In 1878, when the 150 acres of arable land of the Hampton Institute could offer no more farm work to the increasing number of negro and Indian students, a generous lady, of Boston, Mass., gave, principally for the benefit of the Indians, the sum of nine thousand dollars, to purchase a fine grass and grain farm of 350 acres, five miles from the school, to which was added, by purchase, 250 acres more, and to it has been given the name “Hemenway Farm,” as a memorial to the husband of the giver.
It was placed in charge of Mr. and Mrs. Chas. H. Vanison, both graduates of Hampton, but has been under the general control of Mr. Albert Howe, formerly of Dorchester, Mass., manager of the Normal School farm.
During the three and a half summer (vacation) months, the sixty Indian boys, excepting about one-third who go to Berkshire Co., Mass., to work with the farmers, spend by turns, in squads of twelve or fifteen, two weeks at a time at this farm, taking part in the stock and farming operations, which are carried on on a larger and simpler scale than at the school. They thus get a wholesome change from life in the workshops, besides useful, practical knowledge. A general knowledge of agriculture and stock is important for those who are learning trades.
The steady working force of the farm is composed of from eight to ten colored boys, who begin October 1st each year, working till the next October, ten hours a day, studying every night from seven till nine o’clock, under the direction of Mrs. Vanison. They receive, besides their board, from $8 to $10 a month, which, excepting $3 a month for clothing, they are expected to save to pay future school expenses. They are an ignorant, destitute class, but, as a rule, are most willing, earnest and deserving students. After working all day, they study harder at night than any others in the school. Ten hours of handling lumber at the saw-mill, or steady work on the farm, or in the machine shop, is no trifling duty, but they are eager for their night lessons.
The ten at the Hemenway Farm are a part of 130 “work students,” thirty of them girls, employed in the various industrial departments, constituting about one-third of the colored pupils at Hampton. They devote a preliminary year to day labor and night study, to fit themselves to enter the junior class of this year’s course, and to accumulate a small fund, averaging $75 for the year, to help meet cost of board, ten dollars a month, besides clothing and books. This is done in part by working two days each week of the regular course. With strict economy and working all vacations, they maintain themselves through the entire course graduating without receiving a dollar in charity, some, however, need help the last year and none are more worthy of it.
The effect on their characters is excellent. Good as it is, that they shall earn and learn in this way, it is even better for the habits, ideas and manliness it promotes. The entire class is mature, averaging 19 years of age. Mr. Vanison is as excellent a manager as we care to have; his wife keeps house, sees to the boys’ meals, rooms and washing, and teaches them nights, besides raising some 500 chickens, at which she has a wonderful “knack.”
The farm was cultivated last year as follows; 75 acres in wheat, 80 acres in oats, 112 in corn, 35 in clover and orchard grass, the rest in pasture, a few acres being devoted to vegetables and an orchard. Much was done in clearing old ditch banks. The stock consists of 50 hogs and pigs, 110 sheep and lambs, 6 colts, and from 10 to 20 beef cattle, which are bought in the neighborhood, fattened on the pasture and killed at the school, two or three a week being required there.
The Hemenway farm, of 600 acres, some 60 acres of it marshy, is situated in Elizabeth City County, on Bach River, which is an estuary half a mile in width. The house is a famous, but plain, old Southern mansion, in which Gen. Washington once dined. Until 1878 it had been for many generations in the hands of an old aristocratic family, whom the war impoverished, and their place was sold for debt. The location is a beautiful one; the region is quite Englishlike in appearance, with its rich, level fields and its hedge-rows. In summer, delicious breezes blow up the river from Chesapeake Bay, four miles distant.
Oysters and fish abound in its water front; a handsome lawn and fine old trees surround the house, all of which are a delight to the boys, especially to the Indians, who have long summer mornings.
The past season a plain but pretty cottage was added to the old house, which was too small, containing a dining-room, kitchen, laundry, and bedrooms for the boys upstairs. This leaves rooms, as was intended by the giver, for tired teachers to come and rest for a night from the cares and din of the institute, to whom the quiet and beauty of “Shellbanks,” its former name, is a great comfort. I must not forget to mention the ample barn, stable, cow-shed, tool-house, corn-crib, extensive stacks of straw, and wind-mill for pumping water for the stock.