The David Holmes House - Circa 1801

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(Excerpted from Colonial Amherst Village, by Robert H. Rowe))

David Holmes moved to Amherst from Peterborough and built this house in 1801. He was the first cashier in the ill-fated Hillsborough Bank that failed in 1809. After the failure of the bank, he went into business with Jonathan White manufacturing machine cards that were utilized in wool manufacturing. The machine card business was one of the activities carried on in Cushing's Folly at the corner of Main Street and Boston Post Road. The building burned in 1948; the Village Green Store is now located on the land. This business was the first in Amherst to employ women and children.

David Holmes closed the machine card manufacturing business and started a whip manufacturing company in Lowell with Mr. Barnes, a former employee of Melindy and David. When Mr. Holmes moved to Lowell, Samuel B. Melindy purchased this house. Samuel B. Melindy carried on the successful whip manufacturing business with his brother-in-law Barnabas B. David. The business was located in the building south of the Village Green store. Four generations of Melindys have resided in the house.

In the field behind the house, the first iron foundry was located. It was owned by Ezra and Thomas Woolson. Later the Woolsons manufactured sheet iron stoves and tin products in the third floor of Cushings Folly, the large brick building where the Village Market is now located.