teams. So the three divisions are planning and zoning, inspectional services, and community design. And then the three teams are the sustainability team, the zoning and code enforcement team, and the events team. So really all-encompassing, and we are spread out across the community. Well, we're here at the mansion on our own little island on Talcott Ave, and then some of the department is still at City Hall and others have moved over to the Parker Annex. So CDP really is spread out and doing a lot of great things, and so we love being a part of our department and being able to add the value that we do to it.
Matt: 42:02
Nice. Yeah, I've had many members of the department on the podcast.
Jen: 42:04
Yes, you have.
Matt: 42:06
Getting a part of that picture.
Jen: 42:07
Yeah, absolutely. Perfect.
Matt: 42:09
So if people want to find out more information or reach out to you guys, where should they find out more about Commander's Mansion?
Jen: 42:15
Yeah, so we're at commandersmansion.com, online. We have social medias. We actually made the decision to run two separate social medias just because, when I started here, the mansion had a Facebook and Instagram and I felt like it was a little confusing to our private event clients that were looking for wedding pictures and wedding things to see like, oh touch a truck is coming out, what's going on. So we have Commander's Mansion Facebook and Instagram. We also have Watertown City Events Facebook and Instagram as well, but all of that is found on www.commandersmansion.com. And we have a separate tab for city events if you're looking specifically for our community involvement.
Matt: 42:51
Yeah, well, maybe you can get Ryan involved for a touch a truck wedding event, you know, like there's possibilities.
Jen: 42:55
Absolutely, sure is.
Matt: 42:57
Well, thanks for taking the time to sit down and share your thoughts and stories.
Jen: 43:00
Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
Matt: 43:03
So that’s it for my conversation with Jen. You can find out more about the Commander’s Mansion and what’s going on there at commandersmansion.com. I’ll put a link in the show notes as well to their event page because they have a lot coming up starting with this weekend, if you’re listening when this comes out, with EcoFest on May 10th. Then they have the Poppy Social on May 23rd. And then the Pride parade and festival on June 1st and then their Tipsy Tea Party on June 29th, so they got a lot coming up. So check out their website. Also, if you want to see a little bit more of the mansion, I will be leading a walk with the Public Arts and Culture Committee and Live Well Watertown on Thursday, May 15th at 1pm. Meet in front of the Mosesian Center for the Arts. We'll start there and then we'll walk over to the Commander's Mansion. Get a quick little tour of each, if you're interested in that. If you want to find more interviews and conversations, you can head on over to littlelocalconversations.com. All the podcast episodes are there. Find upcoming events, including my next Creative Chats event, which will be on May 16th, Friday morning at the Mosesian Center for the Arts. Guest will be Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, who's been a guest on the podcast previously, but not for this series. Come listen to a conversation about a topic that's been on her mind recently and then we'll split into groups and have our own little conversations. It's been good fun so far, this series. So, again, you can check that out at littlelocalconversations.com. You can also sign up for my weekly newsletter there if you want to keep up to date with everything going on.
Matt: 44:20
A few things to wrap up. I want to give a thank you to Arsenal Financial, podcast sponsor, financial planning business here in Watertown owned by Doug Orifice, very committed community member. You can listen to a Watertown trivia episode I did with him to celebrate the sponsorship, learn more about his business, learn a little bit about some fun Watertown trivia facts. And if you're a busy family, business owner, or close to retirement, that's their specialty. So check them out at arsenalfinancial.com. I also want to give a shout out to the Watertown Cultural Council, who have given me a grant this year to help support the podcast. So I want to say thank you and give them the appropriate credit, which is, this program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. Find out more about them at watertownculturalcouncil.org and massculturalcouncil.org. Then, lastly, I want to give a couple of shout outs to promotional partners, the Watertown Business Coalition, a nonprofit organization here in Watertown bringing businesses and people together to help strengthen the community. Find out more about them at watertownbusinesscoalition.com. And a thank you to Watertown News, which is a Watertown-focused online newspaper. Great way to keep up to date with what's going on in the city. Find that at watertownmanews.com. So that’s it. Until next time, take care.
