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Longmeadows Farm is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
It is a prime example of a culturally significant landmark containing both
historic and unique architecture.
The Maine Historic Preservation Commission has a brief write up.
The current farmstead has been in agricultural use since 1786.
Capt. Andrew Richardson of the Revolutionary War originally owned the land. The
land was then sold to Moses Stacy and stayed in his family on and off from the
early 1800’s to the middle of the 1800’s. The farm was historically known as
the Moses Stacy Farm. John B. Colcord (a resident of Fairfield) purchased the
land from the Moses Estate. John Colcord greatly improved the beauty of the
estate when he built the current house in 1882. The barn, after being destroyed
by a fire, was re-built and completed in 1899.
The Brown’s have been farming the land since 1937 when Charles
Orman Brown bought the land after the Great Depression on back taxes. Charles
gave the farm its current name, Longmeadows Farm.
Some facts of
interest
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During
World War I the 70 acre field that currently produces hay was tilled up and
planted to green beans for the war. Children were hired to pick the beans
at a penny per pound.
-
An
architectural historian has told us the building that is currently our
garage is the oldest building on the homestead; dating to the late 1700’s.
It was once used as the primary house.
-
The
sawmill that is still fully operational runs off a World War II Chrysler
Marine Engine. Every winter we ‘twitch out’ saw logs from the woods and saw
them in the spring. Last year we sawed 3,000 board feet for our own
personal use. The sawmill provides all the slab wood we need to heat the
kitchen and all the sawdust we can use for animal bedding.
-
When
Charles O. Brown was milking Golden Guernsey cows during the 1940’s he hired
a gentleman whose only job was to water cows. This man worked 12 hours a
day 7 days a week pumping water by hand.
-
The farm
was the first home on the east side of the Sebasticook River to have
electricity. In 1948 a line ran directly across the river to the barn. An
original pole is still standing in the pasture.
-
A water
pipe was buried below the frost line from the Sebasticook River to the
farmstead in the 1930's. That same water pipe is still in use today. In
order to dig a line that long and that deep a horse with a single chisel was
harnessed everyday and a group of four men would clear out the loosened dirt
after the horse made a pass. The men would work until the horse was
exhausted and then quit for the day. Before they laid the line the horse’s
shoulders were below ground level.
-
A
windmill located on the shores of the Sebasticook use to pump water to the
house. It was discontinued in 1948 when electricity arrived.
-
The
oldest piece of equipment still in use on the farm is a Grain Drill from the
1940's. It is used twice a year; once in the spring to plant golden oats
and once in the fall to plant winter rye.
-
The
boundaries of the property are based on the “king’s lines”. These lines,
originally established by the King of England, gave huge tracts of land and
water rights to colonists. Our land is 1 ¼ mile and 16 rods back from the
Sebasticook River in a perfectly straight line. Aerial photographs from the
1930’s show that many more pieces of property with existing rock walls and
tree-lines had the same characteristics. Most of these have disappeared as
developments and sub-divisions were created.
The Sawmill, ready to mill lumber from logs hauled during the
winter.
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