{"nrhp_refnum":"01000626","name":"Cambridge Grant Historic District","other_names":["Russell Hill"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"205-287 Russell Hill Rd., 15 Wilker Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Ashburnham","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.645241500000054,"lon":-71.86401628594348,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-08-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Agriculture","Art","Exploration/Settlement","Performing Arts","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A rural historic district of about 322 acres in eastern Ashburnham, Worcester County, Massachusetts, covering part of the original Cambridge Grant on the slopes of Russell Hill. It holds seven houses dating from 1788 to 1834, six barns and other outbuildings.","why_significant":"The district preserves a largely unchanged rural New England farm landscape of Federal-period farmhouses, barns and open land. The houses include the oldest dwelling in the grant, the first brick house in town, and rare examples of local building types. The excerpt provided does not include the full Section 8 statement, so the stated criteria are not visible.","narrative":"Cambridge Grant Historic District is a 322-acre rural neighborhood on the southern and eastern slopes of Russell Hill in eastern Ashburnham, Massachusetts. It takes in a large part of a colonial land grant of just over 1,000 acres. Along Russell Hill Road and Wilker Road stand seven houses built between 1788 and 1834, together with six barns and other outbuildings, stone walls, a farm pond, a burial ground, a brick kiln site and the foundations of a tanning shop and an early schoolhouse. The Thomas Russell House is the oldest surviving dwelling in the grant. The brick John Adams, Jr. House, built about 1798, was the first brick house and the largest in town. Other Federal farmhouses and a large bank barn, possibly the earliest in the region, show how local builders adapted regional forms. The district retains open pasture, orchards and woodland with long views toward Boston, giving a well-preserved picture of an early farming community.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Thomas Russell (built the Thomas Russell House); Walter Russell Adams and Timothy Fletcher are named as owners of their houses. No architect is named.","architectural_style":"Early Republic: Federal, vernacular; Mid 19th century: vernacular; Early 20th century: vernacular","criteria":[],"status_note":"Farmsteads remain in domestic and agricultural use with surrounding fields and woodland; the form lists no non-contributing structures in the description.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.946495-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/94/7971/63797194/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/01000626.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000626/17999d5465-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000626/17999d5465-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Cambridge Grant","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Adams,_Jr._House,_Cambridge_Grant.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Cambridge Grant</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Adams,_Jr._House,_Cambridge_Grant.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797194","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Grant_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5025425"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/cambridge-grant-historic-district-01000626/"}