By Melissa Beth Ruiz
Many residents probably are unaware of the fact that the Plummer family is currently the oldest farming family in Londonderry. With the departure of Andy Mack from Moose Hill Orchards over a year ago, the Plummers now have the longest roots into the ground of the town.
From the original Londonderry settler, Abel Plummer, to the hardworking, Kitt Plummer, members of the Plummer family have provided for and supported the people of NH for generations, and their story demonstrates the lasting impact a legacy of sharing and goodwill has.
A Bit of Background
George Kittredge “Kitt” Plummer III, born 1958, was raised in Londonderry. He went to college at the University of NH for two years before he received a job in Nashua NH working for the tech company, Teradyne, where he would remain as a Business Process Analyst for 18 years.
After years of working with the company’s Kitt began to question if he was meant to work at a desk job. Having been brought up on a farm, he thought that the rest of his life should be dedicated to growing things from the earth instead of spending hours on conference calls .
With that in mind, Kitt seized an opportunity to take up farming by trading places with a co-worker who was about to be laid-off. The money Kitt was provided with as compensation helped kick-start his farming business.
Planting the First Seeds
Having only worked part time in farming during his youth, Kitt was unsure of how to run a full-time farming business, and less so on what to grow.
He began with Christmas trees, and while his first Christmas tree farm was small, the demand for the trees was high.
Later, Kitt’s brother-in-law Dan Hazelton let Kitt operate the Hazelton Family Orchard in Chester, where he would branch out into produce.
“I took on running an apple and peach orchard,” said Kitt. “I also put up a couple of greenhouses where I grow vegetables and tomatoes. It’s not a huge agricultural enterprise, but it has got to a point that I make a living from it.”
Massachusetts Transplants
It may surprise residents to know that the first generation of Plummer farmers in Londonderry, were not a native of NH. While it’s unclear who the very first Plummer was, according to Kitt Plummer’s son’s genealogy investigation, the first American Plummer came to Rowley, Mass. as an indentured servant.
Abel Plummer worked for his masters in Rowley for seven years before being released. From there, the emancipated Plummers began a lifetime of farming.
In 1773 Abel and his family migrated to Londonderry, and bought 200 acres of land from the Aiken family. It was on that land that Abel built the Plummer house, a house that would be the home of 9 generations of descendants.
A Pious Plummer
While Abel was in Londonderry, he grew close to more than just his crop. According to Kitt, at the time the strongest authority in the town was not the Town Hall but the Presbyterian church.
“The church was the government.” Kitt stated, and part of that government was none other than Abel Plummer.
By the 1780s Abel was classified as an Elder of the church, and according to Kitt, the Elders doubled as selectmen for the town, deliberating on issues such as taxes, laws, civil disputes, punishment, and enforcing the rules of the church.
18th-century Farm life
Abel and his family had their work cut out for them in Londonderry. To prosper as a farmer at the time was not easy, and it was made more difficult by the fact that the majority of the farmland in town was forested with Oak and Chestnut trees.
“It was a primal forest, there were no fields, no places to grow things.” said Kitt.
The first Plummers were originally subsistence farmers, only making enough to feed themselves. They grew their own vegetables and raised livestock, and cut lumber to build stores, churches, and houses and to warm the hearths of neighbors’ homes.
The Great Depression
Even during the dark days of the Great Depression, nothing could eclipse the kindess of the Plummer family.
Kitt recalled a story about an elderly woman called Miss. Patterson who had lost her entire family. In the 1930s, those who could not provide for themselves were given aid from the town. However, due to the grave state of the economy, most towns could only produce the bare minimum of food and shelter.
“In some towns, they had what they called the ‘Poor Farm,’ and the people would have to go to the poor farm and it wasn’t a pleasant thing,” said Kitt. “They didn’t eat very well, towns were notoriously cheap with how they funded these things.”
This was unacceptable to Robert K. Plummer, Kitt Plummer’s great-grandfather, especially since Miss. Patterson was a family friend. He would build her a small house from wood he chopped himself, with a small stove in the kitchen area and a bed to rest her head at night. The rest of the Plummers would step up to help care for her in her daily life.
The foundations of the Patterson house remain on Plummer Farm to this day.
Through Mud and Blood
As the Great Depression came to an end, they made way for a new struggle; WW II.
Between the 1930s into the 1940s, Nate Plummer was hard at work on the farm, raising a herd of over 100 pigs. They were fed to be a nice size, and when it was time, Plummer’s uncle Nate would load them up in his truck and take them to Portland, ME, where he sold them to the B&M Baked Bean Company. This was normal life for Nate Plummer, until the early 1940s.
In the spring of 1942, Nate received his draft papers to be enlisted in the US army. Kitt explained that the war had changed the farm and the people that lived there. The war consumed the life of the Plummers, and the livestock were sold off.
“From 1942 to 1945, the house that I live in now was vacant.” said Kitt. “All the people that had been living here were with off in the military or working war factories for the war effort.”
The Gift that Keeps on Giving
Using his 70 acres of land, Kitt provides Christmas trees to many Londonderry families. Kitt sells most of his produce, tomatoes, eggplants, and squashes at the farmstand in Chester, along with apples and peaches from the farm’s orchard.
Whether it’s during the spring or the winter, Kitt Plummer is always providing a service to the town of Londonderry. In late February 2019, Kitt worked with the Conservation Commission to improve the parking for his customers so that they don’t have to back out into busy streets like Pillsbury Road.
In the records from the Conservation Commission, Kitt also planned on “stripping the topsoil and (putting) down one and a half inches of crushed gravel to prevent people from getting stuck in the mud.”
The Next Generation
Kitt has three grandchildren, Jasmine, Layla and Anastasia, the ninth generation of Plummers in Londonderry, who Kitt has high hopes for.
“Most people who run farms like the idea of having the kids follow behind them,” said Kitt. “But kids today have a lot more opportunities… it would be nice to see little Layla decide to be a farmer. I could sit on a rocking chair watching her doing her farming, but she might just want to become a nuclear physicist, or be in journalism, I have no idea.”
“I try to show them how I do things and maybe down the road they might show an interest.” said Plummer.