High Hollow Farm History

July 16, 1766 - The first recorded event we could find was a property transfer from one Rebecca Blanchard (widow) of Dunstable, NH to "Nathan Colbert of Dracut, MA" for the sum of "seventeen Pounds 6 shillings and eight pence". As official records were not kept prior to 1771, this had been copied into the records after the fact. It is presumed that Rebecca never lived here or visited, but Nathan probably built the original section of the current house before 1772, which is the first verifiable date of its existence. This room is the current dining room with brick fireplace. The barn was also probably built during this time.

You may click on any photo on this page to zoom in and get a postcard-size better quality picture.

April 20, 1779 and "in the third year of American Independence" - "Nathan Coburn" sold the property to Oliver Burt of Harvard, MA for 950 pounds.

January 22, 1785 - Oliver Burt sold the property to Edward and Ebeneezer Willson for the sum of 180 pounds. These were the sons of Edward Willson, brother of Samuel Willson, the original "Uncle Sam" who used the initials "U.S" to distinguish himself from his brother "Uncle Ned". He later became famous as a citizen of Troy, NY and a purveyor of beef to the U.S. Military during the War of 1812. Samuel Willson's boyhood home is a Historical Landmark in Mason, NH.

August 14, 1790 and "in the fifteenth year of the Independence of America" - Edward Willson Junr. and his wife Lydia of Mason sold the property to "John Hull" of Mason for 90 Pounds.

October 22, 1794 - "John Hall" and his wife Martha sold the property to Joseph Buckman of Malden, MA for 180 pounds.

February 7, 1801 - Joseph Buckman sold the property to Samuel and Ammi Tufts of Malden, MA for $770.

April 20, 1816 - Samuel and Ammi sold the property to Ezekial and Nancy Merriam. It seems the place was then leased back to Ammi. The records are a little confused for this period, but eventually a David Jefts acquired the property.


	*March 12, 1832* - David Jefts sold the property to Ebeneezer Nutting. This seems to have started a long period during which the Nuttings lived here and hard farmed the land. We have many original documents including deeds, wills, tax papers, bills, etc. from this period and written in script hand. These documents were found in the barn long after the fact and preserved. In the end, the farm provided a living for these good folks, but they did not acquire any wealth and probably died poor. One of the most interesting documents is a list of personal belongings. Ebeneezer died on August 8, 1877 and left everything to Martha. Unfortunately, there was no money and the farm and contents were sold for cash. Martha was allowed to keep $75 worth of personal effects. The list includes buffalo robes, eggs, chickens, a rifle, blankets and other interesting, everyday household itemsof the time. There were several steps in the progression toward the current house size.	Some time before the 1830's a room was added in back of the original fireplace, a front door was added in the middle of the south side and the roof was added. By dates found on newspapers under the clapboards, it was learned that in 1836 the roof was raised to allow for putting in floor windows upstairs and so making the rooms a more convenient height. As that was the year the owner married a new wife, the changes were undoubtedly made for her benefit. It was at this time also that the beams were covered until they were again exposed in 1937. The original house consists of the part between the front door and the wood shed (now the kitchen). Only in that one room and the rooms above it were found the hand hewn beams browned by wood smoke, hand split laths, and hard-as-rock old style plaster and hand made wide hinges on a batten door (the original door and hardware are still hanging!).

April 4, 1887 - William Wheeler acquired the property from Martha, probably for moneys owed.

There is a gap in our knowledge at present here. The next event we have information of occurred in 1937. During this time period however, the farm was used as a home and a hard scrabble farm. It may even have been unoccupied for some period of time just before the next purchase.

1937 - 1970 - Donald M. and Gertrude F. Houghton (1962 Donald died leaving all to Gertrude)

Donald was in the shoe industry in Boston and this was bought as a summer vacation/retirement home. Daughter Dorothy married a local (Russell) and still lives nearby with her children and grandchildren. A considerable amount of work was done to the old farm during this period. The following words are from Gertrude's diary:
"One Sunday morning in 1937, we were driven out of a village, off the hard road, through the woods, uphill for two miles; then just after we started down on the other side, we were told, "That is it."
Looking through the roadside brush and across a pasture, we saw a small dilapidated house with tar-paper patched roof.

