 Hale and later his son both served as trustees of the academy after its founding, and boarded some of its students here, most notably Admiral Edward Preble.In 1898 the house was acquired by E. Moody Boynton, who was born in Ohio but whose family had deep roots in Byfield.Boynton was an eccentric inventor who became wealthy by patenting the M-shaped sawtooth, but may be best remembered for the Boynton Bicycle Railroad, a type of steam-powered monorail.