New birth at Glen Ridge

Vintage photo of Glen Ridge Barns

The land in and around Glen Ridge Farm has a history that reflects the history of our town. It was part of an original land grant given to William Brenton and then sold to members of the Cook family who served in town offices from the 1640s on. It was an area that served as a ferry landing for the Fogland Ferry to Tiverton.

The land went through a number of Yankee farm families including that of Captain John Stanton until H.A.C. Taylor bought the land in the 1880s. Taylor was a New York businessman who established Glen Farm to be a model farm dedicated to raising the best livestock. His son Moses Taylor added the stone horse barns you see at Glen Ridge Farm today. The horse barns originally housed the Percheron horses that the Taylors bred, but also were home to the Taylors’ own riding horses. The 1925 barn structures were added to an already existing frame barn structure that is very old and maybe one of the oldest barns in our area. Another building in the compound served as a garage for the Taylor cars and as the headquarters for the Glen Farm Fire Truck (which served at Prudence Island and is being restored today.)

We are fortunate to have parts of Glen Farm in town ownership. Glen Ridge Farm is in private hands, but its owners are keeping the traditional farming use of the land. It is home to an elite herd of colored hucaya alpacas. It is truly a part of our town history that we can see and touch today.