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11 Most Endangered
Daniel Webster Farm
Year Listed: 2005
Location: , New Hampshire
Current Status: Saved
Threat: Deterioration, Development
Daniel Webster Farm Orphanage Building, New Hampshire. The Daniel Webster Farm was selected for the 2005 America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list.
Credit: Daniel Webster Farm/National Trust for Historic Preservation
Significance
Daniel Webster (1782-1852), one of America's foremost statesmen (U.S. Congressman, Senator, presidential candidate and Secretary of State) and most dynamic orators, maintained his family's Franklin farm outside of Concord, New Hampshire, as a retreat, model stock farm, and meeting place until his death in 1852. The 141-acre property includes the National Historic Landmark-listed Webster/Tay home, several surviving buildings related to the orphanage and convent, the remains of an early fort, and a historic cemetery. Located along the Merrimack River, the 141-acre property has about a mile of river frontage and some of the state's most valuable agricultural land. Webster's father, Ebenezer, had purchased what was then called Elm Farm in the last years of the eighteenth century and moved his family there. The farm remained in the Webster family until the 1850s, when it was purchased by the Tay family.
In 1871, the 141-acre farm became the site of the New Hampshire legislature-chartered New Hampshire Orphans' Home. This home, school, and working farm for children orphaned in the Civil War was one of the first such institutions to be strategically located to take advantage of the health benefits of a rural environment. Additional buildings were added throughout the rest of the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries to accommodate more and more children. In 1960, the renamed Daniel Webster Home for Children was acquired and operated by the Sisters of the Holy Cross. The Sisters remained on the property until 2000, when, faced with dwindling members and financial resources, they placed the farm on the market.
Updates
The Trust for Public Land (TPL), along with the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance (NHPA), and the Webster Farm Preservation Association (WFPA), announced the successful completion of the effort to permanently preserve Daniel Webster’s historic 141-acre farm in Franklin. As a result of the conservation project, the scenic riverfront farmland will never be developed, and the historic buildings, including Daniel Webster’s family home, will be permanently protected.
After several years on the market, a developer entered into a purchase agreement to buy the farm in 2005. The developer's plans for the property included the construction of about 130 homes on the agricultural land and there was no identified use for the complex of historic buildings. The Franklin zoning board denied his initial development proposal but he might have been able to proceed with a less-dense development that would destroy the integrity of Daniel Webster's beloved farm and take highly productive agricultural land out of cultivation.
Once the purchase agreement and development plans were known, The Trust for Public Land (TPL), along with the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance (NHPA), and the Webster Farm Preservation Association (WFPA), and other advocates took action. As a temporary owner, the Trust for Public Land purchased the property from the developer. Then, working with local and state advocates and the Northeast Office, they launched an effort to find a buyer for the property, a use for the buildings, and to give permanent protection to the agricultural soils.
In 2007, the campaign reached a successful completion and Daniel Webster's historic 141-acre farm in Franklin was protected, with significant funding from LCHIP, the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service's Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game, private donations, and others. Keys to the success were two sales: 122 acres of farmland purchased by the Fife family for continued agricultural use and the purchase of the remaining acreage and the eleven historic buildings by New Hampshire resident and entrepreneur, Alex Ray. Ray's vision for the property was to establish a Recovery Center to aid alcoholics and addicts to get and stay sober, using the working farm as part of the recovery program. The non-profit Webster Place Recovery Center opened in the fall of 2008 and is off to a wonderful start. The Webster/Tay House is now under the stewardship of the Franklin Historical Society and it will be their headquarters and museum. As a result of these dedicated efforts, the scenic riverfront farmland is protected by restrictions held by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, the historic buildings have preservation easements held by the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance and the buildings have found a community-centered and productive new use.
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