Interview with Hannah Martin

As Executive Director of Revive the Roots, Hannah Martin has helped shape a vision for community-based stewardship at the intersection of land, history, and creativity. Based at Mowry Commons in Smithfield, she leads efforts that span historic preservation, sustainable agriculture, outdoor education, and the arts. Her path to this role reflects a deep commitment to collaborative work and a belief in the power of place to inspire connection and care.

1. Can you speak about your background and what first sparked your interest in land stewardship and community-based work? How did this lead you to your role at Revive the Roots?

As long as I can remember, I have had an interest in past ways of living and modes of bringing folks together-- at first through food and the arts. I studied printmaking at the University at Buffalo. While living in Buffalo, NY, I met a baker named Maura who was using a handmade earthen oven (a cobb oven) to make bread for her neighbors. It was an early introduction to DIY, community-centered actions and I spent a summer helping out and learning. Years later, I found myself in the community gardens at Revive the Roots and found their cobb oven hidden away under a carport. I started using the oven for community baking days. Over time, that led to more involvement with the community at Revive the Roots, then to becoming curator at the Mary Mowry House and now, six years later, I am two years into the role of Executive Director.

2. For those who may not be familiar with Revive the Roots, can you introduce Revive the Roots and the kind of work that you do at Mowry Commons?

Revive the Roots is a nonprofit founded by a group of high school friends who got the bug for permaculture, back-to-land ideals, and community-focused farming. Our goal is to create a welcoming environment for people to connect through collective land stewardship, outdoor learning, arts, music, and more! Mowry Commons is what we call the 23-acre property where most of our actions take place. We also run garden programs at all three of Smithfield’s Elementary Schools and helped build the school gardens. As Executive Director, my work is wide-ranging, but you can still find me baking in the cobb oven for our volunteers and community gardeners.

3. In 2013, Revive the Roots began caring for the historic Mary Mowry House through a curatorship agreement with Preserve RI — in your case a model where residents rehabilitate a property in exchange for a sweat equity and project funds rent equivalency. Almost a decade later, you were able to purchase the house. What has that journey meant to you and the organization?

Stewardship to ownership was one of our most challenging and meaningful achievements to date. Revive the Roots first leased the 18-acre parcel of land that was subdivided from the house in the 90s for donation to the Smithfield Land Trust. In 2008, when Mary Mowry passed, she donated the five additional acres and her home. Between 2013 and 2020 many curators had hands in restoring the house, but without the advocacy and skilled labor of Zach Murdoch (former curator and Revive the Roots founding member) and Bradford Oza (current curator) the Mary Mowry House as we know it would not exist. The curators completed window restoration, exterior scrape and paint with lead mitigation, interior restoration of lath strip and horse-hair plaster walls, and partial tear down and rebuilding of the1900s era porch with turned spindles. The list of projects that made up the curatorship plan had in place a midway checkpoint with the town. This gave the Town Council an opportunity to change course on the project. They had little interest in continuing to own the house and they gave the directive for the Land Trust to sell the house and property. In November 2021, Smithfield Land Trust made us an offer to purchase the house for $450,000. The pressure to secure the Mary Mowry House, the home base of Revive the Roots, greatly accelerated our growth. We got lucky many times over that the right people saw the value of Revive the Roots’ stewardship of this property alongside our community enrichment programs. Former Preserve RI Executive Director Vallery Talmage and Barbara Rich of the Smithfield Land Trust were two very important champions. [Preserve RI holds a preservation easement on Mowry House, and has since helped fund roof repair through grants in partnership with the 1772 Foundation.]

I moved into the Mary Mowry House at the end of 2018. I got to see the curatorship model from the inside and learn everything from reglazing windows to proper techniques for painting trim. Then I found my place in nonprofit business management, fundraising, and grant writing. This journey changed my life as well as the trajectory of Revive the Roots.

4. Revive the Roots brings together sustainability, education, food systems, and historic preservation. How do these values work together in practice at Mowry Commons?

They need to work in harmony… especially if you can’t spend a lot of money! We preserve what we have because it’s all we got. This sentiment applies to this planet but also to the things that surround us in the day to day. When building the two-story porch, we saved the floorboards on the first floor to rebuild the second. The old wood was high quality, and with some refinishing, it is holding up better than the purchased lumber. Never underestimate what has already stood the test of time! Taking care of 23 acres is a lot of work, so we need folks to work with us. We’ve built partnerships and invested in education so more people have the tools to follow in our footsteps. We grow food to eat and to share with local food pantries! We host festivals and music shows and make sustainable art because it feeds our spirit. It all works together to build a thriving community, so we have members who can jump in when someone needs to move on or take a break.

5. What role has community played in your work—from volunteers and visitors to partnerships?

All of our opportunities have come from our community. Our founding members proposed an ambitious vision to the town and Revive the Roots exists as it is today because of an extended network of friends, family, and fellow nonprofits. It has been a lot of work to get to this point and most of that work has come by the hands of volunteers. Our Land Stewardship Committee, Programs & Fundraising Committee, Mary Mowry House Committee, and Rootstock Committee (our annual fall festival) are made up of members of our community who want to guide projects and visions for the future. Our partnerships with Preserve Rhode Island and the Smithfield Land Trust helped us get our foot in the door of the Mary Mowry House and then advocated for our acquisition. We also owe many thanks to the Artists’ Exchange, Nuts & Bolts Cooperative Nursery, and the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council.

6. Looking ahead, what are you most excited about for the future of the Mowry House and Revive the Roots? What advice would you give to someone hoping to do similar work where community, land, and history intersect?

I am excited to make the house more accessible to the public. Currently the first floor serves as our office and resource center for volunteer days, and we are exploring different ways that the house can serve the community. There is a foundation of a collapsed barn that we dream of rebuilding, possibly as a community kitchen for food preservation, cooking classes, and sustainable artmaking hub. We are working to provide more educational offerings, check out revivetheroots.org for more information about events and classes. This will be the first year that Revive the Roots is managing gardens at all three elementary schools in Smithfield, and I am excited to see this partnership with the schools continue to flourish.

As for advice, spend time with friends and get out and about. The first grant that I helped write was because of a chance meeting at a local wings spot, thanks to Jon Del Sesto (former Mary Mowry House Curator). Tending to your own social circle is necessary for the work of building a thriving and mutually supportive community. Thank you Preserve Rhode Island for all your help and support and for giving me this opportunity to share a piece of my story!