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Old Tavern Farm

Buildings and structures in Franklin County, MassachusettsFarms on the National Register of Historic Places in MassachusettsNational Register of Historic Places in Franklin County, Massachusetts
Old Tavern Farm, Greenfield MA
Old Tavern Farm, Greenfield MA

The Old Tavern Farm is a historic farmstead at 817 Colrain Road in Greenfield, Massachusetts. The main structure exemplifies the organic growth of a farm complex from colonial days into the 19th century. The main block of the house is a Federal style 2-1/2 story center chimney structure, built c. 1820. A 42-foot (13 m) wing added onto the main block's west side is built in part on a foundation dating to 1740; this section of the house was apparently built in 1794, tearing down the earlier 1740 construction. This wing is attached at its other end to a 19th-century barn.The origins of this farmstead lie in the movements of Samuel Hinsdale (1708–86), whose father Mehuman, a tavern owner, was taken captive by Native Americans in the 1704 Raid on Deerfield. The elder Hinsdale died in 1736, willing this land, then still part of Deerfield to his son, who apparently built here around 1740, the year before his son was born. Not long afterward, Hinsdale was known to operating a tavern, for which he was formally licensed in 1747, although it is unclear if the license was for this location. Hinsdale was elected to the first board of selectmen when the Greenfield was separated from Deerfield in 1753. By 1787, when his estate was inventoried, Hinsdale had unambiguously been operating a tavern here, as well as a cooper's shop. The tavern continued to be operated by his sons. After 1836 the tavern was operated by others, and was closed in 1860, apparently due to the temperance movement.In the later part of the 19th century the property, then 160 acres (65 ha), was used primarily for agricultural purposes by the Smith family, whose descendants occupied the property until 1997. Now much reduced in size, the property is operated as a bed and breakfast inn, reviving its earlier use as a service to travelers.The farmstead was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Old Tavern Farm (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Old Tavern Farm
Colrain Road, Greenfield

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Latitude Longitude
N 42.622222222222 ° E -72.635833333333 °
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Address

Colrain Road 817
01301 Greenfield
Massachusetts, United States
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Old Tavern Farm, Greenfield MA
Old Tavern Farm, Greenfield MA
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Main Street Historic District (Greenfield, Massachusetts)
Main Street Historic District (Greenfield, Massachusetts)

The Main Street Historic District encompasses the civic core of Greenfield, Massachusetts, the county seat of Franklin County, Massachusetts. The district includes several blocks of Main Street extending roughly from Chapman Street in the west to Franklin Street in the east, as well as a number of properties facing the common along Bank Row, south of Main Street, and is architecture reflective of the city's 19th-century growth as a major crossroads and county seat. The district includes the town hall, county courthouse, several 19th century bank buildings, and three properties previously listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the Garden Theater Block, the Leavitt-Hovey House (which houses the public library), and the 1915 Post Office building. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.Greenfield was settled in the 17th century as part of Deerfield, and was incorporated as a town in 1775. The town center was by then already established on Main Street, with a variety of businesses and residences, none of which have survived. Major travel routes, both north–south and east–west, where developed in the late 18th century that met there. The town became the shire town of Franklin County when it was established in 1811, and a series of civic buildings took shape thereafter in the Bank Row/Court Square area. Commercial development extended east from that area as the 19th century progressed, although a few older homes survived this process, including the Leavitt-Hovey House. Further development was spurred by the arrival of railroads in the mid-19th century, and the late 19th century was the town's period of greatest industrial and economic growth.