Polly Hill Arboretum

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Polly Hill Arboretum
National Register of Historic Places
Historic District


Polly Hill Arboretum, Massachusetts
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
location West Tisbury , Massachusetts , United States
Coordinates 41 ° 23 '51 "  N , 70 ° 40' 49.8"  W Coordinates: 41 ° 23 '51 "  N , 70 ° 40' 49.8"  W.
surface 72  acres (29.1  ha )
NRHP number [1] 87001464
Data
The NRHP added June 15, 2015
Declared as  HD June 15, 2015

The Polly Hill Arboretum (historic Barnard's Inn Farm and Samuel Adams Washington House ) is an as Arboretum landscaped Botanical Garden in West Tisbury in the state of Massachusetts of the United States on the grounds of a former farm. The facility was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District in 2015 .

History and historical significance

The area around what is now West Tisbury was settled in the mid-17th century after the Englishman Thomas Mayhew , who lived in Watertown, acquired the patent rights to the island in 1642. During the colonial period, in addition to fishing and occasional weaving , agriculture and cattle breeding formed the economic basis of this part of Martha's Vineyard.

In 1670 Henry Luce bought 40 acres of the property that is now the arboretum. It remained in the family's property for nearly 200 years. Historians initially believed that the northern part of the Barnard Luce House, which still stands today, was built in 1670, but recent research has led to the finding that it - like the southern part of the Far Barn - dates from around 1750. The location of the Luce family's first home is therefore unknown.

Henry's great-great-grandson Barnard Luce bought the property in 1817 and enlarged the house between 1820 and 1850. He was a sheep farmer and owned a herd of 60 animals; The records preserved also indicate two cows, two work oxen and a pig as his livestock. His southern neighbor Washington Adams also ran sheep with a herd of 75 animals. However, this branch of industry declined sharply on the island in the middle of the 19th century, so that the populations of over 20,000 animals in 1778 decreased to a good 5,500 in 1850. However, sheep breeding was still lucrative because there was a constant high demand for wool, especially for the production of clothing called "Vineyard Satinet".

Barnard's widow Mary sold the property in 1860, which after several changes of ownership fell to Benjamin Bartlett Smith and Albert Littlefield. Maine businessmen continued raising sheep until at least 1890. Between 1870 and 1888, they bought more than 400  acres (1.6  km² ) of land adjacent to the farm, expanding their operations significantly. Many of the current buildings and facilities in the arboretum also date from this period.

Albert Littlefield married Benjamin Bartlett Smith's sister Henrietta in 1878, who after his death in 1907 inherited his share of the farm and in 1915 that of her unmarried brother, making her the sole owner. After her death in 1920 ownership passed to her three children Effie E., Edson Forrest and Mindwell A. By the early 20th century, the import of wool from overseas had stripped local sheep farmers of their livelihoods, and the increasing number of seasonal guests during the summer months meant that more and more farmers switched from sheep breeding to dairy cattle. West Tisbury remains the agricultural center of Martha's Vineyard to this day. The buildings on the Polly Hill Arboretum site represent continuous agricultural use from the mid-17th to the beginning of the 20th century and therefore an important part of the historical development of the area.

Description of the district

The district now registered in the NRHP comprises two lots previously known as Barnard's Inn Farm (circa 1750) and Samuel Washington Adams House (1844). The district is 72  acres (29.1  hectares ) and is located on the west side of Martha's Vineyard 1.2  mi (1.9  km ) outside of West Tisbury. The entry includes 13 contributing properties and 7 buildings or objects rated as noncontributing - i.e. as not contributing to their historical significance. Planted in the 20th century by namesake Polly Hill, the plantations are scattered across the district, while 40 acres (16.2 hectares) make up most of the property's forest. With the opening of the arboretum to the public in 1997, additional buildings were added such as a visitor center, toilet facilities and some greenhouses. The district represents a 300-year development from a colonial farm to a summer resort to today's arboretum.

Contributing Properties

Barnard Luce House

Barnard Luce House , built around 1750 and expanded in the 19th century, is one and a half stories high. The front of the building, clad with wood shingles , faces east. It was used as a residence all year round until 1926 and was then purchased by Polly Hill's parents for summer retreat. In the 1930s they converted a barn on the property into their new summer house ( Cowbarn Residence ) and from then on used the older building as a guest house. In 1998 the operating company of the arboretum converted the house into an office building.

