Green Acre and Sarah Farmer
Green Acre Bahá'í School is a retreat and conference center operated by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'i of the United States. Located in Eliot, Maine, on the banks of the Piscataqua River, the School has served as a center for the study of religion and peace since the 1890s. The founder of Green Acre, Sarah Jane Farmer, is recognized as a pioneer in the promotion of peace and, particularly, in fostering the role of women as peacemakers. Green Acre Baha’i Conference Center (left) was founded by Sarah Farmer. In 1904-05 she actively supported peace activities directed at ending the Russo-Japanese War, has played an active role in Treaty remembrances. A week-long conference in 2005 included reenactments of Sarah Farmer’s peace overtures, multicultural musical celebrations and seminars exploring the topic,”Toward a Culture of Peace.” In 2005, Green Acre commemorated the peace-flag raising ceremony attended by members of the Japanese delegation in 2005, and has repeated the ceremony each year since then, to honor Sarah Farmer’s part in the Treaty history. The local Baha’i community has presented the Sarah Farmer Peace Award annually since 2005
Sarah Farmer's commitment and passion for promoting peace was rooted in her adherence to the Bahá'í Faith, the youngest of the world's independent monotheistic religions. Founded in Persia (present-day Iran) in the mid-nineteenth century, the Bahá'í Faith is the world's second-most geographically widespread religion, after Christianity, with some 6 million adherents residing in more than 200 countries and territories. The Bahá'í Faith teaches that humanity is now approaching its long-awaited stage of maturity, when the oneness of humanity will be recognized and established and conflicts based on differences of race, nationality and religion will cease.
Sarah Farmer's commitment and passion for promoting peace was rooted in her adherence to the Bahá'í Faith, the youngest of the world's independent monotheistic religions. Founded in Persia (present-day Iran) in the mid-nineteenth century, the Bahá'í Faith is the world's second-most geographically widespread religion, after Christianity, with some 6 million adherents residing in more than 200 countries and territories. The Bahá'í Faith teaches that humanity is now approaching its long-awaited stage of maturity, when the oneness of humanity will be recognized and established and conflicts based on differences of race, nationality and religion will cease.
The Bahá'í's and the Peace Treaty of 1905
During the 1890s and early 1900s, Sarah Farmer firmly established Green Acre as a place dedicated to the study and promotion of peace and the harmony of religions. The Green Acre Conferences, held every summer beginning in 1894, brought together leading writers, educators, philosophers, artists and activists in many fields, including Swami Vivekananda, author Ralph Waldo Trine, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, publisher Charles Brodie Patterson, Charles Proteus Steinmetz, actor Joseph Jefferson, artist Marsden Hartley, and singers Geraldine Farrar, Emma Thursby (in Japan, image below) and Blanche Yurka. The program always carried "Peace" as one of its themes and included lectures on education, anthropology, evolution, nature, sociology, art, music, child study, psychology, the federation of the world, labor, transcendentalism and comparative religion.
The war between Japan and Russia was of great concern to the participants at the 1904 Green Acre Conference. During the closing ceremonies, as the Russo-Japanese conflict raged, the great operatic singer Emma Thursby, in Japanese costume, sang the national anthem of Japan. The audience then rose and sang the national anthem of Russia, lead by Mrs. Mary Burnham Moore, and prayed that the peoples of these two great nations might soon clasp hands in brotherly love and peace.
In 1905, hearing that the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty was to take place at the Portsmouth Shipyard, Sarah Farmer sent notes to the American, Japanese and Russian Embassies, inviting the delegates to a special celebration at Green Acre. President Roosevelt and Russian Ambassador Witte wrote to Sarah Farmer thanking her for the invitation to Green Acre but declined due to schedule conflicts. The Japanese delegation accepted the invitation and visited Green Acre on August 31, 1905. Later that day, Japanese Minister Takahira, Dr. Kahn, and Miss Farmer all addressed over 300 guests on the subject of Peace.
In the picture above, Sarah (seated, holding flag) is shown with the Japanese delegates in front of Ole Bull Cottage at Green Acre. Also pictured at Green Acre on that historic day were Dr. Ali Kuli Kahn (3rd from left), Mr. and Mrs. William Hoehn (third from right and 2nd from left) and Miss Ethel Lawrence (second from right), and Mr. K. Ochiai, Japanese envoy (far right). Photo courtesy of the Portsmouth Atheneum.
Poem read at the Green Acre conference for the Japanese Orphan Relief Fund by Larry Chittenden, San Antoni TX
The Children of Japan
From beyond the Yalu river
And the islands faraway
Comes the booming of the cannons,
And the world is sad today.
Sad alas! for suffering thousands,
And the thousands who have gone
To the lands beyond the Sun Rise
To await the final dawn.
But the children of the soldiers?
Ah the little children’s cries
Are re-echoed by the night winds
Till the sea is sad with sighs.
Yes, across the weary waters,
Leagues and countless leagues away
There are orphans by the thousands
And the women weep today.
