Located on Stearns Hill to the southeast of West Paris proper, the Stearns Hill Farm consists of over 130 acres and a house, several barns, blacksmith shop, and sap house. Originally built prior to 1797 in the Cape form, the farmhouse was expanded sometime between 1818 and 1830 to its current configuration as a side-gabled house with a rectangular footprint. The barn and blacksmith shop also date to c.1818, though the size and shape of the barn was expanded several times in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Intact farm fields, demarcated with stone walls, are found on both sides of the roadway. William Stearns, Jr. bought the farm in 1818 and around that time expanded the farmhouse. Stearns married Joanna Porter in 1819 and they had eight children. In 1844 Stearns fell on hard times and the property was foreclosed on. Luckily, his son, S. Porter Stearns was able to buy the property and keep the family here. S. Porter Stearns expanded the barn and in the 1850s raised hogs, cows, and sheep, and grew wheat, corn, and oats. The farm remains with the Stearns family today.
Year Listed: 2008
For more information: https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=4a8dd0f4-7e55-4d86-88b6-f1244043c078