Celebrate the arrival of spring with the 15th annual Draft Horse Plow Day. This year’s event will take place on Saturday, May 8 from 11am to 4pm at the historic Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm on Little’s Lane in Newbury, MA.
Teams of draft horses and mules from throughout New England will participate in plowing demonstrations. Welcome our pigs, Dave and Romeo, back to the farm, and plant springtime seeds. Watch the shearing of the six resident sheep and learn how their wool is made into cloth. Enjoy horse-drawn wagon rides, baby farm animals, sheep shearing, spinning and weaving demonstrations, black-smithing, and children’s crafts and games. Listen (and dance) to New England fiddle music performed by E. J. Ouelette or watch a puppet show by the incomparable Martha Dana.
The seventeenth century manor house will be open from 12-4 and is full of activities for families. A fresh lunch menu and cold drinks will be available, and Ipswich Ale will be on tap! Admission is $6 for adults, $4 for children and free to Historic New England Members. For more information please call 978-462-2634.
The Plow Match continues a long tradition of work horses on the farm used to prepare the soil for spring planting. In the 1880s, brothers Edward Francis Little and Daniel Noyes Little imported draft horses by rail from Iowa to Newburyport. Trained at the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm, the horses were sold to other farms and coast guard stations.
About Historic New England
Historic New England is the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the nation. We bring history to life while preserving the past for everyone interested in exploring the authentic New England experience from the seventeenth century to today. Historic New England owns and operates thirty-six historic homes and landscapes spanning five states. The organization shares the region’s history through vast collections, publications, public programs, museum properties, archives, and family stories that document more than 400 years of life in New England. For more information visit www.HistoricNewEngland.org.
Historic New England is celebrating its centennial. Discover all that’s happening across the region this year at http://www.HistoricNewEngland.org/Centennial
