The land on which Stonefield Farm resides is the traditional homeland of the Nashobah, Nipmuc, Massachusett, and Pawtucket Tribal Nations and Peoples. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide in this territory, as well as the generations of Indigenous stewardship tied to this land, and are in the process of working to best honor the many Indigenous people who continue to call this land home.
We recognize that tribal lands can overlap, and that this may be an incomplete list of those native to this land. Land Resource: native-land.ca
The Stonefield Farm property sits between Fort Pond Brook and the historic Merriam “Mill Pond” in South Acton center. The property is an integral part of the history of the town of Acton, having been a part of many industrial enterprises during the town's formation. Starting in the 1660s, the forests on the land were used as a source of charcoal for the Concord Iron Works Company. By the turn of the 18th century, the perimeter of the property had become the site of many small mills, powered by a dammed-up portion of the brook which became Mill Pond. The farmland itself has been in continuous agricultural production for over 300 years. The Simeone family leased and eventually purchased what would become Stonefield Farm in the early 1900s, after immigrating from Italy. What began as a subsistence farm gradually expanded into commercial growing, and the Simeone's seasonal garden center, situated on the Martin Street side of the property, was a bustling community hub for decades.
Boston Area Gleaners' Director of Strategy Dylan Frazier sat down with Paul Simeone of Stonefield Farm to talk about the historic farm and the Gleaners' plans for their new home. Watch the interview to learn more →
Committed to preserving the land and transferring the property to a social cause, the Simeones sold the property to Boston Area Gleaners in July 2021. As a home base for the Gleaners operations, Stonefield now serves as a hub for storing and packing crops for food access organizations—expanding the reach of our food security efforts, and presenting new opportunities to grow crops specifically for food access partners and support emerging farmers.