Adam Mott was one of the first settlers in Portsmouth. In 1639 he was given a land grant of 100 (some sources say 145) acres on West Road, on the south side of Cory’s Lane. Land grants were given on the condition that a house be built on the land within a year. Adam may have built that house in 1640, but that was probably torn down to make way for son Jacob’s larger house between 1650 to 1675. Through the years additions were made to the house, but evidence of the original structure remains. The land and house stayed in the Mott family until 1895 when it was purchased by the Benjamin Hall. In 1973 the property was slated for industrial development and historians, architects and archeologists looked for ways to preserve this unique house. The Mott house was one of the few late 17th century farmhouses with original woodwork and ironwork. The house was dismantled in 1973 with the idea of assembling it somewhere else. Unfortunately, the wood decayed and crumbled while in storage.
The Mott House was so valuable because it had very little in the way of improvements made through the years. If changes were made, what was the old was just covered up and not destroyed. When Benjamin Hall bought the property he had the intention of selling it for industrial purposes. Few improvements were made from the turn of the century through 1973. The Hall family rented the property out to immigrant families who had no resources to modernize the house. The owners didn’t invest in the house upkeep. Investigators trying to do an oral history of the house found that:
“Although the farmstead was still the scene of family life, it had become the site of a rural tenement for Portuguese immigrants. Very soon after they acquired the property in 1895, the new owners leased it to one “broker”family, which in turn rented out space in the house to other Portuguese families. During the crowded years of the twenties, as many as four families resided in the first and second stories of the house, while “greenhorns,” single men who had just arrived in Portsmouth, were boarded in the attic, sometimes as many as a dozen at a time.” The Mott Farm was considered a place to start on a better life for these immigrants.
“The owners demonstrated even less interest in the farmstead, except as a source of a rather small yearly income. This neglect has, in some ways, been a blessing to the archaeologist, as it is the major contributor to the Mott Farm’s time-capsule-like appearance.”
Quotes from Marley Brown, Ethnohistory Journal, Nov. 1, 1974. “The Use of Oral and Documentary Sources in Historical Archaeology: Ethnohistory at the Mott Farm.”
Most of the Mott land is part of Melville Park. One of the trails goes through an area close to the remnants of the cellars, but I could see little on a walk a few days ago. How the Mott property became Portsmouth Town property is still a mystery to me. I do know that as well meaning as the intention to take the house apart and re-assemble, it was a futile attempt to save the house. The disassembly, however led to meticulous notes and images to record the house and all the information of the craftsmanship within the house. The Mott house was as a newspaper account stated “Mott Farm: 300 years of history.” Another headline read: Mott Farm: 4-dimensional textbook. ”
East Bay Window, June 27-28, 1973
For more in depth discussions of what was found in the archaeology, visit the Roger William’s University site: https://docs.rwu.edu/anne_w_baker_collection/
portsmouthhistorynotes 
Oct 15, 2024 @ 09:12:11
The original grant was for 100 acres. Later Motts then acquired another 40-45 acres over the years. Most of that remained in the Mott family until 1895. However, a few acres were sold in the early 19th century to Edward Lawton where he built a house and water mill near the current lower pond. The cellar for the main house (pictured) is long gone. That house was where the Clock Tower Square is now in Kings Grant. However, there is still a set of cellar holes within Melville Park just off the Orange Trail. That was for a house built around the late 17th to early 18th centuries probably by one of the Jacob Motts (there were several Jacobs). It is shown on a map from the Rev. War. That house was demolished by the Federal Government in the 1950’s after they acquired that part of the old Mott farm in WWII. The Federal Government had already acquired part of the old Mott Farm in the early 20th century to secure the water from the brook to supply the Bradford Coaling Station. Finally, in 1978 the Federal Government gave 153 acres back to the Town of Portsmouth and called it the Melville Recreational Area. About 100 acres of that is the current Melville Park.