Cowbarn Residence

The two-story Cowbarn Residence is located northwest of Luce House and was built as a barn around 1860 , but was converted into a residential house through extensive construction between 1933 and 1934, where Polly Hill lived until 2004 during the summer months. When the arboretum was set up, it was renovated and has been used as a library ever since.

gym

The 28 ft (8.5 m) by 20 ft (6.1 m) north-facing building is one and a half stories tall and was built as a barn about 1870 west of Luce House . In the 1930s, the new owners converted it into a covered playground with sports equipment such as gymnastics rings , a trapeze and climbing walls. Later the upper half floor was equipped with bedrooms. The arboretum used the building as a maintenance and workshop building until 2009; it is currently empty.

Planting house

The 144  ft² (13.4  m² ) building in which the plants are placed in plant pots was built around 1870 and is located immediately next to the gym. It is one story and has a gable roof .

Far Barn

To the northwest of the Luce House is a 29 ft (8.8 m) by 26 ft (7.9 m) building known as the Far Barn ( German  literally "distant barn" ). It was built around 1750 and expanded in 1860 and 1920. Today there are training and event rooms there.

Slaughterhouse

The farm's former slaughterhouse is 16 ft (4.9 m) by 15 ft (4.6 m) tall and stands on the southwest corner of the Far Barn .

Samuel Washington Adams House

The house, built in 1844, stands south of the Luce House and has an L-shaped floor plan. The outer walls are made of wood, the roof is clad with asphalt shingles. The building has been part of the arboretum since 2002 and has been used as accommodation for employees since 2013.

Fireplace

Northwest of the Far Barn is a 1940 built hearth, consisting of round cut stones and large lintel beams of granite there. Their structure tapers upwards like a chimney. The inscription "Barnards Inn Farm 1940" can be read on the oven door. The stones are now covered with lichen and climbing plants.

Polly Hill Landscape

As Polly Hill Landscape of Polly Hill created or manicured plantings are called, whose origins go back to the 1860th They include cultural gardens in the eastern part of the district, fields and meadows in the north, west and south, and wooded areas with oak , beech and hickory stands in the north and west, which make up almost two thirds of the district. The special features include the Dogwood Allée, some locust trees and several rows of conifers . The total landscape is between 60 ft (18.3 m) and 150 ft (45.7 m) above sea level.

Road and path system

The paths laid out between 1860 and 1964 run through the entire property and connect the individual areas with one another.

Stone walls

The walls of granite stones of different sizes, which can be seen in many places without mortar, were built in the period from 1860 to 1960 and divide the district into delimitable areas. The older walls delimit the northern and western fields of the former farm, the part built in 1960 leads to today's visitor center.

fencing

The fences border the southwest corner of the northern field from the road to the Far Barn and were erected at the beginning of the 20th century.

Dogwood Allée

Polly Hill planted the Dogwood Allée in 1964, which consists of nine pairs of the eponymous Asian flower dogwood ( English kousa dogwood ). It runs for a distance of approximately 284 ft (86.6 m) in a north-south direction near the former Barnard's Inn farm from the gym to a former orchard.

Noncontributing Properties

A workshop built in 2009 to replace the gymnasium, the visitor center (1998), toilet facilities (1998), a garage built at the beginning of the 20th century and converted into an office building in 2006, a greenhouse built in 2006 were rated as not contributing to historical relevance Fenced garden area for young plants created by Polly Hill in 1973 and a modern growing area from 2014.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ National Register Information System . In: National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service . Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  2. ↑ cf. Kline et al., P. 14.
  3. ↑ cf. Kline et al., Pp. 14 f.
  4. ↑ cf. Kline et al., P. 15.
  5. ↑ cf. Kline et al., Pp. 15 f.
  6. ↑ cf. Kline et al., P. 16.
  7. ↑ cf. Kline et al., P. 4.
  8. ↑ cf. Kline et al., P. 5.
  9. ↑ cf. Kline et al., Pp. 5 f.
  10. ↑ a b c cf. Kline et al., P. 6.
  11. ↑ cf. Kline et al., Pp. 6 f.
  12. ↑ a b c d e cf. Kline et al., Pp. 7 f.
  13. ↑ a b cf. Kline et al., P. 8.
  14. ↑ cf. Kline et al., Pp. 8 f.