John Cowman Farm Site

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, he claimed this land and built a homestead that would become the physical foundation of Irish settlement in the area. Cowman's 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 the area, drawn by his reports of fertile farmland and opportunity. The site is located approximately one mile west of the village center and remains one of the most historically significant locations in the Hubbardston area.