The 2026 Summer season at Martin House Farm in Swansea, MA began on Sunday, July 5th with fiddlers entertaining visitors, and an ice cream social.  Martin House is a rare example of an 18^th-century farm which still retains the character of its original setting. Built c.1728 by John Martin and lived in for over 200 years by members of the Martin family, the property now consists of the original farmhouse, two barns, and cultivated fields surrounded by dry stone walls and woodlands. Martin House is owned by the Colonial Dames of Massachusetts, an organization that actively promotes and conserves our national heritage. Click here for a 2-minute video taken on Opening Day and here for a 25-minute video of a tour of the house in 2024.

Carol Gafford, Youth Service Librarian at the Swansea Public Library, talks with visitors to Martin House as Carl Becker (above, center) president of the Swansea Historical Society and commander of the Second Rhode Island Regiment chats with members of the Regiment, an historical reenactors group based in Swansea, MA dedicated to preserving the memory of the American Revolutionary War. (Above, right) Becker talks with Coy Bethune, Vice-President of the Coggeshall Farm Board and a man with Pokanoket Native heritage, and his wife, Lynn, who both live in Bristol, RI.

(Above) Archaeologist Kate Erickson of the Public Archaeology Lab in Pawtucket, RI, meets Susan Butler of the Colonial Dames of Massachusetts that owns the Martin House. (Above, center) Members of the Old Fiddlers Club provided the music, and President Paula Wheeler led the group in a variety of tunes.

Visitors experience the house through student-led guided tours that examine domestic life and the transition from colony to republic as experienced by the Martin family in the 18^th century. Click here for a 25-minute video of a tour of the house videotaped in 2024.