New Hampshire Farm Museum facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
|
|
Plumer-Jones Farm
|
|
 |
|
 Location in New Hampshire
Location in the United States
|
|
| Location | 1305 White Mountain Highway, Milton, New Hampshire |
|---|---|
| Area | 30 acres (12 ha) |
| Built | 1782 |
| NRHP reference No. | 79000212 |
| Added to NRHP | March 23, 1979 |
The New Hampshire Farm Museum is a cool place to visit in Milton, New Hampshire, USA. It's a farm museum that shows what farm life was like in New Hampshire for over 300 years!
You can explore an old farmhouse and a huge, three-story barn. The barn is about 104-foot-long (32 m) and filled with old farm machines, tools, sleighs, and wagons. The museum also has live farm animals, a nature trail, and a gift shop.
This museum is built on what used to be the Plumer-Jones Farm. This farm had many buildings connected together. The main farmhouse was built in the late 1700s, and the barns were added in the mid-1800s. Because it's so old and important, the farm was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Contents
Exploring the Farm Museum's Location
The New Hampshire Farm Museum sits on more than 60 acres (24 ha) of land. It's located between a road called New Hampshire Route 125 on one side and the Spaulding Turnpike on the other.
This land was first settled in the 1780s by two early settlers, Joseph and Beard Plumer. Over time, some of their original farmland was used to build the turnpike. Most of the museum's land is covered in woods. However, about 10 acres (4.0 ha) are open fields. These fields are still used by the museum as a working farm, showing how things were done long ago.
The Historic Farm Buildings
The most important part of the museum is the group of connected farm buildings from the 1800s. These buildings start with a small barn near the road and end with the "Great Barn." This Great Barn is one of the biggest barns in southeastern New Hampshire!
One of the buildings in the middle of this connected group is Joseph Plumer's house, built in 1782. This house might be one of the very first wooden houses built in this part of Milton. The main part of the farmstead, right in the center, was built around 1810. It even used to be a local tavern, a place where people could eat and drink!
The museum also owns the Plummer Homestead, which is right next door to the south. This house was built by Beard Plumer.
What You Can See and Do at the Museum
The New Hampshire Farm Museum isn't just a place to look at old things; it's a working farm! This means you can see how farms used to operate.
Inside the Buildings
The Great Barn has three floors packed with exhibits. You can see all sorts of old farm tools and machinery. The main farmhouse and the Plummer farmhouse are open for guided tours. Each part of the Jones house is decorated to look like a different time period, so you can see how homes changed over the years.
Other Cool Spots
You can also visit a blacksmith's shop. On weekends, you might even see a blacksmith giving demonstrations, showing how they used to shape metal. There's also a cider mill barn, which is used for educational programs. If you love nature, you can walk along trails that wind through the woods at the back of the property.
A Look at the Museum's History
After the Plumer family (whose name was sometimes spelled "Plummer") bought the farm in the 1700s, different generations of the Jones and Plummer families farmed the land.
In 1973, the Jones family heirs gave over 300 acres (120 ha) of land to the University of New Hampshire. They also gave the main farm buildings to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. Finally, in 1979, the museum took over the farm as its permanent home.
