Humble Beginnings
Lexington Land Grant
In 1735 the town of Lexington offered 1000 acres to each of seven of the first German settlers in Ashburnham. Among them was Christian William Whiteman, the builder of our farm. The farms that were established in the area were known as the Dutch Farms. The green box on the map indicates the approximate location of an early German settlement not a mile from the Whiteman farm. The location of the Lexington Grant Cemetary would also be established on Whiteman's farm. It is now marked with a monument to the early German Settlers.
Establishing The Farm
Whiteman built the basic farmhouse "block" around 1747. His portion of the grant land was toward the northeast corner of Ashburnham. It contained streams and abundant woodlands. The farm was established in 1758 and included the German Settlers monument to the west.
The Farmhouse
The original farmhouse provided three large rooms and a birthing room downstairs, and likely a sleeping loft on the second floor accessed by a ladder. A dug well which was just behind the house is now hidden under the kitchen floor on the old side of the house. The black lines on the picture indicate the original footprint which would not have included a central chimney, built much later. The back of the farmhouse was planted out with fruit trees, gardens for food, and the outhouse. It too was later enclosed inside one of the attached sheds.
The Nickolas Whiteman Mill
Behind the farmhouse in the lower meadow is the "old" Whiteman mill, shown here was built sometime before 1780 by Nicholas Whiteman, Christion Whiteman's son. It was later rebuilt round 1820 by Jacob Whiteman, Whiteman's grandson, after the earlier mill burned. The first mill would likely have been water wheel driven and this second version was eventually converted to water turbine power.
The Moore Marble Mill
After taking ownership of the farm sometime after 1835, George W. Cushing of Ashburnham sold the Farm to Mr. Pitt Moore of Sterling, MA. Pitt's daughter Abigale later met and married Luke Marble from Stowe, MA and in 1858 Pitt sold interest in the Farm to Luke who was enthralled with the old Whiteman Mill and after a fashion began the process of building a new mill on the same stream near a large eighteen-acre meadow to the east.
Roughcut Lumber Mill
The east meadow was ripe for damming. A seriaes of wood pilings were driven into the ground and stone rubel and sand piled up over them to create the berm. The building foundation, dam face, and spillway were build to specification around the Scroll Wheel water turbine built by John Tyler & Company out of Claremont, NH. lt was fed by the seventeen acre flooded meadow later dubbed Marble Pond.
Lumber Production
The rough mill shown here generated plenty of rough board feet and even accommodated local builders and farmers who would bring felled lumber by cart to have it sawn into planking. Luke Marble's son Warren Marble would later inherit the farm and mills and continue the operation into his later years.
The Finish Mill
The old Whiteman mill was refit with it's own smaller Tyler turbine and PTO system to run finishing equipment like a board planer, lathe(s), table saw, and hand tools. The Mill was put to work making chair and pail parts and later, brush handles.