It’s not unusual for large farms to undergo changes over the years, but none have known as many transformations as the property at 77 Edwards Road, named for the family who once farmed there. Comprising hundreds of acres, the farm traversed the Cedar Swamp and extended to Old Town Pound Road, west to Edwards and north to Estabrook. An old road lined with stonewalls cut across the farm, connecting Edwards and Old Town Pound Roads.
The property was originally owned by Captain Daniel Fuller, the son of one of Hampton’s pioneer families, and his wife, Patience, whose father, Thomas Stedman, built the village Meeting House. The 311 acre property included the Fuller’s “town house” at 279 Main Street, and a “farmhouse” on Old Town Pound Road. The village property was separated from the farm, which exchanged hands until Lloyd H. and Ethel M. Edwards purchased “a certain farm or tract of land with all the buildings thereon” on April 6, 1911, acquiring additional acreage in 1925 and 1936, with the last of the parcels remaining with the family for over a hundred years.
Mr. and Mrs. Edwards married in 1910, one year prior to the purchase of the farm and one year after she emigrated from England. In “Hampton Remembers”, Ethel recalls coming to America: All I had was gold sovereigns that I brought from England in ’09. When I came off the ship the captain ‘course asks people what they’re goin’ to do. And I pulled out the bag of gold and I says “Well I’m goin’ to make twice as much as that!” He says “You’re all right! You can go on!”
Not much remains of the barns themselves, with only one of the originals still standing. What is visible are the foundations of several others, and many stonewalls. It is unclear what was farmed here, but Nick Bellantoni, during one of his lectures as State Archaeologist, advised that in the absence of records, one may consider the farm’s stonewalls in determining the animals that were on the farm. Low stonewalls were constructed for cows; waist high ones were for sheep. The stonewalls on the Edwards’ farm are tall.
Tom and Kay Gaines, who purchased the farmhouse and over 70 of its acres in 1973 from Mrs. Edwards, recall a story she relayed. Reportedly, the large barn built for harvested ice at the rear of the smaller, remaining barn was struck by lightning on the day Mr. Edwards finished building it, leaving only the roof intact and collapsed on the items stored there – bicycles and carriages. Mike Vadnais remembers “Granny” Edwards’ barn and crawling underneath where there were “two beautiful horse carriages”. The fire department obtained permission from the Gaines to burn the remaining roof for practice, but they left before it was thoroughly extinguished, and Tom remained vigilant for a week using a garden hose to douse it with water. Clearly, the roof was made of sturdy stuff.
Lloyd and Ethel’s son Maurice built his house on the Old Town Pound portion of the property. Rumor has it he also ran a nudist colony there for years, though certainly no one in Hampton would have firsthand knowledge of that. We have a few pieces of verification however, beyond the whispers we heard in our youth, our questions always answered with the standard – how would I know? Naomi Ayotte, who owned adjacent property, claimed the remains of the colony’s campsites are still visible in the woods. In “Random Recollections”, Jo Freeman reported that she was the “look out” for Neal Moon and Jeff Osborne who knew where there was a knot hole in the fence, and Al Freeman recalled sneaking up in Bob Miller’s Plymouth coup which they backed into a stonewall when Mr. Edwards “opened the door and let the dogs out”. Most compelling is the evidence provided by John Berard, whose father Leon built the Rec Hall, which included a sauna, for the colony’s use. Reportedly, there was “activity” while construction was completed, and the mother of one young man apprenticing there called with concern that her son wasn’t eating the lunch she packed him. Obviously, he had better things to do.
All that changed when Maurice Edwards remarried Rita Vadnais, a widow with two children. The property’s amenities were still used recreationally. Maurice was our Fire Chief for several years and the Fire Department often used the Rec Hall for social functions. It was also perfect for the parties of teenagers, who went swimming in the beautiful pond with its sandy beach and large rock for diving in the summer, and skated there with enormous bon fires in the winter. I remember once when we walked into the woods to skate on one of the shallow pools that formed and froze there. I remember the silence. Growing up in Hampton, there have been times when I’ve felt like I was in a snow globe or a Rockwell painting, but that was the only time I felt as though I had stepped into a chapter of “Little Women”.
In 1973, Tom and Kay Gaines placed all of their acreage in the Windham Land Trust, forever protecting it from further development. Maurice and Rita Edwards followed shortly after, placing 100 of their acres in the Trust in 1980. After Rita’s death, a buildable portion of some of the remaining property was sold and developed, with five new houses sprouting up on Cedar Swamp and Old Town Pound roads. One of the owners, Naomi Ayotte, used a section of the Rec Hall for an antiques shop.
At a March, 2013 referendum, the Town approved applying monies in the Open Space account for the purchase of 50 acres from Michael Vadnais, with matching funds from the Department of Environmental Protection, for a parcel bordering Goodwin Forest and identified as a “significant tract deserving of protection”. A year later volunteers, including Stan Crawford and Glen Newcombe, blazed a mile long trail through the Edwards Preserve, to connect the unpaved portion of Cedar Swamp and Old Town Pound Roads, and to extend Goodwin’s “White Trail” to Governor’s Island. Described as a multi-use trail for hiking, mountain biking, cross country skiing and snow-shoeing, the trail crosses streams, passes vernal pools, and parallels beautiful stone walls. At a December, 2015 Town Meeting, the purchase of a final parcel of the Edwards’ farm was approved, with matching funds from the State, approximately seven acres bordering Goodwin Forest and extending the Edwards Preserve. The Town cleared a portion and installed a parking lot on Old Town Pound Road, welcoming visitors to the “Maurice and Rita Edwards Preserve” and providing Hampton, as First Selectman Al Cahill pointed out, with our own portal to the forest.
Thus the original property that included a cedar swamp, a farm and a town house in the village, divided and expanded and would come to encompass a nudist colony, recreational facilities, a residential development, an antiques shop, protected open spaces, and a preserve that expanded Goodwin Forest and gifted us with another entrance.
There have been natural changes as well. According to Tom Gaines, at one time there was an unimpeded view of Sunset Hill, the highest point in Hampton, obstructed now by tall trees, and the fallow fields have filled with undergrowth. But the beauty remains and is preserved forever along the old abandoned road lined with stonewalls that serves as a trail through deciduous woodlands and coniferous forests, open pastures and swamps, ponds and vernal pools, where we can cross streams and over a stone bridge, catch glittering glimpses of Pine Acres pond, and feel as though we’re walking into the pages of a 19th century novel. It was wonderful to reacquaint myself with the property that was once my friend’s backyard – how many times in the course of our conversations did we remind ourselves: we were really lucky, weren’t we?
John Berard, Bob Burgoyne, Al Cahill, Stan Crawford, Tom Gaines, and especially Mike Vadnais contributed information to this article. Thank you.