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Greenwood Farm is a historic property and
nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...
located in
Ipswich, Massachusetts Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,785 at the 2020 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island. A res ...
, and owned by
The Trustees of Reservations ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
. The farm is 216 acres of gardens, pastures, meadows, woodlands and salt marsh and it features the Paine (or Paine-Dodge) House, a
First Period First Period is an American architecture style originating between approximately 1626 and 1725, used primarily by British colonists during the settlement of the British colonies of North America, particularly in Massachusetts and Virginia. ...
farmhouse constructed in 1694.


Farm History

Greenwood Farm is located on a neck of land in the north part of Ipswich, Massachusetts. The neck, called Great Neck and later Jeffreys Neck, is about 350 acres and is surrounded on three sides by the Eagle Hill River, the Ipswich River, and Plum Island Sound. Prior to its settlement by European colonists, the land was a homeland to the Pawtucket people who called the local village Agawam, which is translated from
Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...
as "beyond" (''aga)'' "the marsh" (''wam''). About 1623, Great Neck was purchased from the Pawtucket—presumably from their sagamore named Quonopkonat (better known by his honorific ''Masquenomoit'' or ''Masconomet'')—by William Jeffrey (1591–1675) to establish a fishermen's trading post. Jeffrey gave the neck its current name. In 1633, Robert Coles (c. 1600–1655) was in the first company, led by
John Winthrop the Younger John Winthrop the Younger FRS (February 12, 1606 – April 6, 1676) was an English politician and alchemist. An early governor of the Connecticut Colony, he played a large role in the unification of the colony's settlements into a singular ...
, that went to Agawam (now
Ipswich, Massachusetts Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,785 at the 2020 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island. A res ...
). Coles was granted 200 acres—thought to be the Greenwood Farm land—on Jeffreys Neck north of town. Coles removed to Salem in 1635 and would become an original proprietor of
Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
. By 1639, Robert Paine Sr. (1601–1684) was in Ipswich and in 1640 he received a grant to the farmland. Robert Sr. was the founder of the town's grammar school, a preacher, and Ruling Elder of the First Church. The farm was conveyed to his son, Robert Paine Jr. (1627–aft. 1703), who built the Paine House in 1694 which still stands. Robert Jr. graduated from
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
in 1656 and served as foreman of the
Salem witch trial The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Not everyone wh ...
jury in 1692. Robert Paine Jr.'s son, Robert Paine 3rd (1670–1693), died as a young man, so in 1703 he deeded the Paine House and much of the Paine farmland to Daniel Smith (1705–1744), who lived on a neighboring farm and a year earlier had married his daughter, Elizabeth Paine (1677–1717). After the death of Elizabeth, Daniel Smith married Deborah Willcomb (1688–aft. 1735) and the farm remained in the possession of Smith/Willcomb descendants for five generations. The farm was acquired by Thomas Smith Greenwood (1807–1883), the first keeper of the Ipswich Lighthouse and son of Ruth Smith (1786–1807), the great granddaughter of Daniel Smith. The farm was passed to his daughter, Pauline Greenwood (1845–1932), who was the last of the Smith descendants to own the farm. The farm and Paine House were acquired in 1911 by Guy Murchie (1872–1958), a Harvard law graduate and former Roosevelt Rough Rider. In 1916 the farm was purchased by Robert Gray Dodge (1872–1964), a Harvard law graduate and Boston attorney, whose daughters turned it over to the care of the Trustees of Reservations in 1975. After the death of Sally Dodge (1907–1993), a
New England Conservatory of Music The New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) is a Private college, private music school in Boston, Massachusetts. The conservatory is located on Huntington Avenue along Avenue of the Arts (Boston), the Avenue of the Arts near Boston Symphony Ha ...
graduate and violinist, Greenwood Farm was opened to the public.


Paine House

The
saltbox house A saltbox house is a gable-roofed residential structure that is typically two stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional New England style of home, originally timber framed, which takes its name from its resemblance to a wood ...
built by Robert Paine Jr. stands on its original site and is now a museum owned by
The Trustees of Reservations ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...
. Once thought to have been built in 1702, a dendrochronological study commissioned in 2002 by the Trustees revealed that it was built in 1694. The Paine House was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1990. Here is a description of the Paine House on the website Historic Ipswich, which is maintained by the town historian, Gordon Harris:
This saltbox was built in 1694, a well-preserved example of First Period architecture. This house uses the principal rafter and purlin system in which multiple purlins span the principal rafters beginning directly above the bay posts, and support vertically laid roofing boards. The method probably evolved from the roof framing of the west of England. Sheathed walls and doors in the Paine house are decorated with shadow moldings created by planes that were run along the outer face of a board at its juncture with another, a relatively rare interior finish. A section of the crawl space basement appears to have served as a dairy. Its interiors are furnished with late 17th-19th-century pieces acquired during the Colonial Revival by former owners Alice and Robert Gray Dodge. The picturesque house remains on its original saltwater farm location.


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Ipswich, Massachusetts This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Ipswich, Massachusetts. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Ipswich, Massachusetts, United ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, Massachusetts This list is of that portion of the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) designated in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County, Massachusetts. The locations of these properties and districts for which the latitude and longitude coordin ...


References


Bibliography

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External links


The Trustees of Reservations: Greenwood Farm

Trail map
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Houses completed in 1694 The Trustees of Reservations Protected areas of Essex County, Massachusetts Open space reserves of Massachusetts Houses in Ipswich, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Ipswich, Massachusetts Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Essex County, Massachusetts Protected areas established in 1975 1975 establishments in Massachusetts