BUILDINGS
Wood & Metal Shop
Joseph S. Abbott constructed the first building at the farm in 1830. The two-story post and beam constructed building (located on the south side of Hopkinton Road) housed a wood shop on the second floor and a garage and metal works area on the first floor. The shop chimney was constructed with an early “beehive” style top. During the winters, Joseph Abbott employed several individuals who worked in the shop producing sashes, blinds, doors, and other finish items, some of which were used in the construction of Amoskeage housing in Manchester. The shop continues to exist in its original form today. Many of the original tools remain in the wood and metal shops and continue to be used to complete repairs on the farm.
The Barn
The main barn was built in 1882 using the same post and beam construction as the wood shop with all pinned, mortise and tennon joints and remains a viable, structurally sound building today. The gabled barn roof has a cupola in the middle for airflow and ventilation. The basement level of the barn opens to the barn yard (once the home of pigs, chickens, and calves) and includes a full cellar which housed stables and a slaughter room. Today, the slaughter room remains but the stables have been removed to provide room for equipment storage. In its original form, the ground floor of the barn featured a 12’ wide x 14’ high drive through, with cow stables on one side and horse stalls on the opposite and a grain room for feed storage. (Today, the farm stand occupies the most of the first floor space.) The barn features twelve-light transom windows above both the front and back doors.
The barn still includes two bays, seven mows, and a scaffold area over the barn floor for hay storage. The track and hay fork originally installed to lift the hay from the wagons and place it the barn for storage still exist today. (The barn it has been claimed could hold 100 tons of loose hay.)
The 22’ x 45’ barn ell with two silos was also built in 1882 and originally used as a carriage and tool house. Between 1890 and 1895, the interior was converted to stable for heifers and housed calf \pens. The two wooden stave silos, each 20’ high and 10’ in diameter, can hold approximately 75 tons of silage. The ell is presently used for storage purposes.
The Main House
The present Victorian style main house was built in 1892 by EB Hutchinson. It was built with wood harvested from the lot of land that was in timber production and constructed using the balloon frame design (The same type of balloon frame design used in the construction of the Mount Washington Hotel). The main house which measures 29’ x 38’ has 3 full stories with 4 rooms on each of the first two floors and 3 rooms on the third floor. The back ell of the house is 24’ x 28’ and also three stories. It contains the kitchen, a pantry, and a bathroom on the first floor; a full bath, 2 rooms, and a small bathroom on the second floor, and an open attic on the third floor. The numerous tall windows and doors contribute abundant light and fresh air throughout the house. The rooms are beautifully appointed with hand-tooled Victorian casings. Many of the rooms have recently been refurbished and the remaining rooms will be likewise be given fresh paint and new furnishings in the near future.
The original farm house built in Ciraca 1830 (Joseph Abbott) was moved about an 1/8 of a mile west on Hopkinton Road and resettled on the south side of the road to make room for the construction of the present house. Looking west (toward Hopkinton) from the farm, the original house is the second house on the left --a white colonial.
The Shed
The shed joining the house to the barn was built to serve multiple purposes. It provided interior access to the barn (a real bonus during New England winters); a milk room for the collection, storage, and handling of milk; firewood storage adjacent to the kitchen; a small room for harness storage; refrigeration for storing blocks of ice; space for storing buggies and sleighs; and a convenient place out of the weather to harness and unharness horses. Today, the shed continues to provide interior access to the barn and provides storage and parking space.
The Corn Barn
Behind the main barn is a small 18’ x 15’ post and beam structure called the “corn barn.” The corn barn built above the ground on four large corner posts and was used to dry corn for winter use. The interior bins could hold about 475 bushels of corn. One wall and half of the opposite wall are sided with narrow vertical slats with spaces between them to allow air to circulate through the bins to dry the corn. The corn barn has never been altered and exists in its original state today.
The Ledge House and Windmill
In the past, a small storage shed and a children’s playhouse (referred to as the “ledge house”) were located on the knoll a few hundred yards behind the barn. Various kinds of sleds and other horse-drawn equipment were kept in the shed; and for generations, young girls on the farm held tea parties with their dolls in the ledge house. Additionally, as the knoll was one of the highest points on the farm, it was also the home to windmill used to generate power for the farm. This spring, trees and shrubs have been trimmed from the knoll in anticipation of erecting a gazebo on the sight of the former ledge house and reinstalling the antique windmill.
The Ice House
A short walk behind the barn, into the woodland, and down the well marked path brings one to the site of former ice house. The ice house was approximately 24’ x 30’ and was filled with ice cut from the small pond created in the stream that flowed through the farm property. Ice was harvested in large chunks, stacked in the ice house, and packed with sawdust to keep it from thawing. The ice was used to cool the milk from the cows, to keep the milk cold during the daily deliveries, and to keep the family’s foods cold in the kitchen ice box. The practice of harvesting ice was abandoned when electrical coolers, brine tanks, and household refrigerators were installed.
The Barn Yard and Hen House
The barn yard is located on the east side of the barn and was fenced in to serve as a place where the cows could be turned out in any weather. A 45’ x 8’ hen house once stood along the south wall of the barn yard and was home to the family’s chickens. At one point, pigs also lived in portion of the barn yard. This winter and spring, the barn yard served as the home for the farm’s newly adopted draft foals.
The Machinery Storage Shed
At the back edge of the field that runs behind the wood and metal shop, is a 60’ x 20’ pole barn which was built in 1973. The barn provides a place of much of the farm’s large machinery.