@AJ_andrew69@mastodon.social @gbsills@social.vivaldi.net
For those not from
#NewEngland, this was a thing. I still see a lot of "Town Farm Roads" in New England where the
#TownFarms used to be.
Forgotten New England
The Town Farm – A Victorian-Era Solution to
#Poverty
by Ryan W. Owen, Writer and Photographer
"Town farms were Victorian society’s equivalent to today’s homeless shelters, nursing homes, and mental hospitals. Often relegated to a far corner of town, unseen, forgotten, and hopefully self-sufficient, the town farm was created to instill a sense of industriousness and self-sufficiency in paupers who would, in turn, provide what labor they could to help run the farm. And, throughout most of the nineteenth century, it worked. The town farm in Billerica, Massachusetts once spanned over 150 acres, including 75 acres of forests. In 1880, the Billerica town farm housed some twenty employees and paupers, in addition to its horses, cows, pigs, and chickens."
https://forgottennewengland.com/2011/10/11/youre-going-to-send-us-to-the-poor-fahm/
#PoorFahm #NewEnglandHistory 
