The Wrack
The Wrack is the Wells Reserve blog, our collective logbook on the web.
The Wrack is the Wells Reserve blog, our collective logbook on the web.
Once English colonists settled this land, it was home to only four families: Boade, Symonds, Clark, and Lord. Here is an abbreviated list of key historical events leading up to the dedication of the Wells Reserve…
1641 Henry Boade family moves to the site.
1653 King’s Highway is established past Boade’s house to the mouth of the Little River.
1655 Boade sells the property to the Symonds brothers. William Symonds becomes sole owner by the end of 1657.
1677 King Philip’s War. Symonds family flees to nearby garrison. Indians burn the farmhouse to the ground.
1717 Nathaniel Clark family builds a new farmhouse and occupies the farm for several generations.
1881 George C. Lord, president of Boston & Maine Railroad, purchases the farm.
1888 Lord builds the "Elms" Railroad Station (currently a book store on U.S. Route 1).
1892 George’s son, Robert, purchases purebred Guernseys and establishes the farm’s herd.
1893 George C. Lord dies; Robert assumes proprietorship of the farm.
1902 Horse and cow barns destroyed by fire. Rebuilt by 1904.
1908 Robert Lord dies; brother Charles replaces him and adds poultry to the farm.
1914 George C. Lord II, son of Charles, begins managing farm.
1929 "Laudholm Manor Farms & Cottages" begins taking in summer boarders.
1952 Guernsey herd is auctioned off.
1953 Laudholm Farm hosts the Wells 300th Birthday celebration.
1968 George C. Lord II sells 199 acres to the State of Maine for a state park.
1977 George C. Lord II dies.
1978 Effort to save the farm begins.
1982 Laudholm Farm Trust is established.
1986 Wells Reserve is dedicated.