{"nrhp_refnum":"98000120","name":"Stetson-Ford House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2 Meadow Farms Way","address_restricted":false,"city":"Norwell","county":"Plymouth County","state":"MA","lat":42.121834008000064,"lon":-70.78431752699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-03-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2 1/2-story center-chimney farmhouse at 2 Meadow Farms Way, Norwell, Massachusetts, on the former Stetson 'Hundred Acre Farm'. Its oldest section may date to about 1674, and it reached its present form between 1783 and 1785.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as an outstanding example of a stylish early rural Massachusetts farmhouse that grew in stages from First Period construction to a late Georgian/Federal house. It is tied to the Stetson and Ford shipbuilding families, whose shipbuilding skills carried over into house carpentry. It is also significant for its surviving farmstead features and its later use as a town-owned educational property.","narrative":"This farmhouse at 2 Meadow Farms Way in Norwell, Massachusetts, sits on a rise above the North River salt marshes, on land once part of the Stetson family's Hundred Acre Farm. Its south ell is traditionally believed to be the first small house of Thomas Stetson, possibly built in the mid 1670s, and exposed chamfered beams and posts still show First Period construction. In 1781 shipbuilder and housewright Michael Ford bought the property and, between 1783 and 1785, remade it into the five-bay, center-chimney house seen today, with a pedimented entry porch and transitional Georgian/Federal paneling and moldings. Three generations of Fords ran a shipyard at Fox Hill while farming here. George Morton's family farmed the land in the early twentieth century. The town of Norwell bought the property in 1972 and placed the house and three surrounding acres under the Norwell Historical Commission in 1984. Fieldstone foundations, walls and a well remain from the old farmstead.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1674-1947","architect_builder":"Thomas Stetson; Michael Ford","architectural_style":"Colonial: Postmedieval English; Colonial: Georgian; Early Republic: Federal","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Well maintained by the Norwell Historical Commission as an educational property for the public. A fire in 1956 led to roof and chimney repairs, and the house was re-sided in the early 1990s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.961067-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/7965/63796554/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/98000120.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000120/bdb135d1c4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98000120/bdb135d1c4-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Joan Vermette","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StetsonFordHouse_front.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Joan Vermette</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StetsonFordHouse_front.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796554","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stetson%E2%80%93Ford_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7611653"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/plymouth-county/stetson-ford-house-98000120/"}