The Faulkner House and Mills
The house was built for Ephraim Jones (1679-1710), founder in 1702 of an early textile business and other mills that formed the nucleus of the present town of Acton. The largest and most central house of this settlement, it served as the local garrison house for protection from Indian raids made along the Massachusetts frontier during Queen Anne’s War of 1702-1713.
For 202 years it was the homestead of six generations of the Faulkner family, prominent in many fields of endeavor, who carried on the processing of woolen cloth at the fulling mill across the road, said to have been one of the earliest attempts in the United States to manufacture woolen cloth on a large scale.
Faulkner homestead from a photograph taken about 1880
Courtesy American Antiquarian Society
Faulkner House and the American Revolution
The Faulkner homestead served as a garrison for South Acton Militia during the Revolutionary War. As Paul Revere rode to raise alarm on April 18, 1775, he found that he would need more riders to continue the message. He found Dr. Samuel Prescott in Lexington and enlisted his help. Prescott was sent to Concord, and then Acton. After informing Captain Joseph Robbins, Isaac Davis and Deacon Simon Hunt, he went to South Acton and then to the Faulkner house. Major Francis Faulkner fired off three shots, the signal alarm, and soon the militia of Acton were ready. From Acton, a man named Edward Bancroft continued the message on towards Groton and Pepperrell.