Farmington Pound (1823)
Farmington, Strafford County, New Hampshire
Marker Inscription
FARMINGTON POUND|1823|HAS BEEN PLACED ON THE|NATIONAL REGISTER|OF HISTORIC PLACES|BY THE UNITED STATES|DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
The Story
In the farm towns of early New England, a "pound" was a sturdy stone or timber enclosure where stray and trespassing livestock — cattle, hogs, horses, and sheep — were penned until their owners came to reclaim them and pay a fine. Farmington built this one in 1823, when animals commonly roamed open ground and keeping them out of a neighbor's crops was every farmer's daily worry. The pound was as ordinary and essential to town life then as a fire station is today, run by an elected "pound keeper" answerable to the town meeting. Its survival, and its place on the National Register, mark it as a rare intact piece of everyday early-republic community infrastructure.
Why it matters
Town pounds are humble monuments to how early American communities governed themselves — balancing private property, shared land, and neighborly obligation long before modern zoning or animal control existed.
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