Brook Farm Historic Site

November 10, 2019 Sunny

History

Brook Farm Historic Site was a utopian experiment in communal living in the 1840s. It was founded by former Unitarian minister George Ripley and his wife Sophia Ripley at the Ellis Farm in West Roxbury in 1841, and was inspired in part by the ideals of New England Transcendentalism. Founded as a joint stock company, it promised its participants a portion of the profits from the farm in exchange for performing an equal share of the work. Brook Farmers believed that by sharing the workload, ample time would be available for leisure activities and intellectual pursuits. Among the original shareholders were journalist Charles A. Dana and author Nathaniel Hawthorne, who served together as the first directors of agriculture. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Peabody, Theodore Parker, and Orestes A. Brownson were among its interested visitors.

The Site

Brook Farm was named for the brook that ran near the roadside and that eventually went to the Charles River. It was surrounded by low hills and its meadows and sunny slopes were diversified by orchard, quiet groves and denser pine woods. The original buildings were almost all burned down. The only building left standing on the site is the Print Shop, but is not associated with the utopian community. However, even the Print Shop has fallen into disrepair and is all boarded up, although signs of restoration can be seen through the windows.

The Trail

Not a lot remained on the site. A trail leads from the small parking area beyond the Print Shop to the Charles River. A side trail leads to the nearby Millennium Park. The trail is flat and narrow, and we walked past several cemeteries.

Along the trail were fields and swampy areas as we got closer to the river. Eventually, we reached the outskirt of UMASS Mount Ida College campus, and we could see the river from there. The terrain became a little hilly at that point, which gave us good views of the river.

Across the Charles River is actually the Cutler Park Reservation that we visited before.

Brook Farm had a significant place in American intellectual history. It was one of the three important sites related to New England Transcendentalism (the other two are Walden Pond and Fruitlands in Harvard MA). Unfortunately it fell into dissolution, and this site is largely unknown in the general public.

Although once an important site, there’s not much left to visit. Some of the adjacent woods seem scattered with piles of debris, which was disappointing to see.
Historically significant, although not much left on the site. The walk was unexceptional.
The walk was really boring and the overall experience was super lame. Not surprising no one else wanted to visit this deserted wasteland of a state park.
It was very barren and he house was creepy.
The house is cool but we didn’t get to go inside it.