Bear Hill Farm Ice Cream Stand

Bear Hill Farm Ice Cream Stand
Address 568 Boston Rd
Built 1940
Tenants
Bear Hill Farm (1949 - 1973)
Kenin Custom Concrete Inc (1985 - 1985)
Jim Farmer (2003 - 2022)


The small building at 568 Boston Road was the ice cream stand of Bear Hill Farm, the turkey farm of Barton M. and Louise C. McQuaid. It stands on the east side of the road just northwest of the site of the William Hamlet House, on land that had been part of the Hamlet house lot of 1656 and, from 1816 to 1943, of the Crosby family's farm (see that article for the earlier owners). In December 1943 Charles H. and Lewis A. Crosby sold the sixty-one acre farm "with the buildings thereon" to the McQuaids, who were already living there; Louise McQuaid was a great-granddaughter of Harvey Crosby.

The McQuaids turned the place into the Bear Hill Turkey Farm. Their first yearbook advertisement, in 1949, offered "home made ice cream" and turkey sandwiches, and the 1951 directory lists the Bear Hill Turkey Farm on Boston Road. In 1957 the directory gives two numbers: the turkey farm and the McQuaid house at 562 Boston Road, and "Bear Hill Farm ... restr" at 560, the stand beside it. The stand kept advertising as Bear Hill Farm in the high school yearbooks until 1973, and when Charles E. Stearns recorded the old house for the Historical Commission that year his sketch map shows the "ice cream stand" next to it. A family survey of 1971, revised in March 1974 (Plan Book 119, Plan 101), still marks "Bear Hill Farm Ice Cream Stand" at the edge of the McQuaid land.

In July 1980 James B. Monahan divided the frontage for Barton M. McQuaid into Lots A, B and C (Plan Book 131, Plan 168). Lot A, 1.47 acres with 125 feet on Boston Road, held the stand; Lot B held the old house. On Aug. 8, 1980 the McQuaids, then of Brewster, sold Lots A and B to the builder Jon H. Graham for $75,000, and the same day he sold Lot A, "with all the buildings and structures thereon," to a private buyer for $60,000. In 1994 it was sold for $168,000 to the realty trust of a local general contractor, who used the building as an office, and in December 2021 the trust sold it for $850,000 to J Summer Realty LLC. The assessor dates the building to about 1940.



Bear Hill Farm Ice Cream Stand
Plan of Land in Billerica Surveyed for Barton M. McQuaid (James B. Monahan, Nov. 13, 1971, revised March 1974): Lots 1-3 on Boston Road, Bear Hill Farm ice cream stand, 1974 (Plan 119/101)
Bear Hill Farm Ice Cream Stand
Plan of Land in Billerica Drawn for Barton M. McQuaid (James B. Monahan), 1980 (Plan 131/168)


References

  1. Billerica assessor, 568 Boston Rd (parcel 70-8-1): Lot A of Plan 131-168, 1.47 acres, office building built about 1940


Title References

Date Type Grantor Grantee Summary Recorded
February 14, 1707 Exchange Deed William Hamlet and Sarah Hamlet of Billerica Caleb Farley of Woburn 14/200 (South)
1712 Will Caleb Farley of Billerica (died at Roxbury) Joseph Farley and Enoch Farley, executors; his children Probate #7162
1714 Deed Enoch Farley and Elizabeth Farley Ebenezer Farley of Billerica, his brother 20/472 (South)
1728 Bond (maintenance) John Shed Jr. of Billerica Ebenezer Farley, his father-in-law 32/219 (South)
July 21, 1736 Release of Dower Elizabeth Farley, widow of Ebenezer Farley John Shed Jr., her son-in-law 37/110 (South)
March 25, 1747 Deed John Shed, gentleman, and Elizabeth Shed of Billerica Benjamin Tompson of Billerica 46/142 (South)
1753 Will Benjamin Tompson of Billerica William Tompson, his only son (Alice Tompson, widow) Probate #22431
1783 Will Seth Wilson of Billerica Mary Wilson, widow; Seth Wilson, son Probate #25194
November 19, 1793 Deed of Gift Mary Willson of Billerica, widow Seth Willson of Billerica, yeoman, her son 114/225 (South)
February 13, 1806 Quitclaim Mary Wilson of Billerica, widow Stephen Richardson and Silas Richardson of Billerica, yeomen 163/469 (South)
February 13, 1806 Deed Seth Willson, yeoman, and Polly Willson of Billerica Stephen Richardson and Silas Richardson 166/119 (South)
February 17, 1810 Quitclaim Silas Richardson, gentleman, and Hannah Richardson of Billerica Stephen Richardson of Billerica, carpenter 186/502 (South)
February 15, 1828 Sheriff's Deed Joseph Bradley, deputy sheriff (execution of Thomas Richardson against Stephen Richardson) Isaac Kendall and Harvey Crosby 278/494 (South)
1818 Administrator's Deed Josiah Crosby Jr., administrator of Isaac Kendall Harvey Crosby 278/496 (South)
October 9, 1849 Quitclaim Harvey Crosby of Billerica, yeoman John S. Edgerly of Somerville, trader, and Henry Crosby of Billerica, trader 567/298 (South)
February 19, 1855 Release of Mortgage Lydia Crosby, Peter and Elizabeth Pines, Samuel E. Guild (administrator of Maria Crosby), Edmund S. and Jane Whitman, George Crosby, and Samuel Topliff (guardian of Charles Crosby) John S. Edgerly and Henry Crosby 704/403 (South)
September 12, 1871 Quitclaim John S. Edgerly of Somerville and Nancy W. Edgerly William Crosby of Cambridge 82/67
December 14, 1886 Foreclosure Deed James F. C. Hyde, assignee of the William Crosby mortgage to Henry E. Worcester, guardian Henry Crosby of Billerica 185/552
May 15, 1888 Deed Frances E. Crosby of Malden, maiden lady Treinetta A. Crosby of Billerica, wife of William Crosby, in her own right 196/272
November 12, 1901 Deed Treinetta A. Crosby, wife of William Crosby, and William Crosby (releasing curtesy) Trinetta A. Crosby of Billerica, single woman 336/35
May 1, 1916 Taking Trenetta A. Crosby (land taken) County of Middlesex 554/385
1931 Taking Trinetta A. Crosby and other owners (land taken) Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Public Works 802/49
December 2, 1943 Quitclaim Charles H. Crosby and Lewis A. Crosby of Billerica, both unmarried Barton M. McQuaid and Louise C. McQuaid, husband and wife 1000/473
August 8, 1980 Quitclaim Deed Barton M. McQuaid and Louise C. McQuaid of Brewster Jon H. Graham, a Billerica builder 2431/731
August 8, 1980 Quitclaim Deed Jon H. Graham of Burlington A private buyer of Billerica 2431/736
October 27, 1994 Quitclaim Deed The private owner of Lot A since 1980 James E. Farmer Jr., trustee of the Jim-Di Realty Trust 7276/225
December 20, 2021 Quitclaim Deed James E. Farmer Jr., trustee of the Jim-Di Realty Trust J Summer Realty LLC 36642/246

Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted; Probate # is a Middlesex probate case, Ctf a Land Court certificate of title.