Kamon Farm

Expanding along both sides of Pineswamp Road, this conservation area straddles two watersheds and helps protect important drinking water supplies. Beneath the northern portion, groundwater flows to Bull Brook Reservoir in the Parker River watershed.

To the south, water drains to the Mile Lane Wells in the Ipswich River watershed. Portions of this land are used for haying, and agricultural use will continue to be compatible with drinking water supply goals.

On the east side of the property, trails lead from open fields to wooded uplands and connect to a broader trail network on Turkey Hill Conservation Area and other conserved land. The all-access portion of the trail leads to a bench with sweeping views across open fields.

At the time of European contact, Pawtucket people who became known as the Agawam Indians were growing corn on the lower slopes of Turkey Hill and exploiting the subsistence resources of the nearby wetlands and pine groves. They canoed to Ipswich Bay and Plum Island Sound via nearby Bull Brook to Rowley River.

The Kamon Farm area was periodically occupied by Indigenous people since PaleoIndian times circa 14,000 years ago, when bands of hunter-gatherers met near here for the cooperative hunting of caribou. Stone artifacts from archaeological sites on and around Turkey Hill are housed at the Harvard Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Cambridge.

The farm has long been a part of the agricultural history of Essex County. Simon and Agnes Kamon immigrated from Poland in 1905 and farmed this land with their family, running a dairy for years.

Kamon family member Dianne and her husband, Bob Perry, took over the farm from 2003 until 2021, when they sold it to Greenbelt to ensure it would be protected forever.

Greenbelt worked with the Perry family and the Town of Ipswich to conserve this land. Funding came from the Ipswich Open Space Bond Program, Commonwealth of Massachusetts LAND Grant Program, Institution for Savings Conservation Fund, and private individuals and foundations.