Doolittle, Colonel Ephraim and Sarah, Farm

The Doolittle Farm is historically significant for its contribution to the development of agriculture in the Shoreham and the Champlain Valley. It meets the registration requirements for the property type, farmstead, in "Agricultural Resources of Vermont". First settled along the Crown Point Military Road in 1766, the farm has adapted throughout its history to the changing agricultural trends of the region. Early in the farm's history a sawmill and later a grist mill operated along the banks of the Prickly Ash Brook that runs through the property. The foundations from these mills exist today on the property and are well-preserved examples of early mill foundations built before permanent settlement in Addison County. The whole farmstead, including the Federal style main house (c.1800), carriage barn (c. 1820), early bank barn (c. 1860), ground-level stable barn (c. 1900), hay barn (c.1900), milkhouse (c.1920), chicken coop (c. 1920) and pig house (c. 1920) are architecturally significant. The Federal-style main house has a distinctive Georgian plan with original flooring and paneling. The house was built by Job Lane Howe an active housewright in the area and was influenced by the Federal-style General John Strong House (1795) in Addison, Vermont.

HISTORIC BACKGROUND

Located on the flat, rich soil adjacent to Lake Champlain, the Shoreham area provided its first settlers with ample natural resources. Among its first European inhabitants was Colonel Ephraim Doolittle of Massachusetts, a captain in the French and Indian War and a colonel in the Revolutionary War. Doolittle was instrumental in blazing the Crown Point Military Road, which began construction during the French and Indian War. This road ran from Charleston, New Hampshire to Chimney Point on the shore of Lake Champlain in Addison County, carrying people and supplies from 1759 through the Revolutionary War. The road also provided for the settlement of the Champlain Valley region, bringing settlers, including Colonel Doolittle, who had discovered the rich and fertile of the Champlain Valley while building the road.

In 1766, Doolittle and some of the men in his company settled on the site that is now the Doolittle Farm. The land was quite diverse and fertile, with hills and valleys, as well as some flat areas that would be adequate for crop farming. These early settlers lived communally in a log cabin, clearing the land and building a sawmill built along the Prickly Ash Brook. The brook's natural falls provided enough power for the mill to be operated, particularly in the spring when winter runoff turned the brook into a raging stream. This was the first sawmill in the Shoreham area and the second in the county, but was burned by the Indians during the Revolutionary War. After the war, in 1788, a grist mill was erected on Prickly Ash Brook about 30 yards downstream from the original sawmill. The grist mill provided the growing Shoreham area community a vital mechanism for processing wheat and corn and is one of the earliest and most important manufactories in Vermont because a town's development depended on having active mills nearby. In the 1890s another sawmill was erected on the site, on the foundations of the original sawmill. The limestone foundations of both mills can still be seen today. They provide valuable information about the lives of early Vermont settlers.

In 1788 an official charter to settle the town and area of Shoreham was obtained from the Governor of the Province of New Hampshire. Colonel Doolittle was instrumental in obtaining this charter and was among the 64 proprietors. The village of Shoreham was laid out in one-acre plots and the surrounding land was divided into 100-acre lots, with Doolittle obtaining 5 lots or 500 acres, which was the largest land holdings in Shoreham at the time. The land he obtained contained an arm of the Prickly Ash Brook, as well as part of the Crown Point Road, which at the time still served as an important road of transport across the state. Both were valuable in assuring that Doolittle's farm would prosper, for the road provided for supplies and the brook would be ideal for the needed grist and sawmills. Today, no surface evidence of the Crown Point Road exists on the Doolittle property, but its historic passage is commemorated with two monuments erected by the Shoreham Daughters of the American Revolution in 1910.

Around 1800 a large, Federal-style, Georgian plan, brick house was built for Colonel Doolittle and his family. It is believed that this house was built by Job Lane Howe, an active housewright in the area at the time. Howe is thought to have built the Federal style, Georgian plan, hip-roofed Callender House (1793) in Shoreham which is very similar in style to Doolittle's house.
The Doolittle House is also very similar to the Lemon Fair Farm House (c. 1795) and Elijah Wright House (1790), both in Shoreham. Doolittle, in the design of his house, may have been copying the Strong House (1795) in nearby Addison, Vermont. Built by John Strong, a general in the Revolutionary War, it is remarkably similar to the Doolittle house. Both are large, brick Federal-style houses with five-by-three bay plans, large chimneys, and central gable pediments.

Both Strong and Doolittle were officers in the Revolutionary War and Doolittle may have been trying to establish high standing in the Shoreham community by copying the house of his nearby and established neighbor. The Doolittle house is also similar to other Federal-style, brick houses in the Champlain Valley Region, including, the Jonah Case House (1784) in Addison, the Hileman House (c.1805) in Cornwall, and the Jewett House (c. 1810) in Weybridge.

The high style of the Doolittle House expresses the prosperity of the Colonel and his place in the Shoreham region. Colonel Doolittle is considered the founder of the town of Shoreham and was Shoreham's town representative in 1798 and also represented the town in the 1791 Constitutional Convention. In 1910 the original gravestones of Colonel Doolittle and his wife, which had been on the property of the Doolittle Farm north of the main house, were placed in Shoreham's town center. Today, a modern gravestone marks the spot on the farm where Doolittle and his wife Sarah were buried.

