Established in 1847 by Groton resident Edmund Blood, the 80-acre Blood Farm is a USDA-regulated slaughter and processing facility. It is one of only two USDA-certified slaughterhouses in the state.

Edmund Blood started out as a dairy farmer and a hop farmer who sold his seed cones to a New Hampshire brewery. He acquired one of the first Massachusetts licenses to operate a slaughterhouse. Edmund Blood passed the slaughterhouse to his son, Edmund Lewis Blood. When Edmund Lewis passed away in 1918, his son Charles Edmund Elliot Blood inherited the business. In 1930, his son, Elliot L. Blood, Sr. took over. Elliot L. Blood, Jr. and Doris Blood purchased the farm in 1918, then passed it to their son Richard.

Blood Farm is now in its seventh generation of continuous family ownership. While they no longer operate as a dairy or vegetable farm, they continue to run the abattoir in an effort to serve the local farming community. They slaughter and process about 3,000 animals per year, and sell meat — including their locally famous bacon and hams — online and at their farm store on West Main Street.

Photo: bloodfarms.com
Sources: bloodfarms.com, wbur.org