The following history of the Heustis farm, located on what are now called the Belmont Uplands, is based on Richard Betts’s newsletter of March, 1993, for the Belmont Historical Association.

In 1845, fourteen years before Belmont’s incorporation, Warren Heustis of Vermont? married Lucy Ann Hill, daughter of Amos Hill. The Hills were among the earliest settlers of the land that is now part of Belmont—in fact, they received the grant from King Charles that is now the Sergi farm, and Mr. Amos Hill gave to Warren and Lucy Ann 13 acres of land between Little River and the Arlington town line.

Mr. Hill also gave the new couple a house. Here’s a long view, with the fields, and here is a family portrait.

“The 1879 tax records list the property as 24 acres, a house, barn and piggery.” [Betts newsletter, March 1993] Today, when you walk in the old Arthur D. Little property, or work to protect the Uplands, you are walking in the footsteps of several generations of Heustis entrepreneurs.

Warren and Lucy Ann Heustis and their children and descendants farmed the land for more than a hundred years. This is Eddie Smith, one of the farm employees, with a cultivator and two beautiful horses. Here is Lancaster Heustis with another beautiful pair of horses.

The Heustis family raised the fruits and vegetables that drew annual visits from the Horticulture Society’s Fruits Committee, and won numerous beautifully engraved medals, like this one. It reads as follows:

MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
TO
Warren Heustis & Son
Seedling Strawberry Baystate
1887

Now, let me tell you about the Heustis piggery, which is really what got me started on all this. An 1894 issue of The New England Farmer reported that Heustis & Son had “the largest fancy pig farm” in the region, with “not less than 1200 pigs, all registered stock. Their favorite pig is the short-nosed Yorkshire.” [Betts newsletter]

We are fortunate to have Heustis & Sons stationery with a drawing of their pig. Isn’t this a delightful illustration? We must all be grateful to the individual who saved this envelope.

There is little doubt that the short-nosed Yorkshire referred to is the Middle White pig, first recognized as a breed in 1852 in England. Here is a photograph sent by the British Pig Association. The upturned snout is referred to as a ‘dished face’. Because of its excellent eating qualities, the “new” breed went from strength to strength, according to the British Pig Association. Today, Middle White breeding stock is exported world wide. Its Breeders Club has a well-known chef as its patron, who breeds his own Middle Whites.

I am very much impressed by Warren Heustis’s decision to import the Middle White breed. I’d like to know how he learned about it, what led to his decision. We can see Mr. Heustis as an enterprising Yankee making a very smart business decision, with something of a risk involved, that appears to have paid off well.

We do in fact have photos of the Heustis pigs, although they are only piglets.

After the first Warren Heustis’s death in 1890, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society published a eulogy in his memory, calling him “a lover of the rose and an esteemed member of the vegetable committee”.