The first tractor in Westport

The First Tractor In 1921 Julius T. Smith (Turtle Rock Farm) bought one of the first tractors to be used on a Westport farm. The Fordson tractor was invented for a man “with a strong back and a weak head. We always took a monkey grip on the handle when we cranked the tractor, otherwise […]

Continue Reading

Inventing the Macomber Turnip

This commemorative handkerchief from the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition depicts the source of seeds that created Westport’s Macomber turnip. Westport can lay claim to its very own vegetable, the Macomber turnip. In 1876 Adin (1845-1915) and Elihu Macomber (1846-1933)  ventured to the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition where they procured some seeds.  The brothers planted the seed on […]

Continue Reading

Have you ever heard of the Macomber fowl?

  Macomber fowls  / “Tripps Yaller Hens” / Rhode Island Red Have you ever heard of the Macomber fowl? By Richard Gifford Westport farmer John Macomber played an important role in the breeding of the Rhode Island Red, “an egg laying machine.” He swapped hens with Little Compton farmer William Tripp, and successfully bred “an […]

Continue Reading

Jeanie Stewart Boyd Hall (1857-1942)

WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Jeanie Stewart Boyd Hall (1857-1942) Author, botanist 1787 Main Road (named Synton) and land around it 1871 Main Road (bought for Katherine Stanley Hall when her dad died.  It had the library.) 1878 Main Road (from her sister who owned it 30 years.) West Beach, Horseneck property (on the West end […]

Continue Reading

Katharine Stanley Hall

WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Katharine Stanley Hall (1886 – 1970) Community caretaker, librarian 1871 Main Road, Westport Point Katharine was born in Brooklyn Heights, New York in 1886, the eldest child of Rev. Charles Cuthbert Hall and Jeanie Stewart Boyd.  She spent most of her youth in New York City where Dr. Hall was President […]

Continue Reading

Jean Yeomans

Jean Yeomans Poet and writer Jean Yeomans read widely and wrote voluminously. Her pen and pad were always close at hand to fill the private moments in a busy life. Most of her writing was done in prose: journals which she had kept faithfully from the age of 12, descriptions of dreams, notes on books, […]

Continue Reading

Sue Van Sloun

WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Sylvia “Sue” Maxwell Van Sloun  (1928-2019) Business owner 1787 E Main Scotch Pine Lane, Westport Point Sylvia “Sue” A.M. Maxwell was born in New York City, daughter of the late Eugene Lascalles Maxwell and Sylvia A. (Lathrop) Maxwell. He had been a member of the New York Stock Exchange. She was […]

Continue Reading

Kate Szal

WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT Kate Szal (1945-2004) Potter, Jungian analyst 1871 Main Road and 1720 Main Road, Westport Point   Katy was born Kathy Jean McFarland in Chicago, daughter of Allen P McFarland and Dorthy Grace Miller McFarland.  She spent her early years with her maternal grandparents who lived in a Frank Lloyd Wright house […]

Continue Reading