With 500 acres of land and a good wheat market in the late 18th and early 19th century, the Doolittle Farm prospered. The grist and saw mills both continued to operate, providing lumber and flour for the Shoreham region. Also built during the early period of the Doolittle Farm was the Carriage Barn (c. 1820), a one-and-a-half story wood structure with a gable roof and two double door entrances with wrought iron hinges and elliptical boarding with keystone above both doors. Most early carriage barns in Vermont were only constructed by the most wealthy farmers, while the less affluent farmers simply housed all of their livestock and stored hay and grain in the same building or had enough room in their barn. The carriage barn on the Doolittle farm has historically been moved several times, probably as more farm buildings were constructed on the property.

In the early 19th century production of grain crops in the Champlain Valley became less prosperous. Wheat prices fell and the cold weather of 1816 destroyed many farms in the region. Also, the Champlain Valley soil, which had seemed so rich when first settled, was becoming less fertile from over-farming. Farmers at the time didn't know enough about fertilizing to keep the land in production, so farmers of the region turned to other means to sustain their farms, particularly sheep farming with the protective tariffs of 1824 providing additional incentives. From 1825 to 1850 sheep became the leading farm product in Vermont and the Champlain Valley seemed ideal for them. By 1837 Addison County had raised more sheep and produced more wool than any other county in the United States.

Throughout the 19th century, the land associated with the Doolittle Farm remained basically intact. By the 1850's ownership had changed to the Birchard family. The United States Agricultural Census of 1860 lists Alonzo Birchard as owner of the Doolittle Farm with 400 acres of land. During this period the Doolittle farm was very diversified and included 200 sheep, 11 milk cows, 25 stock cows, 8 horses, and 2 swine. Hay and barley, wheat, and corn were also produced, though solely for feed, not for profit. Apples from a small orchard, potatoes, and wood were produced during this time as well. The varying types of farm buildings on the farm reflect the varying types of agricultural production, from dairy cows to swine and chickens.
While in 1860 the Doolittle Farm had over 200 head of sheep, no direct physical evidence of sheep farming remains on the farm, perhaps because sheep were typically raised in sheep sheds, which were not always very permanent structures. The number of sheep on the farm began to decline in the later 19th century. Dairying began to replace sheep farming across Vermont as the protective tariffs were repealed and western states began to compete with Vermont for wool production. Also, there was greater demand for dairy products, such as cheese and butter.

The early bank barn (c. 1870) on the Doolittle Farm, could accommodate the dozen or so milk cows the Birchards owned in the second half of the 19th century. The "gravity flow" design of these types of barns allowed for the easy transport of the manure from the basement area to the fields. The hay to feed the cows was stored in the upper story and the stables were on the first floor. In 1860 the Birchards had 11 milk cows, which produced 1200 lbs. of butter and 300 lbs. of cheese in one year. This was not typical of most farms in Shoreham, which did not have such large dairy operations.

By the late 19th century the small dairy farms that had facilitated the early bank barn type gave way to larger numbers of dairy cows in an operation. The manifestation of this change can be seen on the Doolittle Farm, with the construction of a large ground-level stable barn on the property. It is two stories tall and over seventy feet long, so far more dairy cows could be in production than before. This barn also has an original period concrete floor.

In the early 20th century fluid milk began to replace butter as the preferred dairy product produced on dairy farms in Vermont. Refrigerated railroad cars and better storage capabilities allowed for milk to be transported without risk of souring. To accommodate the need for cold storage facilities and as health officials became concerned with milk handling, most dairy farms built milkhouses separate from the barn. The milkhouse on the Doolittle farm, which is attached to the ground-level stable barn, was typical of the milkhouses being built in the 1920s with a gable roof, concrete foundation, and high doorway for easy wagon access.

Around 1900 the large hay barn on the Doolittle Farm was built adjacent to the ground-level stable barn. This large open frame structure with large entrances for wagon drive-throughs, provided additional storage for hay and is a common farm building type on Vermont farms of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Two other buildings exist on the Doolittle farm: a small, one-story chicken coop and a small, one-story, gable roof pig house. Both were probably built c. 1900 and reflect the diversity of the livestock on the Doolittle Farm. In the early 1900s poultry and egg ranching was being promoted to farmers by the State of Vermont Agriculture Department. Farmers also kept pigs, particularly if they made cheese and butter or sold cream because they would eat the whey.

The Doolittle Farm was purchased by Charles and Eleanor Clemens in 1969 and continued to function as a farm into the 1970s. Today the property that Colonel Doolittle acquired in 1788 is still very much intact. The Prickly Ash Brook flows in torrents every spring, rushing past the historic mill foundations that served as the center of manufacture in the early settlement of Shoreham. The Federal style Georgian plan home built for Colonel Doolittle is intact, as are the farm buildings that reflect the farm's diverse agricultural history. Much of the land around the farm is managed today, with pasture land and hay production on the property. The rich and fertile land of the Champlain Valley provides sustenance for farmers in the region and the Doolittle Farm gives testament to the rich tradition of Vermont agricultural life.