Farm History :: Part 1

When we were looking at the farm, the previous owner shared a lot of information with us about the history of the place. He told me that while this home has been here “since the 1800’s” there was a home here before that – which was burned in a fire. My number one itchiest question is –

Exactly when was the first home built on this land?

Once I figure out the answer to that one, I should have the answer to question numbers two and three – by whom and where exactly? Was it on this same homesite, or somewhere else? There is a spot labeled, “old home site” on the plat map that is at the very tippity top of our property line – who lived there and when?

After the family that farmed the land for generations (the Logans), the farm was used as an “artist community” (not a commune….?) and possibly a silk screen operation known as Inky Press in the 1960’s and 70’s. The property changed hands in 1984 and again in the late 1990’s, before finding its way to us in 2014. Since moving here I have spoken to the just previous owner extensively, the brothers who have been cutting hay off the pasture for nearly 20 years, and a woman who stayed in our rental cottage in the 1980’s. And fortunately, there is one living descendant of the Logan family living not far from here (he grew up on the farm); I hope to reach out to him this spring to collect his history. Along the way I have asked everyone who has photos or stories of the place to share them with me but so far, this is all I have found:

She’s come a long way, eh?