Bottum Farm

Bottum Farm is comprised of seven contributing structures, constructed between the early nineteenth century and c.1920, on one of the earliest established land parcels in New Haven, Vermont. The property, which meets the registration requirements for a farmstead, is being listed under the Agricultural Resources of Vermont Multiple Property Documentation Form. A preliminary determination of eligibility was granted by the National Park Service in August, 2006, through approval of a Historic Preservation Certification Application - Part 1. Under Criterion A, the farmstead is significant for its contributions to the broad patterns and development of farming in Vermont. Under Criterion C, the property also embodies distinctive characteristics of a traditional Vermont farmstead and is significant for the architectural value of its buildings, notably the farmhouse and dairy barn. A relatively intact historic farmstead, it has maintained its essential character since the early 1900s. Important vestiges of Vermont's dwindling agricultural resources, the surviving structures and their placement on the land render the site visually recognizable as a traditional Vermont dairy farm. Although no structures remain from the property's earliest documented period, it is also significant for its associations with Justus Sherwood, whose role in local, regional and international politics and events helped shape New Haven and the State of Vermont.

First owned and farmed in 1774 by Sherwood - an individual significant to New Haven's, Vermont's, and even Canada's history - the property remained in his wife Sarah (Bottum) Sherwood's family for almost two hundred and fifty years. What began as a Merino sheep farming enterprise evolved into a dairying operation and, over time, the farm produced wool, butter and cheese, as well as a variety of crops, including wheat, rye, potatoes, Indian corn and apples. Its evolution represents the distinct historic agricultural patterns that occurred throughout the state. While the farmstead embodies the diverse nature of farming, along with accompanying changes in land and building use, it retains a high degree of integrity for the period 1855, when the existing farmhouse was built, to 1958 when full-scale agricultural operations ceased.

Over the course of almost two and half centuries, the Bottum family saw the farm's holdings swell to over 1,000 acres and then ebb back down to less than 100. Subdivision of the extensive acreage began c. 1891 but the southern portion of the original adventurer's right still remains part of the property. A family of considerable means, generations of Bottum children - unlike those in typical farming families - were afforded the opportunity to attend prestigious, private academic institutions. Several family members also earned higher degrees and distinction in the arts and sciences. The design of the farmhouse in particular, specifically its interior elements, speak to this exposure. Just as the farm buildings have been modified over time, so too has the interior of the farmhouse and wings to accommodate a variety of changing needs, tastes and fashions. Mill-work is distinctive and of various complexities, speaking to the interior hierarchy of rooms. Where the door and window enframement of the primary (south) rooms of the first floor consists of a wide, built-up, Greek Revival-style flat casing and gently sloped cornice with ears, the casings in the secondary and second-floor rooms are of much simpler, plainer design. On the second floor, the original feathered graining of interior doors has been retained. Also on the second floor, at the four corners of the house, walls are curved on the interior, presumably to soften the edges of the room by hiding the corner posts. It is highly unusual to find this treatment in a farmhouse, even more so on a second floor and in private spaces.