Lizzie and Emma Borden

 

Fall River is famous for the Borden family. Unless you are a Lizzie Borden enthusiast, you may not know that the Borden family owned a summer home on Gardners Neck Road here in Swansea.

After the death of their father, Lizzie and Emma Borden kept the bright blue summer house and vacationed in Swansea on a regular basis.

Lizzie and Emma were said to be very generous with monetary donations to the Town of Swansea. In 1904, the Borden sisters commissioned The Iron Works Company in Providence, Rhode Island to build a cast iron trough that once stood on Main Street in Swansea Village. It is now under the care of the Swansea Historical Society and is located on the grounds of the Luther Store Museum.

 

On the property on Gardners Neck Road that Lizzie and Emma once owned grows hops that was planted by their father, Andrew. The hops were harvested and used to make a special beer by the Borden family. Today the Buzzard’s Bay Brewing company brews an IPA named Lizzie’s Famous ’81 Whacks. Some years back, the now owners of the Borden home gave the Fall River Brewing company a tour of the house and allowed them to harvest hops that still grows on the property today. (image borrowed from the Herald News