Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm

When English settlers first arrived in Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1635, colonist John Spencer was granted a 400-acre tract of farmland near the Parker River. After his death, the property was sold to Daniel Peirce Sr. of Watertown, whose son built a large stone manor house on the property in 1690. Over the next 200 years, ownership of the land was passed down through the Peirce family, and then to a merchant, a privateer, and other notable members of the Newbury community. In 1861, the farm was purchased by Edward Little, whose descendants ultimately donated the property to Historic New England in 1986. Today, it is open to the public as a family-friendly farm and museum. Now known as the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm, the property provides a unique look into life in early America, and the story of its ownership by multiple families over several centuries can be seen as a microcosm of the ever-changing landscape of the colonial period.

The land along the Merrimack River that now makes up Newbury, Massachusetts, was inhabited by Native Americans, including the Pennacook, Agawam, and Naumkeag, for thousands of years before English colonization. Led by Reverends Thomas Parker and James Noyes, roughly 100 colonists arrived from England in 1635 and established Newbury Plantation. John Spencer, who played an important role in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was granted a 400-acre tract of farmland, most of which he leased to tenant farmers. Spencer was a wealthy colonist and a captain in the local militia, but he was forced out of the colony in 1637 for his support of Anne Hutchinson, a prominent religious leader whose ideas clashed with established puritan beliefs. Spencer left the property to his nephew before his death in 1648. His nephew sold the property, now at its current size of 230 acres, to Daniel Peirce, Sr., in 1651.

Peirce, a blacksmith from Watertown, was also an active member of the Newbury community. Thanks to improvements he made on the property and the increasing demand for land in Newbury, the farm had more than doubled in value by the time of his death in 1677. Ownership of the house passed to his son Daniel Pierce, Jr., who held several high-status local positions. Throughout the 1670s and ‘80s, his primary residence was a house in present-day Newburyport, but in 1690 Daniel moved into a stone-and-brick manor house on the Newbury farm property. Although an unusual choice in a region where wooden houses were the norm, his decision to build a stone house may have been an attempt to display his high status. Peirce died in 1704, and his estate, now considerably larger, passed to his son Benjamin.

Benjamin died suddenly in 1711, leaving his farm and his holdings – including at least one enslaved person – to his son Charles Peirce, Sr., who lived on the farm for more than 50 years. The Peirces eventually sold the farm in 1778 to Nathaniel Tracy, a prominent Newburyport merchant. Upon Tracy’s purchase of the farm, the property transitioned from a working farm to a country house for wealthy locals. Tracy remodeled the house in the Georgian style, and he received visits from figures like Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams. After Tracy’s death in 1796, ownership of the farm passed to Offin Boardman, a Revolutionary War privateer who added several rooms to the manor house, and then to John Pettingell in 1812, who used the property as a summer home. Pettingell’s family began renting out the property full-time after his death in 1827.

Edward Little, a descendant of George Little, one of Newbury’s early settlers in the 1640s, began leasing the farm in 1851. After purchasing the property from the Pettingells in 1861, he made various decorative changes to the house, including new windows, doors, and rugs. Following Edward’s death in 1877, the house passed to his sons, who used the farm to sell dairy and train draft horses. The house remained in the Little family for over 100 years, until descendants Agnes and Amelia Little deeded the property to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, now known as Historic New England, in 1971. Historic New England acquired the property upon Amelia’s death in 1986 and immediately began an extensive effort to renovate the house.

During the renovation period, the property was the subject of a research project by noted archaeologist Mary Beaudry, whose 8-year excavation and subsequent published research explored changes in land use, agricultural practices, and the residents of the property throughout its history. The house finally opened to the public in 1992, and animals returned to the farm in 2003, making the property Historic New England’s first family-friendly farm. Today, the property is operated as a non-profit museum, with exhibits and interactive activities that help visitors understand how the property was used during the colonial period. The farm also hosts other activities, including a summer program for children and vintage baseball games throughout the summer.

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Beaudry, Mary. “Scratching the Surface: Seven Seasons at the Spencer-Pierce-Little Farm, Newbury, Massachusetts.” Northeast Historical Archaeology 24, no. 1 (October 23, 2013). https://doi.org/10.22191/neha/vol24/iss1/4.

Beaudry, Mary. “Trying to Think Progressively About 19th-Century Farms.” Northeast Historical Archaeology 31, no. 1 (September 18, 2013). https://doi.org/10.22191/neha/vol31/iss1/10.

Cowan, Emily. “Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm.” Newburyport Area (blog), August 20, 2017. https://www.newburyport.com/spencer-peirce-little-farm/.

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“Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm.” Historic New England. Accessed September 20, 2023. https://www.historicnewengland.org/property/spencer-peirce-little-farm.