Brooks Farm: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Minute Man National Historical Park
Hammond J and Weyer S. 2025. Brooks Farm: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Minute Man National Historical Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 650040. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
Brooks Farm is part of Minute Man National Historical Park (NHP), located in Middlesex County, sixteen miles northwest of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1959, the park preserves the sites of the Battle of Lexington and\ Concord on April 19, 1775 and the “shot heard round the world” that began the Revolutionary War. Four discontiguous management units of Minute Man NHP (Battle Road, North Bridge, Wayside, and Barrett’s Farm) comprise an area of approximately 1,040 acres of land in the towns of Concord, Lincoln, and Lexington. The largest of the units, the 800-acre Battle Road Unit, preserves part of the route along which British Regulars fled back to Boston under relentless Colonial fire. The Battle Road is the spine of the unit running in an asymmetrical, linear route along present-day Lexington Road (Concord), North Great Road (Lincoln), and Massachusetts Avenue (Lexington), parts of which are also designated as State Route 2A. The Battle Road is set within a landscape of farmhouses, barns, stone walls, fields, woodlands, and hedgerows, all remnants of the area’s agricultural past. While there are some areas of post-historic development associated with private residences and park operations within the boundaries of the Battle Road Unit, it nonetheless retains much of its historic low-density, agricultural appearance. This contrasts with areas immediately surrounding the unit that have been heavily developed, such as Hanscom Air Force Base just to the north and its associated military housing areas. The 91.5-acre Brooks Farm is centrally located within the Battle Road Unit, in the towns of Concord and Lincoln. At Brooks Farm, the original Battle Road route is incorporated into the North Great Road, or Route 2A. Along the south side of the road is a complex of buildings that include the Noah Brooks Tavern (ca.1798), the Samuel Hartwell Carriage House (ca.1880), and the Edward Rogers Barn (1937). Also lining the road are other Brooks family houses that include the Samuel Brooks House (ca.1692-1728), Job Brooks House (1740), and Joshua Brooks, Jr. House (1780), as well as several house sites and foundation ruins. These buildings are set within lawns and meadows dotted with shade trees and remnant orchards. Stone walls still line the Battle Road and demarcate the old agricultural fields. Some of the fields have been restored to their open condition, while many others are now dominated by successional woodlands. The park has removed most of the contemporary private residences and businesses built in the Battle Road area when the region became suburbanized in the early- to mid-20th century. However, at Brooks Farm, the Walter Beatteay House (ca.1940-1946) remains as an example of mid-20th century vernacular-style architecture. The Beatteay House and garage are currently on the park’s list of structures to be removed. A visitor parking lot east of the Samuel Brooks House provides access to the Battle Road Trail that runs behind the properties north of the road.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Hammond, John; Weyer, Stephanie
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- MIMA , NER
- Keywords
- Agricultural Field, Agricultural Outbuilding, Agriculture, and Vegetables), Architecture, Battle Road, Battle Road Unit, Battle Site, Brooks Farm, Cabin), Colonial (1600-1730), Craftsman (1890-1915), Developing the American Economy, Eastern Farmers, Expressing Cultural Values, Farming for Local Markets (Dairying, Farming the Northeast, Federal (1780-1820), Fruits, Historic Furnished Interior, Historic Preservation, historic site, Hunters and Gatherers, Interpretive Trail, Lodge (Inn, Managed Woodlot, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, monument, Noah Brooks Tavern, Outdoor Recreation, Peopling Places, Period Revivals (1870-1940), Post-Archaic and Prehistoric Developments, Regional planning, Revolutionary War, Shaping the Political Landscape, Single Family House, The American Revolution, The Farmer's Frontier, Transforming the Environment, War in the North