Holt Farm (Andover, Massachusetts)

Holt Farm
Location Andover, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°38′17″N 71°6′34″W / 42.63806°N 71.10944°WCoordinates: 42°38′17″N 71°6′34″W / 42.63806°N 71.10944°W
Built 1708
Architect Holt,Nicholas III
Architectural style Georgian
Governing body Private
MPS Town of Andover MRA
NRHP Reference #

82004819

[1]
Added to NRHP June 10, 1982

Holt Farm is a historic farm built in 1708 and located at 89 Prospect Road in Andover, Massachusetts. The house was built on the highest point in Essex County on land granted in Nicholas Holt III, after his 1708 marriage to Mary Manning. In the early 20th century the area was renamed Holt HIll for the family, replacing the old name of Prospect Hill.[2]

The first Holt in Andover was Nicholas Holt, an early officer of the town and grandfather of Nicholas Holt III, who was a tanner who also ran the ferry across the Shawsheen River. Despite evidence that Nicholas himself was barely literate, his descendants became known for their academic accomplishments with a long line of ministers and teachers.[3]

Early settlers of Andover, the Holts lived near Scotsman Robert Russell, in the part of Andover long known as the 'Scotland District.'[4] Russell, the first person to be interred in the newly designated South Parish burying ground in 1710, had ten children, three of whom married Holts from nearby Holt Farm.[5]

Much of the original Holt Farm now forms portions of the Ward Reservation and is owned by The Trustees of Reservations as a public park.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15.
  2. ↑ 89 Prospect Road, Architectural Description,Andover Historic Preservation
  3. ↑ Historical Sketches of Andover (Comprising the Present Towns of North Andover and Andover), Massachusetts, Sarah Loring Bailey, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston, 1880
  4. ↑ Original Proprietors of Andover from Historical Sketches of Andover (Comprising the Present Towns of North Andover and Andover), Massachusetts, Sarah Loring Bailey, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston, 1880
  5. ↑ Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts, William Richard Cutter, William Frederick Adams, Vol. IV, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 1910