Houghton But Not Forgotten

Demolished House in Norton, Massachusetts, United States

Mar 15 2019

House

KnightHawk

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Floors Sharp Objects Neighbours Insects

Recent status	Demolished
Location #	15880

William "Billy" Houghton knew at a young age he wanted to be a dairy farmer. In high school, he was active in the 4H, raised cows and showed them at fairs and sold their milk. He served on the Board of Directors for the Bristol County Farm Bureau, and was a member of the Jersey Cattlemen's Association.

In 1959, he built a dairy farm at its current location, and farmed it until his death in 2014 at the age of 85. Since his death, the land has been unused. In 2016 a developer wanted to turn the land along with several adjoining properties into a business and manufacturing park. To date, nothing has happened with the development plans and it seems likely that nothing will in the future. The land sits adjacent to a major highway, but once off the highway, you immediately find yourself in a semi-rural setting.

Although I couldn't get into the house on the property, there's still [i]lots [/i]to explore. Each barn or outbuilding is lettered ([i]note the letter [b]C[/b] on the barn in one photo[/i]). The feed barns are cool, and there's a lot of interesting things that were left behind. The planner and milk bag in one of the barns were great finds. In one building, I found a very old book tied with string. It was so brittle that just moving it across the table it was on nearly destroyed it. The barrels scattered around were very homey, and the retro ceramic electrical conductors in the buildings highlight the age of the place. In the same building as the book, I also found the remains of a snare drum and a worn-out racing slick.

Part of what was once the farm was parceled off to become a preschool, which is itself abandoned & is featured in my location 'Gone To the Dogs (School)'. Spoiler alert...there are [i]grave [/i]happenings there.

One thing to be aware of...the police regularly patrol the area. When I was shooting 'Gone To the Dogs (School)', there was a cruiser parked right across the road. It looked like a radar trap, but you can't be too careful. Although they saw me taking exteriors, they didn't bother me. I must have looked non-threatening with my tripod set up and taking pictures.

Latlng: (41.984504674276, -71.157658696175)

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