Jones/Stow Farm: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Minute Man National Historical Park
Hammond J and Weyer S. 2025. Jones/Stow Farm: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Minute Man National Historical Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 650039. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
The Jones/Stow 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 170-acre Jones/Stow Farm is located within the western portion of the Battle Road Unit, in the town of Concord (a small portion is also in Lincoln). At the Jones/Stow Farm, the original Battle Road route is incorporated into the North Great Road, or Route 2A. Numerous historic houses are situated along the north side of the road, the oldest of which are the Colonial style Farwell Jones (pre-1775) and Stow-Hardy (1786) houses. Other historic resources include the George Hall House (c.1865), foundation remnants of the Albano farm, buildings and structures associated with the Nowalk and Inferrera families, and an old cart path and small stone bridge that date to before the Revolutionary War. These resources are set within lawns and meadows dotted with shade trees and remnant orchards. Stone walls still outline the Battle Road and demarcate old agricultural fields. Some of the fields have been restored to their open condition, while others remain dominated by successional woodlands. The Jones/Stow Farm is unique in that much of the area land has remained in agriculture use to the present day, while other components within the Battle Road Unit were heavily developed with suburban residences and businesses in the mid-20th century. The Jones/Stow Farm landscape retains its historic use and appearance through the retention of these agricultural activities and landscape elements such as stone walls. Visitors can experience this landscape by stopping at the two still-active produce stands or walking on the Battle Road Trail that passes close to the farms.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Hammond, John; Weyer, Stephanie
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- MIMA , NER
- Keywords
- Agricultural Field, Agriculture, and Vegetables), Archeology, Architecture, Barn, Battle Road, Battle Road Unit, Battle Site, Colonial (1600-1730), Commemoration, 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 Preservation, historic site, Hunters and Gatherers, Interpretive Trail, Jones/Stow Farm, Managed Woodlot/Forest, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Military, Outdoor Recreation, Peopling Places, Period Revivals (1870-1940), Post-Archaic and Prehistoric Developments, Regional planning, Shaping the Political Landscape, Single Family House, The American Revolution, The Farmer's Frontier, Transforming the Environment, War in the North