It was not on a hilltop, but it did have a distant view towards the east and a pleasant open outlook; it was old but had not received any care for years; there were no near neighbors, but all in the district were fine people; there was no electricity but several good springs. The inside of the house was dreary and drab, but it was solid. We looked around at the huge old barn, at the collection of buildings, at the nearness of the deep woods - and decided to buy it. ... The house had been crudely built in its beginning - not a right angle measured or a plumb line used in its construction back there before 1770. Some of the original hand hewn beams quite evidently had been used before; some were crooked. There was a "bulge out" in the back wall and a slant on the front. The clapboards were rotting off ... As the old kitchen was to be our living room, the big chimney was rebuilt to afford a fireplace, the beams were exposed in all their beauty; another window was cut in the back wall and small panes restored in all windows. Some of the wainscoting had beams as wide as twenty four inches. To go with these beautiful wide boards, we were able to buy the two old panels over the fireplace from the "Olie Reed" place at that time still standing on the hill back of the brick school on the Fitchburg road. For a hearthstone, we hunted in all the nearby cellar holes."


	The Houghtons resurrected the house with new clapboards, white paint, new roof and chimney, homemade shutters, a kitchen in place of the old wood shed and not a line or proportion changed on the outside (but what a transformation!). They also paid attention to the yard, adding trees, shrubs and bushes. One of his accomplishments was the planting and nurturing of one of the first cultivated highbush blueberry patches in the state of NH. This patch still produces vigorously today.

1970-1972 - Stephen H. And Barbara Woycke - He was an airline pilot and seems to have bought the house very cheap and sold it for a good profit a short time later, much to the chagrin of some of the locals.

1972-1985 - Jane Hathaway Donovan - She was a dentist from NJ and used the place as a summer home. Her son John lived here for a few years. Some improvements were made, but the house mostly sat idle or neglected. Sold 30 acres of land and house, but kept 98 acres across Batchelder Road.

1985-1986 Robert W. And Norma L. Fortier

1986 - 1987 - John Christopher Leask and Linda Bell Hayes and Andrew Findlay Leask - Split a portion of the land uphill to build a house on. Sold the remaining 20 acres.

1987 to present - Ronald D. and Joann L. Schaeffer
Our reaction to seeing the place for the first time was much the same as Mrs. Houghton's. It had dilapidated to the point where the real estate agent told us to buy the property for the land and bulldoze the house over and build a new one. The roof leaked, the electric was very outdated, the plumbing was essentially nonexistent, the barn and chicken shed were rotting away and trees were laying on them where they fell through the roofs. To top it off, there was a huge flood the year before we got here that washed out all of the roads in the area but one, so the house was very lonely and at the end of its own little world.

And finally, we were told that a human head had just been found on a corner of the property by a neighbor and her passing dog, part of a local drug/passion related murder. We both looked at the other and knew this was our place!


	We have completely redone every room and building on the property and have tried to retain the character of the home. On the old side, we have insulated and updated utilities as well as replaced all windows with more energy efficient versions. Most of the original wood, including wide flooring, has been exposed and hand stenciling and detail painting have been done throughout. We have also added a large addition with living room, bathroom, hottub room and cellar access and, in keeping in character, used old barn beams and hand detailing throughout. Being fond of porches, we built a very big wrap-around colonial porch with a large attached deck and party gazebo. The second floor of the gazebo, an octagon 8 feet on a side and 20 feet across, is used as an auxiliary room.	We have also landscaped and have planted both a large orchard, and also a large berry patch. We have many herb and vegetable gardens and we also raise excellent spring asparagus. Joann named High Hollow Farm after some passages describing the place in old diaries. We think the name is appropriate - as one friend put it "a house on a hill in the middle of a swamp". The same friend also noted that we are lucky enough to live in the kind of place that other people go on vacation to!