31 May, 2015
As part of Hopkinton’s 300th Anniversary Celebration, there will be a Historical House & Garden tour on Sunday, June 14. The tour will feature six houses representing three centuries of Hopkinton's history and six distinctive gardens. The tour is jointly sponsored by the Hopkinton Garden Club, the Hopkinton Historical Society, the Hopkinton Women's Club and the Hopkinton 300th Anniversary Celebration Committee.
Among the houses on the tour is the Elmwood Farm located at 97 Ash Street. The Elmwood Farm property was originally owned by the Reverend Elijah Fitch. He was Hopkinton’s second minister of the First Congregational Church, from 1772 until his death in 1788. He was an eloquent speaker, prolific writer and beloved minister, who is credited with planting ash tree to purportedly rid the area of rattlesnakes, which gave Ash Street its name. Reverend Fitch’s heirs sold the property to John and Johanna Adams in 1813, who built the present brick house around this time, attaching it to Fitch’s original 1780s structure. The Elmwood farmhouse is a two and a half story brick, five-bay, center-entry building, described by the Massachusetts Historical Commission in its 1989 architecture survey as Federal/Greek Revival.
Nine descendants of Reverend Fitch will in Hopkinton on the day of the tour, including a great granddaughter of Lucy Fitch Perkins who spent summers on Ash Street. Jeremy Wyant, another descendant who recently donated a significant amount of Fitch materials to the Historical Society, will be a docent for the tour.
The Train Depot, located on West Main Street, will also be part of the tour. The Friends of Hopkinton Anniversary Celebrations will be selling commemorative gifts and serving refreshments from 10am to 2pm on the day of the tour.
Advance tickets are $25 and will be available at Angel's Garden Center, 65 School Street and Country Plus, 20 Main Street. Cash or check only, please.
Committee members Ann Marie Rocheleau and Merlyn Mezitt from the Garden Club; Marie Smith and Kathy Yankee from the Women's Club and Bill Shaw, Christine Navez and Anne Mattina from the Historical Society will also have tickets. Tour admission is limited to ages 12 and over.
Tickets the day of the tour are $30 and will be sold from 10 am to 4 pm at Angel's Garden Center and the Hopkinton Historical Society, 168 Hayden Rowe. Cash or check only.
On the day of the tour, June 14th, ticket holders will be able to pick up the tour booklet and map of the houses & gardens at either the Historical Society Building or Angel's Garden Center starting at 10 am. The tour will run from 11am through 5pm.
To read more about Elmwood Farm, visit the town website at https://docs.google.com/a/hopkintonma.gov/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=aG9...
