Blow-Me-Down Farm: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site

Brown, Margie; Beagan, Chris

Blow‑Me‑Down Farm is one of four component landscapes within the 190.75‑acre Saint‑Gaudens National Historic Site (NHS), located within the Town of Cornish, in Sullivan County, New Hampshire. The park preserves and interprets properties associated with Augustus Saint‑Gaudens (1848‑1907), America’s foremost sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The only national park site in New Hampshire, it is one of only two in the national park system dedicated to a visual artist. Saint‑Gaudens NHS is set in a countryside of dispersed farms, fields, and woodlots that are spread across the hills of the Connecticut River valley. The surrounding landscape retains the rural character that attracted and inspired Saint‑Gaudens and other artists associated with the famous Cornish Colony. The park lies along the east bank of the river and extends eastward across State Route 12A. Saint‑Gaudens’s home and studios, named Aspet, forms the core of the park and consists of 101.65 acres of meadow and woodland that frame pristine views of Mt. Ascutney in Vermont. Aspet is accessed by Saint Gaudens Road, which originates at SR 12A, and contains a cluster of buildings used by Saint‑Gaudens during his occupancy that are set within a classically inspired garden landscape. To the west are the 42.6‑acre Blow‑Me‑Down Farm and the 40‑acre Blow‑Me‑Down Mill, part of the seasonal estate of Charles Cotesworth Beaman Jr., who with Saint‑Gaudens established the Cornish Colony. To the east is the 6.5‑acre Saint‑Gaudens Farm property, purchased by Augustus and Augusta Saint‑Gaudens between 1904 and 1910. The Blow‑Me‑Down Farm property is situated on gently sloping land on the west side of State Route 12A, approximately a half mile downhill from Aspet. Formerly owned by two generations of the Beaman family beginning in 1882, the farm still retains its rural setting that was enjoyed by Saint‑Gaudens and other members of the Cornish Colony. A system of gravel driveways extend from the highway and loop amongst the farm buildings informally arranged on the eastern part of the property. The original mansion here burned in 1926, but a residence that was formerly a casino and the dance hall building remain, as do a historic cottage and garage, a large bank barn, and other outbuildings that together contributed to Beaman’s rustic vision for his gentleman’s farm. Old stone mill wheels, a stone wall, and a stone entrance gate are also still extant, but the golf links, wood gazebo, and wood benches are gone. Historic hedges of hemlocks have grown into allées that still line some of the drives, while broad lawns dotted with shade trees and shrubs surround the buildings. The north and east sides of the farm along Blow‑Me‑Down Brook are forested and help convey a sense of quiet retreat. Fields in the south and west areas of the property slope down to the river and are still cultivated, and comprise the foreground of scenic views of the valley and the distant mountains that inspired the colony’s artists and Beaman’s many visitors. The farm property was acquired in 2010 but as of yet is not open to the public. Currently, the farm’s buildings and structures are used for storage or are otherwise unoccupied, although occasional sculpture workshops, educational programs, trainings, and meetings are held on the property.

Blow-Me-Down Farm: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site

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