
Taylor-Bray Farm
Taylor-Bray Farm Preservation Association
P.O. Box 66
108 Bray Farm Road North
Yarmouth Port, MA
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Taylor-Bray Farm Preservation Association
P.O. Box 66
108 Bray Farm Road North
Yarmouth Port, MA
A family farm that would endure for over 250 years had its start on this small knoll. If Richard & Ruth Taylor came back to life today they probably would be surprised to learn that the site of their humble beginnings in the early 1640s is now on the National Register of Historic Places and draws visitors from across the Cape and the country.
The Taylors who lived in the house on this knoll were active in town and church affairs. The women raised large families while the men engaged in the kind of farming pursuits typical of the early years of Plymouth Colony. Richard Taylor even boasted about his plentiful corn crops according to oral tradition.
Somewhere along the line, perhaps in the early 18th century, Taylor men probably began to earn a living from the sea although we have no written record of that. But we do know that two boys who grew up in this house became ship masters, one of whom was the focal point of a well-known local oral history tale for his heroics in a battle with the Barbary pirates. Other Taylors were citizen soldiers. Richard Taylor Jr was active in the Plymouth Colony militia during King Philip’s War. During the Revolutionary War Rueben Taylor (1729 – 1785) saw militia duty at Fort Ticonderoga while his sons Samuel and Shubal served in the Massachusetts Line of the Continental Army.
Several archaeological surveys on the knoll starting in 2012 located the site of the original 17th century house and an 18th century addition along with a possible barn and some particulars about the farmyard layout. Many recovered household artifacts give us insight into the daily lives of these early Taylors who left behind little in the way of written memorabilia such as diaries or letters. The main house also featured an unusually large stone cellar probably added in the early 18th century perhaps reflective of the demands of a growing family or that the Taylors needed storage space because they were engaged in commercial trading of some sort.
Fortunately for archaeologists it was a common practice in the 17th & 18th centuries for folks to toss their trash into the yard thus creating a windfall for 21st century archaeologists working on the knoll. We collected an amazing array of colonial household items ranging from the practical and functional to more finer items reflective of a middle income colonial family. Among the artifacts were everyday redware vessels, finer ceramics made in England and sometimes Germany, clay tobacco pipes, gunflints, a musket ball, eating utensils, hand made nails, shoe buckles, cuff links, buttons and even a silver spur buckle.
Native Americans and Richard Taylor apparently shared the same appreciation for the knoll location. Archaeological evidence shows that the front door of the original 17th century house was located just a few feet from where fieldwork in 2012 discovered a cache pit that Native peoples would have used to store foodstuffs like dried corn or nuts.
Taylor-Bray Farm Preservation Association
P.O. Box 66 – 108 Bray Farm Road North, Yarmouth Port, MA 02675