Hannah Shapleigh Farmer opened up 'Rosemary Cottage' in Eliot in 1888 for weary mothers and their children to enjoy the summers and regain their health from the pollution of inner-city life. She was a philanthropist, feminist and abolitionist, also opening her home for the 'underground railway'. '

Rosemary Cottage' was immediately given to 'The Fresh Air Fund' of Boston to operate and remained as one the Fund's facilities until 1941.