Hearthside - The House That Love Built

GRANT RECEIVED TO STUDY RE-USE OF CHASE FARM HOUSE

For nearly 100 years, the Chase Family operated a dairy farm on Great Road. In 1979, the Town of Lincoln purchased the farm and the farm house of three generations of dairy farmers in order to preserve the fields and rolling meadows as open space. This area, in the heart of Lincoln, is now a popular spot for passive recreation in town. The farm house, however, has remained vacant for almost 20 years. The two-story, yellow 1868 Victorian sits at the entrance to Chase Farm Park and is sandwiched in between the Hannaway Blacksmith Shop and the soon-to-be-opened historic Moffitt Mill. Now is the perfect opportunity to preserve the town’s investment in this property by putting this valuable house to good use.

Friends of Hearthside has taken the lead by submitting an application to the National Trust for Historic Preservation to propose the possible re-use of the house as a visitor center and exhibits, depicting not only Lincoln’s dairy industry, but dairy practices in other parts of Rhode Island. Years ago, Lincoln was comprised mostly of dairy farms, although little trace is left to tell that story.

Fortunately, the application was approved, and a $1,500 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Antoinette Downing Preservation Services Fund for Rhode Island has been awarded to Friends of Hearthside. With matching funds, a preservation architect will be hired to provide an analysis of the structural capacity of the building for such a reuse. The Town of Lincoln supports the development of the farm house for a dairy farming exhibit and will provide any needed assistance and cooperation to make it a reality. It is expected that the study will be completed in the spring.

Going as far back as 1991, Al Klyberg, historian and Lincoln resident, had submitted a written report to the Town with the recommendation to utilize the farm house for a dairy farming history museum and/or meeting place. He is now actively involved with the effort to revive that idea and has already offered to provide an interpretive plan for such an exhibit. Realizing that vision would help to link the other five historic sites along the Great Road Historic District and add yet another important element to the story of our town’s heritage: “Great Road: Travel 300 Years in 3 Miles.”

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