Oh! my brothers they are dying
Famishing, for want of bread,
For their guardians’ the Reservists
Are all at the Front --or dead!
Would you leave them in their anguish?
No! –the Brotherhood of Man
Call aloud for aid and succor
For the Children of Japan.
We have preached and prayed for ages
On the little lines of creeds;
But now my Christian brothers
‘Tis the time for kindly deeds.
Till Fuji’s lofty mountain--
And the Yalu River free
He echo Christ great precept
“Ye have done it unto me.”
Although the only witnesses in the room with Witte and Komura were Asst. Secretary Pierce, Gov. McLane, Portsmouth Mayor Marvin, Adm. Mead commander of the Shipyard, and the commanders of the Dolphin and the Mayflower (the two Navy vessels who had conveyed the diplomats to Portsmouth), Sarah received a visitor pass to be at the Yard that day.
The war between Japan and Russia was of great concern to the participants at the 1904 Green Acre Conference. During the closing ceremonies, as the Russo-Japanese conflict raged, the great operatic singer Emma Thursby, in Japanese costume, sang the national anthem of Japan. The audience then rose and sang the national anthem of Russia, lead by Mrs. Mary Burnham Moore, and prayed that the peoples of these two great nations might soon clasp hands in brotherly love and peace.
In 1905, hearing that the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty was to take place at the Portsmouth Shipyard, Sarah Farmer sent notes to the American, Japanese and Russian Embassies, inviting the delegates to a special celebration at Green Acre. President Roosevelt and Russian Ambassador Witte wrote to Sarah Farmer thanking her for the invitation to Green Acre but declined due to schedule conflicts. The Japanese delegation accepted the invitation and visited Green Acre on August 31, 1905. Later that day, Japanese Minister Takahira, Dr. Kahn, and Miss Farmer all addressed over 300 guests on the subject of Peace.
In the picture above, Sarah (seated, holding flag) is shown with the Japanese delegates in front of Ole Bull Cottage at Green Acre. Also pictured at Green Acre on that historic day were Dr. Ali Kuli Kahn (3rd from left), Mr. and Mrs. William Hoehn (third from right and 2nd from left) and Miss Ethel Lawrence (second from right), and Mr. K. Ochiai, Japanese envoy (far right). Photo courtesy of the Portsmouth Atheneum.
Poem read at the Green Acre conference for the Japanese Orphan Relief Fund by Larry Chittenden, San Antoni TX
The Children of Japan
From beyond the Yalu river
And the islands faraway
Comes the booming of the cannons,
And the world is sad today.
Sad alas! for suffering thousands,
And the thousands who have gone
To the lands beyond the Sun Rise
To await the final dawn.
But the children of the soldiers?
Ah the little children’s cries
Are re-echoed by the night winds
Till the sea is sad with sighs.
Yes, across the weary waters,
Leagues and countless leagues away
There are orphans by the thousands
And the women weep today.
Oh! my brothers they are dying
Famishing, for want of bread,
For their guardians’ the Reservists
Are all at the Front --or dead!
Would you leave them in their anguish?
No! –the Brotherhood of Man
Call aloud for aid and succor
For the Children of Japan.
We have preached and prayed for ages
On the little lines of creeds;
But now my Christian brothers
‘Tis the time for kindly deeds.
Till Fuji’s lofty mountain--
And the Yalu River free
He echo Christ great precept
“Ye have done it unto me.”
Although the only witnesses in the room with Witte and Komura were Asst. Secretary Pierce, Gov. McLane, Portsmouth Mayor Marvin, Adm. Mead commander of the Shipyard, and the commanders of the Dolphin and the Mayflower (the two Navy vessels who had conveyed the diplomats to Portsmouth), Sarah received a visitor pass to be at the Yard that day.
About Sarah Jane Farmer and Green Acre Bahá'í School
Green Acre was founded by Sarah Jane Farmer (1844-1916), the daughter of Eliot native Hannah Tobey Shapleigh and Moses Gerrish Farmer of Boscawen, NH, a pioneer electrical inventor. He had more than 100 patents, including the fire alarm pull box that is still in use today. Hannah's many interests and accomplishments included raising funds to help save the old North Church in Boston from demolition; sending supplies to Southern hospitals during the Civil War, and establishing Rosemary Cottage in Eliot, ME, as a summer retreat for children and mothers from the inner city.
The Farmers were Transcendentalists who were associated with the Abolitionists and other progressive movements. Their home was a way station on the Underground Railroad. Sarah Farmer grew up knowing influential writers, inventors and thinkers of her day, including John Greenleaf Whittier; Harriet Beecher Stowe; Sojourner Truth; Dr. W.F. Channing; Frank J. Sprague, a former student of her father; Lord Kelvin, the famous English scientist; Charles Proteus Steinmetz; Professor William B. Rogers; and her father's brother-in-law, writer Charles Carleton Coffin. These associations contributed to Sarah Farmer's understanding of social problems and the importance of peace, freedom and equality.
