The Windham Town Farm farmhouse and barn. Courtesy Windham Historical Society
Winter is a hard time for the poor and homeless. Shelters are at full capacity with people trying to get out of the cold to a warm bed for the night. But homelessness and destitution are not new to our time. In Windham, as in other communities, the poor have been a concern for centuries. During the 19th century and for over 100 years more, Windham provided relief to its unfortunate by putting them up at the Windham Town Farm. This was basically a poor farm established in 1820 when Windham purchased property near the center of town, tore down the building that had been there and built a multi-room dwelling with outbuildings and a barn that would serve as housing for the town’s poor.
The farm was the responsibility of the overseer of the poor, who established the rules and served as manager of the property. He appointed a superintendent who actually ran the farm, raising the crops, caring for the livestock, harvesting firewood and repairing buildings as needed. The superintendent’s wife was in charge of meal preparation and food storage. She would also wash clothes and linens and generally keep the house clean. Some of the more feeble residents might have helped the superintendent’s wife with the less physical household tasks, such as dusting or cooking.
Most of the full-time residents were widows, unwed mothers, the elderly and veterans. During the day, the able-bodied of the group would work on the farm, primarily with dairy production and other necessary farming tasks, to help cover day-to-day expenses. Some of the food that was raised at the Town Farm included corn, potatoes, spinach and apples. Salt pork, smoked ham, fresh butter and eggs were stored and also sold to the public. Other farm products were wood and hay.
In addition to the residents, other people who would have spent an occasional night were transients, sometimes called bums or tramps. Most prominent after wars or recessions, they would come knocking at the farmhouse door in search of work and a comfortable place to stay. Many of them were out-of-work veterans who were down on their luck. The farm would provide a cot in the attic and a hot meal in exchange for help with chores such as sawing or splitting wood.
Charles A. and Nettie Smith, the grandparents of former newspaper writer and Historical Society member Ken Cole Jr., were the superintendents of the Town Farm for a while. Ken recalled his grandfather telling him that some of the “bums” could be lazy and would break the ax handle to get out of work. His grandfather was ready for them, though. He had plenty of axes on hand, or “he would put the men on the end of a crosscut saw.”
Life on the farm was a bit harsh, but not altogether unpleasant. Residents, except the very weak or sick, were expected to rise at 5 a.m. and be in bed by 9 p.m. in the summer and 8 p.m. in the winter. They were served breakfast at 7 a.m., lunch at noon and dinner at 6 p.m. They were assigned seats at the kitchen table and had a half-hour for breakfast and lunch and an hour to enjoy their dinner. Between meals, they went about the farm doing their daily chores.
People who died while residing at the Town Farm were buried in either the Mayberry Cemetery on Park Road or the Brown Cemetery on Chute Road. At Brown, they are buried in the lower right side of the graveyard and there are no gravestones to remember them. The Windham Town Farm closed its doors in 1938 when only two residents were living there. The Town Farm was located on today’s Town Farm Road. The farmhouse is now a private residence.
Haley Pal is a Windham resident and an active member of the Windham Historical Society. She can be contacted at haleypal@aol.com.
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