The John Cowman Farm on Section 11 of North Plains Township is the birthplace of Hubbardston's Irish community. When John Cowman arrived in 1849 as the first Irish Catholic immigrant, his converted sheep-shed served as the community's first church, and his hilltop meadow became the first cemetery. The first St. John the Baptist Church was built on this farm in 1857. By 1851, six additional Irish families had followed Cowman to this site, establishing the chain migration pattern that would define the community.