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Fletcher Farm

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1790. Lower Parker Hill Rd.

In 1790, Peter Fletcher purchased land on Parker Hill, just north of the Rockingham town line, and together with his son David built this substantial wood-frame, twin-chimney, Georgian-plan house facing Williams River Valley. Father and son shared the house, with Peter, his wife, Ruth, and two daughters occupying the west half while David and his wife lived in the eastern portion. Each had their own kitchen hearth and cellar stairs but shared a common central stair to chambers above. Each gable end has an entrance into that family's half, as well as a more formal Georgian-style entrance that accesses the central stair hall on the south front. The paneled stair wall and paneled hearth walls in the upper chambers showcase the work of local finish carpenters. A horse barn (c. 1790) at the rear was subsequently connected to the house by an ell.

In 1803 Peter sold his half of the house to David and moved to Alstead, New Hamp shire. David's son, Frink, joined his father in farming and they added an English barn to the west, parallel with what became the town road. Later they built a double English barn with twin drive-throughs from the farmyard to the fields north of the barns. The sheds and fences once connected all of the outbuildings to the horse barn and the main house to form a courtyard arrangement. On their own, the remaining barns make this one of the best early farm groupings in an area that otherwise largely retired from farming in the early twentieth century. David and his son, like many of their neighbors on Parker Hill, were members of the Congregational Church organized at the meetinghouse in Rockingham (WH7).

Writing Credits

Author: 
Glenn M. Andres and Curtis B. Johnson
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Citation

Glenn M. Andres and Curtis B. Johnson, "Fletcher Farm", [Springfield, Vermont], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VT-01-WS67.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Vermont

Buildings of Vermont, Glenn M. Andres and Curtis B. Johnson. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 391-392.

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