Liberty Farm consists of 18 acres of fields, 2 acres of salt marsh, and 72 acres of mature forest with 1270 feet of shore on Harpswell and Skolfield Coves. Once the site of an historic salt water farm, it lies at the northern edge of Harpswell. About 1300 feet of wooded shoreline extend along the eastern shore of Harpswell Cove. Together with Spruce Point, the Merrucoonegan Farm, and the Skolfield Shores Preserve, Liberty Farm makes up the highly scenic gateway to Harpswell Neck. A portion of the Farm was once the site of a historic Skolfield shipyard. Today, Liberty Farm provides substantially undisturbed habitat for many species of fauna, flora and marine organisms as well as commercially productive mudflats. The fields are still hayed each year.
Easement Acquired: 1996
Property Owner: Private
Easement Holder: HHLT
Easement Purpose
To conserve open space and the natural habitat for flora and fauna; to preserve the scenic aspect of the fields, wetlands and woodland as viewed by the general public from the Harpswell Neck Road and from the waters of Harpswell Cove; to protect the historic value of this traditional saltwater farm that was once the site of the Skolfield family shipbuilding business; and to preserve the traditional agricultural, silvicultural, and marine uses of the property, including the harvesting of shellfish.
The Easement also permits limited residential use (one residence with agricultural buildings, to be located within a designated "building area").
Public Access: No
Other
HISTORY OF THE SKOLFIELDS
According to Erminie S. Reynolds and Kenneth R. Martin in their book A Singleness of
Purpose: The Skolfields and Their Ships,. "(M)ainers have always been at the forefront of maritime activity throughout our nation's history and, as a result, have helped to shape the tides of change that have profoundly affected America's emergence and influence." Their book documents how "... one family began a career in maritime entrepreneurship that ultimately spanned three centuries" and that helped to shape the course of ... maritime commerce that built the fledgling country into a world power." A brief sketch of the family history follows.
The first Thomas Skolfield was an Englishman who came to the area around Brunswick, Maine in 1734 after emigrating to Boston from Ireland around 1725. He settled on 200 acres on upper Harpswell Neck in Brunswick around 1739 (Harpswell did not become a separate
township until 1758) and had become one of Brunswick's most prosperous farmers and leading citizens by the time of the American Revolution. He was the progenitor of the shipbuilding, seagoing Skolfields.
Thomas's son Clement consolidated the family property straddling the Harpswell Brunswick town line around Skolfield Cove and established a shipyard there--setting the family pattern of farming and shipbuilding that was to occupy the talents and energies of this large extended family for generations. As merchants, boat builders, sailors, and captains, the Skolfields initially engaged in coastwise commerce along the Atlantic seaboard and to the West Indies in sloops and small schooners; by the 1800's they had graduated to building larger schooners with more cargo capacity and had expanded into the European trade.
Master George Skolfield, one of Clement's sons, stayed ashore to continue the family's shipbuilding enterprise as the Harpswell yard built more ships of increasing sophistication. In most cases the Skolfield vessels were owned and/or commanded by members of the family, undertaking complex trading routes across the Atlantic. Around 1838, as a result of Harpswell's plan to tax vessels under construction, Master George moved his business across the town line to Brunswick, and began to launch his ships from the north side of Skolfield Cove. The crowning glory of his career was the production of the clipper ship "Rising Sun" in 1855, which was the only clipper ship ever built in Harpswell or in the Brunswick yards on Casco Bay, according to the book Harpswell On Casco Bay, Its Early History And Shipbuilding, by William T. Alexander.
However, American shipping had been devastated by the Civil War and was facing competition from foreign shipping and steam powered vessels; by the late 1800's the industry was in decline. After the death of Master George in 1866, the business was carried on as the "Skolfield Brothers" during this final phase of wooden shipbuilding in Maine. The last major vessel was launched in 1885.
Much of the family history is preserved in the collections of the Pejepscot Historical Society, Brunswick, Maine and the Maine Maritime Museum, Bath, Maine.