HOLDEN — Cindy Stowe Wilder was moved to stop and take a photo of the historic Fairbanks Farm Red Barn on a recent January day, resulting in an idyllic image of the historic structure on Shrewsbury Street.
“There is something special about a red barn, snow, and peace in the air on a cold morning,” the Worcester resident posted on social media along with the picture.
Stowe Wilder said she has driven by the Red Barn “all my life,” and that she has “always loved it.”
“It just struck me as I was going by with the snow,” she shared. “Somewhere in my genealogy there are Fairbanks, so maybe that is my draw to it.”
Susan Ceccacci is one of the founding members of the Friends of the Red Barn Inc., the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that owns and maintains the antique barn. According to the Friends website, the dedicated group sponsors activities at the barn that promote an understanding of New England’s agricultural past and encourages an appreciate of nature, agriculture, and the interdependence of human life with the natural world.
Ceccacci has been involved with the organization for more than 20 years, 12 as president of the board of directors, and has lived in the Jefferson neighborhood for more than 40 years. She said the Friends of the Red Barn was formed in the 1990s when Worcester Polytechnic Institute “made the decision to divest itself of its Alden Research Laboratory in Holden and to put up for sale an adjoining 14 acres on Shrewsbury Street.”
“That lot included former farmland, a cornfield, and the historic mid-19th century Fairbanks family barn,’” Ceccacci said. “Fairbanks farmhouse, which originally stood in front of the barn, was no longer standing. In 1997 a group of concerned citizens joined together to form the Friends of the Red Barn. Its goal at the time was to prevent the threatened demolition of the barn — a highly visible and much-loved remnant of Holden’s days as a farming community.”
The Friends’ preservation efforts proved successful, and in 2000, Rutland real estate developer Clealand Blair Sr. donated the Red Barn and 7.7 acres of land to the nonprofit after he purchased the property.
“This property, which also includes a major portion of the pond behind the barn, provided Blair’s adjoining residential development with the open-space amenity required by the town of Holden to permit his small-lot, cluster subdivision,” Ceccacci said. “Two historical markers on the barn grounds are examples of our effort to make the public aware of the history and historical significance of the barn and its grounds.”
The Friends group has held a variety of events on the grounds since shortly after taking ownership, community events such as harvest festivals, Halloween festivities including a costume contest, food drives, arts and craft fairs, gardening classes, demonstrations of 19th-century crafts, musical events, educational programs for children, and more.
“The well-preserved Red Barn is one of the very few agricultural barns surviving in Holden,” Ceccacci said. “We forget that our town once had a much more rural character. Because Holden has been developed gradually over the past 100 years to become largely a Worcester residential suburb, very little of its 18th- and 19th-century agricultural and industrial past survives. The Red Barn and other surviving historical Holden buildings and landscapes are of outstanding importance as touchstones to the past, providing for our town a physical record of an earlier era and offering a unique sense of place.”
There are currently 35 paid members in the Friends group, and they always welcome new members and volunteers. Ceccacci said that during the coming growing season, the Friends’ newly launched Farm at the Red Barn will be in full swing, producing heirloom vegetables on the property.
“We encourage families to come and see the farm’s progress all during the season, from planting to harvest,” Ceccacci said.
In any season, the public is welcome to come and check out the barn and enjoy a stroll on the grounds. While the Friends group is still in the planning phase for the upcoming season, Ceccacci said that “there will be a strong emphasis on activities and events related to our Farm at the Red Barn.”
“We are currently in the process of updating our website,” she added. “As the warmer season arrives, we encourage the public to check the website for Red Barn news and events.”
When asked what makes the Red Barn special to her, it was apparent just how passionate the longtime town resident is about it.
“It is a reminder of an earlier time and of ways of living that were based on local, homegrown products and on hand work and hand craft to produce them,” Ceccacci said. “The technology of today may make us forget that there are other, very basic, ways of doing things. Children grow up without knowing such things.
“To me it is exciting to see both children and adults trying out our apple cider press, putting an ear of dried corn in our hand processor to remove the kernels for animal feed, or shaking a jar of cream until it turns to butter and buttermilk,” she continued. “The Red Barn is a learning laboratory (and) also a community center where, together, we can celebrate both the past and the present and also our ongoing connection with nature and the earth.”
For more information, visit redbarnholden.org and follow The Friends of the Red Barn (facebook.com/redbarnholden) on Facebook.
