What is the Taylor-Bray Farm? Why is it called the Taylor-Bray Farm? Where is it located? You’ll find Yarmouth’s farm at the north end of Bray Farm Road which runs north from Route 6A near the Dennis–Yarmouth line and it has a long, interesting and frequently confusing history.

A aerial view of the Bray Farm area in 1938

While this post is about the families who settled here in the mid 1600s, we would be remiss not to mention the long presence of the Cape’s indigenous peoples, who lived on this land seasonally for thousands of years. Their activities and the traces they left are part of an ongoing effort to understand their lives.

It’s easy to specify Richard Taylor as the farm’s first owner, but it’s not so simple to identify who he was, as two men named Richard Taylor lived in Yarmouth during the middle 1600s. One was a farmer, the other a tailor. Not only that, each married a woman named Ruth. Eventually, one came to be known as Richard Tailor Taylor, based on his profession, and the other became known as Richard Rock Taylor. Richard Rock Taylor was the first owner of the Taylor-Bray Farm. In order to appreciate the correct history of the Taylor-Bray Farm one must first separate the histories of these two men.

Richard Tailor Taylor married Ruth, the daughter of Gabriel Whelden, on October 27, 1646. Sadly, their lives ended in tragedy. According to records, Ruth perished shortly before December 4, 1673 in the wreck of a boat in which she had probably intended to go from Yarmouth to Plymouth or Duxbury. Her husband, now advanced in age and most likely shaken by his wife’s death, died within two weeks of Ruth.

Richard Rock Taylor, departed from Gravesend, England, June 10, 1635, on the ship Truelove bound first for Bermuda. The Truelove reached the New England coast sometime in 1636. In 1639, Richard Rock Taylor built his house near a huge rock on the line between the indigenous lands of Hockanom and Nobscusset, the location of today’s Yarmouth-Dennis town line. Richard’s name, Richard Rock Taylor was given to him in recognition of this rock.

In 1643, at the age of 24, Richard married Ruth Burgess of Sandwich. Together they raised their seven children: Richard, Mehitable, Keziah, Jasher, Hannah Elisha and Mary, on the farm. While we don’t know where Richard and Ruth are buried, at least two of their sons are buried in Ancient Cemetery, Yarmouth Port.

The house that Richard and Ruth built and lived in was not where the present house stands. It was on the south side of today’s Hockanom Road, across the street from the present house and its location is marked by the large rock inscribed by the Bray brothers.

The original house, which burned in the 1700s, was replaced by the house we can visit today on the north side of Hockanom Road. The barn, located near the new house on the site of today’s barn, once served as a stagecoach stop and turn-around for horses. Drivers spent the night at the farm and changed horses before continuing on their journey. Hockanom Road, in front of the house, was a major road and connected to what is now Old Kings Highway. As a working farm, the landscape was quite different from what we see today. No trees adorned the property when the Taylor family lived in the house. In addition to pasture and grazing land, the terrain included dunes and marshland.

Generations of Taylors continued to live in the farmhouse until Lucy Taylor sold the farm to George and Willie Bray in 1896. The property that Lucy sold for $400.00 (!) included fifty acres of uplands and adjacent marshlands which were capable of producing six tons of a combination of salt and fresh hay a year. The deed described the property as being in that part of Yarmouth known as Hockanom.

When the Brays lived on the farm they grew produce including strawberries, blueberries and corn along with hay from the marshlands. The Bray brothers were often seen on Old Kings Highway selling their strawberries and blueberries from a wheelbarrow.

George and Willie also operated an antique shop out of the old Taylor barn near the location of the original house on the south side of the street. This building remains part of the farm and is now used as a private residence. The stonewall adjacent to the present barn may have been built by the Bray brothers.

As was the custom in earlier years, a small herb garden was planted by the house outside of the kitchen door and the herbs served both culinary and medicinal needs. Walking onions were used in cooking or pounded and used in poultices to treat abscesses. Thyme was used for flavoring in cooking but also as an expectorant to clear lungs and nose. Yarrow was good to have on hand to stop fresh wounds from bleeding.

Robert Williams Jr on a tractor at Bray Farm, 1950.

When George Bray died in 1941, the farm was sold. In 1987, after the farm had passed through several families, the farm was about to be sold for a residential sub-division. Upon hearing this news, a group of Yarmouth’s citizens suggested that the farm be purchased by the town and used as a community resource, bringing their recommendation to Yarmouth’s Town Meeting. With the intent to maintain the farm for historic preservation and conservation, the Town of Yarmouth voted to purchase this treasure along with twenty-two acres of marshland and upland.

In order to preserve the farm’s unique legacy, the Taylor-Bray Farm Preservation Association was formed in 2001 in strong partnership with Yarmouth’s Historical Commission, the town’s oversight body for the farm. In the summer of 2002 a program to repair the barn was initiated in collaboration with the Historical Commission and the Cape Cod Regional Technical High School.

Because of the foresight and hard work of many individuals, the Taylor-Bray Farm is now open for everyone to enjoy at any time of the year. There are picnic tables, woodland walking trails and beautiful views of Black Flats marsh. Sheep roam the pasture, chickens reside in re-constructed chicken coops, osprey spend the summer months at their nest over the marsh and a wide variety of wildlife can be seen in their natural habitat. Taylor-Bray farm has been transformed back into a working farm for everyone’s enjoyment.

Researched and written by Ruth M. Weissberger

To read more about George and Willie Bray, see our blog post about them.