Recovery and Preservation

It took over ten years for Ferry Farm to recover from the Civil War. During the 1870s, a new farmhouse was constructed, complete with several outbuildings, the most important of which were the "surveyor’s shed" and the icehouse. This period also witnessed the first of many attempts to preserve Ferry Farm.

Restored surveyor's shed
Surveyor's Shed ~ This restored building stands in the historic core of Ferry Farm.

Surveyor's shed in the early 1900s
Surveyor's Shed ~ The so-called surveyor’s shed appears to have originally been a laborer’s cottage that later acquired preservation significance. It served as the rallying point for the preservation of the Washington farm throughout most of the twentieth century. Entrepreneur/farmer James Colbert acquired the property in 1900 and convinced early-twentieth-century preservationists that the building dated back to the Washington era. He erected a metal shed to protect the little structure from the weather and began outfitting it with Washington-related symbols, including cherry trees and signs proclaiming the significance of the building.

Ice House ~ Adjacent to the surveyor’s shed is the foundation of a 20th-century ice house constructed directly on top of the remains of the substantial Bray farmhouse. This structure dates to the Colbert period of ownership and provided the farm with a place to store ice during the warm-weather months.

Aerial view of Ferry Farm in the 1930s ~ This aerial photo shows the Colbert farmhouse surrounded by a maze of outbuildings. Colbert’s modification of the landscape was one of the most dramatic alterations in the history of Ferry Farm. Astoundingly, less than 100 years later, other than the ruins of the ice house, no evidence of this built landscape has survived.