{"nrhp_refnum":"12000455","name":"Towne Farm","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"55 Towne Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boxford","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.657087500000074,"lon":-71.02604320381482,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2012-08-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Agriculture","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 16.9-acre farmstead district at 55 Towne Road in southwest Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts. It includes a 1790 Federal-style farmhouse, carriage house, barn, garage, windmill and pumphouse, water tower, and stone walls.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the farm as a long-held Towne family property with a surviving 1790 farmhouse and a collection of agricultural and water-system outbuildings. It shows how the farm changed under Hiram N. Towne, who added a windmill, water tower and other improvements while running a lumber business. The property also has high potential for historic archaeological resources and moderate to high potential for Native American sites.","narrative":"Towne Farm is a farmstead of 16.9 acres in the southwest corner of Boxford, Massachusetts, split by Towne Road. Its centerpiece is a two-story, five-bay Federal-style farmhouse built in 1790 by Asa Towne, with a central chimney and an interior that retains wide floorboards, hand-split lath and horse-hair plaster. Nearby stand an 1858 carriage house, a barn enlarged in the late 19th century from a ca. 1790 tie-beam frame, and a garage built in phases around the early 1900s. South of the road are a 1902 pumphouse with windmill frame and a 1907 water tower, which once supplied the house by gravity. Hiram N. Towne, who built a large lumber business while keeping the farm active, added many of these improvements. Stone walls frame the yard and road. The surrounding land was once Towne property, and the site may also hold archaeological remains of an earlier farmstead.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Asa Towne (builder of the 1790 farmhouse)","architectural_style":"Early Republic / Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Farmhouse and related buildings remain in domestic and agricultural use; the waterworks are currently unused.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:10:51.782114-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/88/7946/63794688/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/12000455.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000455/e1c51c54df-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000455/e1c51c54df-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Unknown authorUnknown author","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BoxfordMA_TowneFarmHistorical.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown authorUnknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BoxfordMA_TowneFarmHistorical.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794688","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towne_Farm","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15637685"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/towne-farm-12000455/"}