In 1636 the Richardson's came to America from West Mill, England. They stopped at Charlestown and then helped settle the back pasture, Woburn. By 1695 David Richardson left Woburn and came to a part of Salem Village now known as Middleton. Since his arrival the Richardson's have milked cows in Middleton everyday since.
"For the first few generations in Middleton we were mostly subsistence farmers milking cows, raising chickens, raising vegetables and anything needed to live on." By 1900 the farm had started to grow with more and more cows. Hazen K Richardson, Paul's Grandfather, was in charge then and with his two sons Ben and Hazen M. started bottling milk in 1917. The farm grew to 1000 cow around 1934.
In 1952 Ben, Paul's Father, and Haze Richardson built the present Ice Cream Stand and started selling ice cream, which went very well. In 1978 Paul Richardson and Bill Daniels (his brother in law) started wholesaling ice cream to other ice cream stands. Today, you will find Richardson's Ice Cream in shops all over eastern New England.
Since that time we have added on to the Dairy many times and also added a driving range, Two 18 hole miniature golf courses and a batting cage. Today when you come to Richardson's you can walk the award winning farm, Massachusetts Dairy Farm of Distinction, and see ducks, chickens, calves, cows, while you enjoy your ice cream. All of our milk comes from the 370 cows that reside just behind the ice cream stand.
The ninth generation, Peter and Chris Richardson are now fully involved in running the Farm and the Ice Cream. Our herd average is 22400# all of which is bottled at our plant in Middleton.
