Coggeshall Farm Museum at Colt State Park

In July 2025, I visited Coggeshall Farm Museum. Located inside Colt State Park in Bristol, RI, the late 18^th century historic farm has been associated with Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) since 2020. The 48-acre farmstead has been interpreted to the 1790s, not long after the American Revolutionary War and also known as the Federalist Era. My visit took place on a sunny summer day with perfect weather, happy animals, and friendly museum staff.

Like its larger counterpart in Sturbridge, MA, Coggeshall Farm is home to heritage breed animals, including sheep, chickens, and pigs. I appreciated that the farm candidly explained how their large black pigs were part of Gnarly Vines Farm in Tiverton, RI. As cute as the piglets were, they would become pork after a few months. For visitors who preferred an artsier approach to animals, two painted cow statues were part of a larger collection held at OSV known as Cow Parade. Rebecca Hope painted a small green cow called Wooly Wildflower, while Linda Spencer painted a large orange cow covered with vegetables and called Cowacopia. Besides animals and artwork, the farm had plenty of interactives, including classic games like hoop rolling and the flying graces, pressing flowers, watching honey bees, learning about plants in the gardens, and exploring the woodland trails.

Despite being a small property, the museum boasts six buildings. For me, the tenant farmhouse was the most interesting of the buildings, as I could visit inside. It was a typical middle class house for its time and dates from at least 1799, when owner Samuel Vial Peck sold the property to Shearjashub Bourne. As unusual as the name of the owner may seem, he was actually part of a line of Shearjashub Bournes, had two sons by the name, along with a grandson. The first Shearjashub Bourne that I could find was born in the United States in 1643, while final Shearjashub Bourne died in 1900. Other buildings on the property included an animal barn, a wood shop, a forge, a spring house, and a cheese house, which was used for storing dairy before modern refrigeration.

Just outside the farm was the Colt Dairy Barn, part of the Samuel P. Colt estate, which was constructed in 1917 to house his prized cows. Today, it mostly houses equipment from the state park service. The barn was designed by local architect Wallis Eastburn Howe, while a pair of lion statues stand on either side of a path leading up to the barn. Samuel Pomeroy Colt was the nephew of the firearms inventor Samuel Colt. While this connection certainly helped him to become an industrialist, he made his money as the founder of the United States Rubber Company and the Industrial Trust Company bank. He let the public visit his estate while he was alive, and it naturally transitioned into a public park after his death.

Colt State Park is free and open to the public from dawn to dusk. Coggeshall Farm Museum is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from mid-April through November. Check the website ahead of time to see if the day includes demonstrations and costumed staff or is self-guided. Tickets cost $10 for adults, $5 for youth ages 4 to 17, and $0 for children ages 3 and under, OSV members, and New England Museum Association members (like me!). This quiet, charming property is the perfect opportunity to introduce young children to a living history museum or bring older adults on a daytrip, as the visit will take no more than a couple of hours.