Gould Hill Orchards is located on Gould Hill Road, between the villages of Contoocook and Hopkinton, in the Town of Hopkinton, Merrimack County, NH. The property contains approximately 80 acres of orchards and tree farm on both sides of Gould Hill Road. The farmhouse, barn, pole barn, and apple storage buildings are on the East Side of the road. A shed used for maple sugaring and a summer cottage are located on the west side of Gould Hill Road. From the mid 1700s to the present, this property has been farmed continuously.

Joseph Gould, a town incorporator, was the first of the Gould family to come to Hopkinton in 1735 to stake a claim during the first land division. His family came to this country from England in 1650. In the late 1750’s Joseph’s three sons - Moses, Christopher, and Gideon - made the move from Amesbury, Massachusetts to Hopkinton. Gideon settled on the next hill over to the east of Gould Hill. Both Christopher and Moses settled on Gould Hill. Christopher built the original Gould Hill Homestead in c. 1760 and his brother, Moses settled down the hill to the north. In 1775 the brothers swapped homes. Around 1899 the original farmhouse directly across the street from the barn was taken down and Robert T. Gould, great great grandson of Moses Gould, built the existing farmhouse. Over the centuries Gould Hill Orchards has changed deeded ownership 7 times, but only changed family stewardship once, in 1939.

It was Robert Truman Gould that turned the farm at Gould Hill into a prosperous agricultural business. Robert T. Gould’s prosperity came from fruit (apples and peaches) and dairying. He phased himself out of the dairy end of his business and concentrated on fruit - primarily apples. By 1926 his bountiful crop was sold mostly through Boston markets. By 1929, he had doubled his land and increased his income tenfold. Now his apples were being shipped worldwide.

Robert Gould had one daughter, Jessamine, but no son to pass the farm on to. In 1938 he sold 82 acres of land and the farmhouse to a business partnership formed by Edward Chandlee Leadbeater (a Wallstreet escapee) and Charles B. Nichols (Edward’s brother-in-law and textile manufacturer). “The privilege of living in God’s country atop Gould Hill here in the midst of bearing apple trees with a sweeping 75 mile view of lofty mountains” brought Edward Leadbeater back to the area where he summered as a child and was educated at Fryeburg Academy and Bowdoin College. During the 1950’s the prosperity of Gould Hill allowed many improvements. Fresh Sweet Cider production was added and a retail sale area was opened in the carriage shed section. By 1961 the Orchard produced 30,000 bushels of fruit. Leadbeater by this time was wholesaling his fruit through a broker in Ayer, Massachusetts, J.P.Sullivan & Co. By 1962 Gould hill was growing over 20 varieties of apples. One variety was a chance seedling named “Kearsage” after the Kearsarge Mountain in Warner that predominates the view to the northwest.

In 1971, Erick, Edward’s son and oldest child, returned to the farm after attending Bowdoin College, as had his father, and several years in Chicago as intructor in the Navy and Director of Water Sports. In 1978 another chance seedling was discovered at the orchard. This variety, “Hampshire” was patented on December 28, 1993 . In 1982 business operations were expanded at the main farm with the building of the Controlled Atmosphere Storage. This allowed for expanded retail operations at the Orchard to remain open throughout the winter and proved to be profitable during the 1980’s. An Orchard block on the hilltop was opened to “Pick Your Own”. In 1993 the Nursery was added to the retail operations. Due to consumer demand, this operation has become devoted solely to the sale of fruit trees. Still standing behind the farmhouse and still producing apples is the Gramma Baldwin tree, now over 200 years old, and perhaps the oldest bearing apple tree in New Hampshire.

Erick Leadbeater and his wife, Sue, managed the orchards up until 2008.

In the Spring of 2009, Tim and Amy Bassett have taken over the farm. They still work closely with Erick and Sue and look forward to many years of farming apples, peaches, blueberries, pumpkins and more.