Number and Size of Idle Places. There was a total of 25 unused or 

 partially used places in Hopkinton. Except for three places of doubtful com- 

 mercial size, all had definitely less than enough currently usable agricultural 

 land to make a commercial dairy farm. These 25 places were estimated to 

 have a total of 466 tillable acres and 104 acres of nonwooded pasture. This 

 is an average of less than 20 tillable acres and a little over 4 open pas- 

 ture acres per place. The average total size was approximately 120 acres. 

 Such figures suggest that these places were made up of predominantly non- 

 agricultural land, that most of the old pasture had grown up in brush or 

 trees, and that only the land easiest to work remained open. Observation and 

 interviews with the owners tended to confirm this suggestion. Not only had 

 the old pasture land been largely given up, but in some cases land listed as 

 tillable land was now being used only as unimproved pasture. 



Current Use and Ownership of Idle Places. The largest places in terms 

 of agricultural land were three places of doubtful commercial size. The main 

 current use of each was judged to be residential, although there were limited 

 other uses. All three owners had made more agricultural use of their places 

 in the past. One owner bought a farm but found it too difficult to get under 

 way as a farmer. One was a farmer who was getting too old to operate his 

 farm fully, and he may never have operated it very intensively. One place was 

 held by the heirs of the last farmer; they had so far not decided what to 

 do with it. 



Less Than Commercial Size Places. Of the 22 less than commercial size 

 places, 13 were currently used chiefly as full-time residences and 4 as 

 summer homes. In addition, the two places with no current use were held 

 partly for possible future residential use. This leaves only three other places 

 — a fruit farm, a summer boarding place, and a factory — with some idle 

 or semi-idle field land. 



Interpretations. In Hopkinton, as in Greenland and Stratham, the chief 

 current use of places with idle farm land is for residential purposes. Some 

 of the ownership is similar, but other of it is markedly different. There are 

 some owners in both areas who previously have farmed their places more 

 actively, but there are fewer cases of real farm possibilities in Hopkinton. 

 There are proportionally much fewer residences of nonfarm workers and pro- 

 portionally many more residences of business and professional people in 

 Hopkinton. A further difference is that approximately half the business 

 and professional group came from a distance — such as the Boston and 

 New York areas — to buy places in Hopkinton. Some of these are retired 

 and some are still working outside while their families live in Hopkinton. 

 Some had bought summer homes which they later came to use as full-time 

 residences. Those not from "outside" work (or worked, if retired) in Con- 

 cord. 



Some of these residences, perhaps the majority, show signs of more than 

 average wealth. Few, if any, however, have the appearance of the very ex- 

 pensive country estates sometimes seen elsewhere. For the most part the 

 owners of these places have merely reconditioned the original house, put 

 modern conveniences on the inside, and "spruced up" the surrounding ground 

 and sometimes outbuildings where any remain. 



An effort was made to determine historically how the nonfarmers had 

 succeeded the farmers. Apparently most of these places had not been taken 



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