In 1890, Sarah Farmer joined four businessmen to open a hotel in Eliot. The poet John Greenleaf Whittier came that first summer and gave Green Acre its name. In 1892, Sarah Farmer had a vision that Green Acre should offer conferences on progressive subjects the sciences, arts and religion, universal in scope and open to all races and creeds. Over time, these conferences brought together leading writers, educators, philosophers, artists and activists.
In 1894, under a tent banked by fragrant pines, Sarah Farmer dedicated Green Acre to the ideals of peace and religious unity and founded the "Green Acre Conferences." She raised the world's first known peace flag, explaining: "In looking for an emblem, we wanted something that would be a call to everybody and fit everybody-and we felt that the Message that had been brought to the world by prophet after prophet was the message of 'Peace.' So we have put on a large banner over our heads: PEACE."
The flag (image above) was 36 feet long with green letters on a white background. It hung on an 85-foot flagpole that was once a ship's mast. Each year, the flag raising was followed by a series of lectures that continued throughout the summer. The Green Acre Conferences brought together leaders of thought from around the world to speak on such subjects as international peace, religious tradition and practice, the arts, sciences, education and philosophy. By 1897, the Green Acre Conferences were known around the world. The annual raising of the Peace Flag is a tradition that continues today.
In 1900, during a time of great personal anguish for Sarah Farmer, she traveled to Palestine and met Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the Founder of the Bahá'í Faith and head of the Bahá'í community at that time. It was there that she became devoted to the Bahá'í Faith and its teachings on the oneness of humanity, the necessity and inevitability of world peace, and the oneness and progressive unfoldment of religion.
Sarah Farmer brought her discovery of this new religion back to Green Acre and supplemented the materials and lectures offered there with the teachings and principles of the Bahá'í Faith. Today, Green Acre, an historic Bahá'í center of learning, continues to foster such Bahá'í ideals as the oneness of humankind, world peace, race unity, and the equality of women and men.
The Farmers were Transcendentalists who were associated with the Abolitionists and other progressive movements. Their home was a way station on the Underground Railroad. Sarah Farmer grew up knowing influential writers, inventors and thinkers of her day, including John Greenleaf Whittier; Harriet Beecher Stowe; Sojourner Truth; Dr. W.F. Channing; Frank J. Sprague, a former student of her father; Lord Kelvin, the famous English scientist; Charles Proteus Steinmetz; Professor William B. Rogers; and her father's brother-in-law, writer Charles Carleton Coffin. These associations contributed to Sarah Farmer's understanding of social problems and the importance of peace, freedom and equality.
In 1890, Sarah Farmer joined four businessmen to open a hotel in Eliot. The poet John Greenleaf Whittier came that first summer and gave Green Acre its name. In 1892, Sarah Farmer had a vision that Green Acre should offer conferences on progressive subjects the sciences, arts and religion, universal in scope and open to all races and creeds. Over time, these conferences brought together leading writers, educators, philosophers, artists and activists.
In 1894, under a tent banked by fragrant pines, Sarah Farmer dedicated Green Acre to the ideals of peace and religious unity and founded the "Green Acre Conferences." She raised the world's first known peace flag, explaining: "In looking for an emblem, we wanted something that would be a call to everybody and fit everybody-and we felt that the Message that had been brought to the world by prophet after prophet was the message of 'Peace.' So we have put on a large banner over our heads: PEACE."
The flag (image above) was 36 feet long with green letters on a white background. It hung on an 85-foot flagpole that was once a ship's mast. Each year, the flag raising was followed by a series of lectures that continued throughout the summer. The Green Acre Conferences brought together leaders of thought from around the world to speak on such subjects as international peace, religious tradition and practice, the arts, sciences, education and philosophy. By 1897, the Green Acre Conferences were known around the world. The annual raising of the Peace Flag is a tradition that continues today.
In 1900, during a time of great personal anguish for Sarah Farmer, she traveled to Palestine and met Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of the Founder of the Bahá'í Faith and head of the Bahá'í community at that time. It was there that she became devoted to the Bahá'í Faith and its teachings on the oneness of humanity, the necessity and inevitability of world peace, and the oneness and progressive unfoldment of religion.
Sarah Farmer brought her discovery of this new religion back to Green Acre and supplemented the materials and lectures offered there with the teachings and principles of the Bahá'í Faith. Today, Green Acre, an historic Bahá'í center of learning, continues to foster such Bahá'í ideals as the oneness of humankind, world peace, race unity, and the equality of women and men.
SARAH FARMER PEACE AWARD
The Greater Seacoast Area Baha'i community has made a tradition of honoring local peacemakers with the Sarah Farmer Peace Award. The Sarah Farmer Peace Award (artwork, left, created by Andy Ritzo) is a memorial to Sarah Farmer, the founder of Green Acre. The award "recognizes area individuals who take effective local action to promote world peace and understanding among nations and members of the human family." The award is presented by the Baha'is of the Greater Seacoast Area of Maine and New Hampshire. The first award, presented on September 21, 2005 to coincide with the United Nations Day of Peace, was given to the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Anniversary Committee for encouraging local residents "to reflect on the importance of peace, not just in 1905, but today."