Briar Hill Farm text
...that I might help her make a video about the significant contribution that Thoroughbred breeding farms make to the economic welfare of Massachusetts. The hope was that the facts embedded in this piece would help sway the Gaming Commission toward giving the casino license to the owners of Suffolk Downs. Not only were the jobs of hundreds of backside workers in danger, but so were the breeding farms and the land they occupy.
This made for an interesting adventure. Shirley drove us to various farms where she asked questions about basic investments and the cost of maintaining the farms and horses. I videotaped and took photographs. That’s how I met George and Arlene Brown at Briar Hill Farm in Rehoboth. They are so interesting and articulate that I somehow got sidetracked into creating a website about them and this farm that has been in George’s family since 1860.
Originally, I hoped the site would be interactive, but the platform I chose and that Maia Lynch worked on so diligently failed. Maia edited most of the video that is now on the site that Paul Foley built.