Tucked away off Main Street just a third of a mile from Ski Ward are a series of six greenhouses at 271 Spring St. They are open to the public from Easter until the first of November selling annuals, perennials and vegetable seedlings and are known as a great source for big tomato plants. The other half of the business continues year round for commercial and wholesale customers. Bill and Marion Marston, their sons James and Joseph, daughter-in-law Hana, and grandchildren Alix, 5, and Angelina, almost 3, all work together in the family business.
Bill’s grandfather, T. Franklin Marston, started in 1897 when he bought the 32-acre farm to grow vegetables in fields behind the current greenhouses. He drove a horse and wagon into Worcester to sell bushels of turnips for 15 cents a basket. He also produced cabbages, carrots, and other vegetables and soon built two greenhouses in the back field to start his crops so they would thrive in the short New England growing season.
His son, R. Lisle Marston, served in France during World War I. When he came home, he tried several inside jobs, but doctors told him he needed to work outside for his health, so he joined his dad on the farm in the 1920s. He build the current #1 greenhouse and started growing violets, which were sold at the former Denholm’s Department Store.