{"nrhp_refnum":"06001128","name":"Wetherbee, Levi, Farm","other_names":["Wetherbee-Cobleigh-Steele Farm"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"484 Middle Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boxborough","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.488491595000056,"lon":-71.52437471661695,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-12-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 36-acre historic farm at 484 Middle Road in Boxborough, Massachusetts, centered on a 2½-story Georgian/Federal center-chimney farmhouse (mid-18th century, enlarged ca. 1800-1815), with a 1941 barn, a ca. 1904 icehouse, a pond, stone walls and farm fields.","why_significant":"The farmhouse shows early framing details and fine Federal-style woodwork from its early 19th-century enlargement. The farm also illustrates Boxborough's agricultural history, including orchards, market gardening and dairying under the Cobleigh and Steele families. Ephraim Cobleigh was a progressive farmer and founder of the Boxborough Farmer's Club, which was organized in the farmhouse in 1874.","narrative":"Set on 36 acres along Middle Road in Boxborough, this farm centers on a 2½-story, center-chimney house that began as a one-story building in the 18th century and was raised to two stories in the early 1800s. Its lower frame has First Period-style chamfered girts, while the second-floor rooms contain finely carved Federal woodwork, including a reeded mantel and dado. Nearby are a 1941 apple barn built by Thomas A. Steele, a relocated icehouse of about 1904, a farm pond, fieldstone walls and the remains of a root cellar. The property reflects the town's farming economy. Ephraim Cobleigh, who bought it in 1863, expanded into market gardening, pears and grapes and helped found the Boxborough Farmer's Club in the house in 1874. Burpee Clark Steele later ran large apple orchards here from 1908. The town bought the farm in 1994, and the house is now vacant while the land serves recreation.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Thomas A. Steele, builder (1941 barn)","architectural_style":"Colonial: Georgian","criteria":[],"status_note":"The house is listed as currently vacant; the town of Boxborough bought the farm in 1994, and the land is used for recreation.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.758661-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/92/7957/63795792/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/06001128.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06001128/ebc726ccb7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06001128/ebc726ccb7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Levi_Wetherbee_Farm,_Boxborough_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Levi_Wetherbee_Farm,_Boxborough_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795792","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Wetherbee_Farm","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6535550"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/wetherbee-levi-farm-06001128/"}