Stewards Keep Ogilby Farm Traditions

 Environment, Historic Preservation, History, Newsletter, Plants, September/October 2023  Comments Off on Stewards Keep Ogilby Farm Traditions
Sep 012023
 
Stewards Keep Ogilby Farm Traditions

By Judith Feinleib Henry Ogilby thinks of himself, his siblings, and Mike and Hermik Chase as stewards of the last remaining farmland in Belmont, part of the Richardson Farm Historical District. They are stewards in the classical sense of the term—people whose code of ethics requires them to engage in responsible planning and management of resources.  In this case, these resources are the land and houses that have been in the Ogilby family since the 17th century. For the last 11 years, the Chases have cultivated the land of Belmont Acres Farm where they grow and sell vegetables and keep [READ MORE]

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Belmont Was a Town of Market Gardens

 Environment, History, March/April 2022, Newsletter  Comments Off on Belmont Was a Town of Market Gardens
Mar 032022
 
Belmont Was a Town of Market Gardens

By Jane Sherwin For about a century, areas around Boston that are now suburban housing were in many cases devoted to market gardening. Arlington, Lexington, Belmont, Watertown, Brighton—all grew produce very profitably.  A market garden, sometimes known as a truck farm, produces on a small scale a variety of fruits and vegetables for local markets. Around Boston, this intensive form of farming was supported by heated greenhouses. The market gardens were so close to Boston that they had no need to pay railroad charges, using their own trucks and wagons instead. The gardens were profitable, and families could afford the [READ MORE]

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Belmont Was Once a Town of Farms

 Historic Preservation, Newsletter, Open Space, Plants, September 2021  Comments Off on Belmont Was Once a Town of Farms
Aug 232021
 
Belmont Was Once a Town of Farms

By Jane Sherwin Until the mid-20th century, agriculture was a significant part of Belmont life and economy. Three hundred years ago, it would have been unusual to find a family in this area with no engagement at all in growing things. Even a shoemaker would most likely have a few chickens, or a milk cow, or a small garden for vegetables.  The settlements on the land that is now Belmont go back nearly four hundred years. In 1630, Sir Richard Saltonstall led a group of families inland from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, to the area we now call Watertown, to [READ MORE]

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Lydia Ogilby Remembered

 Newsletter  Comments Off on Lydia Ogilby Remembered
Mar 022020
 
Lydia Ogilby Remembered

By Neal Winston Lydia Phippen Ogilby passed away on November 1, 2019, at age 98 at her historic John Bright House on Washington Street, adjacent to the 10-acre Belmont Farm. Living in Belmont from a young age, she was known by townspeople as a spirited preservationist of its heritage and land. Lydia’s strong and generous opinions embodied the Belmont spirit of independence and industriousness of her forebears. Her portrait by Belmont photographer Richard Cheek hangs in Town Hall. She is seen standing in her field, seemingly growing out of the earth, ever vigilant, defying the pressures of development around her. [READ MORE]

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Heustis Farm Grew on Uplands Site

 Historic Preservation, July 2015, Newsletter  Comments Off on Heustis Farm Grew on Uplands Site
Jul 152015
 
Heustis Farm Grew on Uplands Site

By Anne-Marie Lambert This article is the second in a series of articles about the history of the Belmont Uplands. For Part 1, see “Uplands Area Transformed Over Centuries” in the September/October 2014 Belmont Citizens Forum Newsletter. We don’t know how exactly how Warren Heustis of Putney, Vermont met Lucy Ann Hill of West Cambridge (now Belmont). We do know they married in 1845, and that Warren brought farming skills to Belmont that would turn “useless swamp land” into one of the best performing farms in Belmont, the Heustis Farm. This is their story. Today it is hard to imagine [READ MORE]

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