City Still Years From Running Tillie's Farm

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Tillie’s Farm, one of few remaining sustainable agriculture operations in the area, will continue to serve as home to the Spurr family even after the city obtains full ownership of the land next year.

The city of Peabody agreed to pay $2.6 million for the historic, 15-acre Lynn Street property just over five years ago, and city officials confirmed this week there is just one more check to be written to owner Earl Spurr before the land officially becomes city property. Still, plans for the site remain on hold for now until the family that has cared for and made the land its home for nearly 200 years is ready to give it up.

“Mr. Spurr can stay on that property as long as he would like. And (the Spurrs) can vacate it any time they want to...but I don’t see that happening any time soon,” said Community Preservation Committee Chairman William Power. “There is an end date (on the family staying on the land) that they made in the deal, but I am not sure exactly when it is. I can say that it is a long ways in the future.”

With the $2.6 million investment in CPC funds, the city was able to help preserve one of the only working farms in the area and ensure that the land would be put to proper, viable use once Spurr and his family can no longer care for it. Power says eventual plans for the land are not set in stone, but he anticipates the city will continue to use it for farming and agriculture, much in the same way it utilizes Brooksby Farm.

“I could see it becoming Brooksby Farm South,” he said.

Director of Community Development Karen Sawyer says that plans for the land have not been discussed much recently but the area must be used for ‘passive recreation’ once the city does obtain control of the property.

“Passive recreation is basically anything that isn’t active, so no ball fields or playgrounds or anything like that,” she said. “It is more geared toward walking trails or park benches and gardens -- things like that.”

Tillie’s Farm has been a part of the South Peabody landscape since the mid 1800s when the Newhall Family first began occupying and farming the land. For most of its existence it was known as Newhall Farm, but the name gradually changed in the city’s vernacular after family heir Marion (Newhall) Spurr, who was known as Tillie, opened Tillie’s Florist  in 1940 on a parcel of farm land purchased from her grandfather.

Over 70 years later the city is being careful to maintain the long family history on the land as it obtains ownership, but Power says there is one change that he is positive will be made once the city is in control.

“I can say for sure that we will be changing the name back to Newhall’s Farm,” he said. “That family has been in Peabody and Lynn, and on this farmland for well over 100, probably closer to 200 years. The land is still being farmed and used by the family who sold it to us.”

While the Tillie’s Farm site will remain largely untouched for some time Power did say that another parcel of land on Lynnfield Street, totaling just under four acres, may be in line for an upgrade as part of a community garden project headed by the Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department.

That department’s new director Jennifer Davis confirmed in an email this week that plans are underway to launch the gardening project, and the Lynnfield Street property is one of a few areas the city is considering.

The city purchased that plot with CPC money in 2010 from retired city worker Irene Zielski for $775,000.

“We have a few plots of land that may work well for that project,” said Davis. “It is still in the beginning stages, but that is definitely something I will work hard to see come to fruition sooner rather than later.”

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