Joanne (Holbrook) Patton, as the widow of George Smith Patton (formerly George S. Patton IV, who died in 2004), inherited through her 50-year marriage to her husband the Hamilton farm owned by the Patton family since 1927.

One cold January morning at the colonial farmhouse on Green Meadows Farm, Mrs. Patton hugged her friends from North Shore Music Theater goodbye, after they had just returned the golf cart she had lent the financially struggling theater. Mrs. Patton wasn’t wearing a coat, and she said the music theater will survive its struggles as she greeted her next visitor, and kindly escorted me inside her home to sit by a wood fire.

The old farmhouse contains the offices of the organic farm started in 1980 by Major General George S. Patton when he retired from the US Army, which he served over 34 years, from the Berlin Airlift to Vietnam. Patton decided upon his retirement that the farm, bought in 1927 by family agents for his father--the celebrated World War II hero General George S. Patton Jr. George S. Patton Jr.  had never lived at the house due to his untimely death after a car accident at the end of 1945. But his son decided to finally leave the army, to tend the land he thought should lay idle no more. When Patton's health began to fail, his wife quit her 15-year business career as a consultant to nonprofits, and took over care of her husband and the farm in 1999.

Green Meadows Farm is managed now by Andrew Rogers and his wife, Diane Rogers, and they have hired help to keep the farm producing organically certified fruits and vegetables, much of which goes to 300 local families who are members of the cooperative. There are also organically raised livestock, chickens, turkeys, and pigs. During the winter months, the grounds are still busy with life. Employees keep the farmstand open, selling firewood, and maintain the grounds. As we went inside, I breathed in the quiet Hamilton woods and snow-covered fields surrounding the farmhouse and its outbuildings and barns. At the stable, two horses wearing blankets snorted out plumes of frosty breath.

As the matriarch of this distinguished family of generals (Joanne Holbrook is the daughter and granddaughter of generals), Mrs. Patton is the overseer of the land and the archives and historical artifacts that occupy the house. Family portraits, photographs, books, and knickknacks like wine cups made from oil cans, that were gifts from the soldiers to George S. Patton, fill the rooms of the old house. Mrs. Patton tired of tlaking after a while and was most proud to show me the photos and paintings hanging everywhere in the cold but beautiful old house, the main section of which was built in the late 18th century.

One of her five children, Robert H. Patton, is an author of books like “The Pattons,” about the famous Patton clan and generations of generals and warriors, and as the mother of a writer she kindly asks me about my project. Mrs. Patotn also points out the paintings by her eldest son, George S. Patton Jr., who carried the name of his father and grandfather, but was prevented form carrying on the military tradition due to his congenital disability. Even still, Mrs. Patton is filled with pride in describing her son's riding championship in the Special Olympics, a great source of pride for his father, too, she told me.

Another guest at the house is a researcher from a nearby college, who has been working in the office, an addition to the 18th century house that Patton built to hold all his books and archives. “Every year we have selected scholars coming and they are making a database of the materials,” Mrs. Patton explained to me. “It’s been a lovely project. At the end of it, we do have a termination time, three years to go, then we will know what we have and we will begin to discuss what will happen to it, this house, and so on. So, we’re looking ahead.”

As for me, I will be posting more of my interview with Mrs. Patton. Come back to read more about this historically significant American family, and the remarkable woman whose life is rich with charity, kindness, and compassion for her children and her community.