Vermont Attractions | Adams Farm

Vermont Attractions | Adams Farm

History of Adams Farm

Adams Farm is a typical New England farm, in that its role in the past seems to run the same path the economy has taken in history. Since the Adams' first purchased the farm in 1865, the farm has continued to follow the economic trend. During the 1860's Henry and Sarah Adams fell in love with the land and its ability to produce short-term growth marketable timber, maple sugar from a healthy and abundant sugar bush, as well as enough crop land to maintain a small family farm.

Timber production was a viable income during the late 1800's in Vermont, as railroads were being built all around the country. Henry also knew he could make more money per log if he produced a finished product from the lumber. With the help of C.C. Haynes, Henry Adams invented and obtained a patent on a type of liquid holder used in the production of maple syrup, as well as a liquid holding tank used for watering livestock, which would not freeze during the winter. walter in front of the farm house. They invented and manufactured large scale evaporators for finishing syrup, a sliding oxen yolk and several types of wheel barrows. A wood shop was then built on the farm to manufacture the new and popular coopered wooden tanks and various other products. These tanks were produced on the farm until the 1930's, when the invention of galvanized steel replaced the popularity of wood. Henry and his son Walter ran the farm together for many years. Not just producing products from their mountain but also maintaining a herd of 15 registered milking Durham cattle. (These were the popular cattle of the day before the well known, black and white Holsteins. Durhams, also known as shorthorns are red or red roan, small dual purpose cattle, prized for their production of beef and milk.) Walter and Ada Adams opened the Adams Farm homestead to the public during the late 1890's, for summer guests to get away and beat the heat of the city. Families would bring their children and spend a week or two enjoying Vermont's beauty, swimming in the Deerfield River and Lake Raponda, gathering eggs, playing with lambs and eating fresh delicious home baked foods from the farm kitchen.

Walter manufactured finished products in the wood shop. His son Louis expanded on the amount of lumber being produced on the farm and made weekly trips to the shipyards of Boston to support the war effort. As the war years came to a close in the mid 1940's, so did the demand for lumber. Around that same time the demand for milk was rising in America, as the U.S. Surgeon General had determined that humans needed to drink three glasses of milk a day to maintain strong and healthy bodies. Louis and Doris Adams decided to increase the size of their dairy herd and bring in some newly imported mega-milk producing Holstein Friesian Cattle. Doris continued to run the farmhouse bed and breakfast during the summer months and in 1954 opened the house up to guests in the winter, who came to learn the sport of skiing, which at the time was new to the Valley. In 1969, Louis and Doris' son William and his wife, Sharon purchased the farm and increased the herd of milking Holsteins and the production of milk. With the expansion of the farm's milk production, the family no longer had the time to maintain the business as a guest-house and closed the farmhouse to the public. As the price of milk dropped in the late 1970's the need for a supplemental income arose.

In 1980, Bill and Sharon purchased their first team of Belgian draft horses from Amish country, built a small log cabin at the far end of the property from the logs that great grandpa Adams had planted, and started a sleigh ride business that would use the cabin as a place to warm up on a cold winter's night. Tourists loved it! Within three years, Bill doubled the size of the log cabin, built two more sleighs, bought four more Belgians and increased the size of his sugar grove, all in an effort to direct market maple syrup to the many visitors of the farm during the winter.

Tourism has been at a steady rate of growth since the 60's and the 1980's brought with it a great building boom to the Mount Snow Area and visitors bought and built second homes and condos. In 1986, Adams Farm got involved in Ronald Reagan's Whole Herd Buy Out Program, in an effort to solve the surplus milk problem in America. The government bought the farm's anticipated milk production or in other words, paid the family not to farm. Bill and Sharon used the money to purchase heavy equipment and to utilize the farm's gravel pit to go along the real estate boom in the area. In the winter they continued to run their successful sleigh ride business, make maple syrup in spring and maintain the crops during summer and fall. Due to the popularity which the sleigh rides brought to the farm, by the early 1990's, tourists were stopping at the farm other times of the year, wanting to see farm animals, wanting to take pictures of the buildings, wanting to learn more about life on a farm, about Vermont, about the multi-generations. So in 1993, Bill and Sharon's daughter and son-in-law, Jill and Carl Mancivalano, decided to open the farm to the public for a fun, interactive, educational and wholesome farm experience.

Jill and Carl registered an official business name with the State of Vermont and became: The Original Adams Farm. Jill wanted the public to be able to experience what she was able to experience growing up on a farm, like gathering eggs from the chicken coop, bottle feeding the baby calves, milking a goat, riding ponies, playing with chicks and lambs and best of all jumping in the hay

Not only did Jill and Carl want to gear the farm to offer an exceptional family experience, but also to provide a quality experience for visitors without children. They added the addition of several special events throughout the year, including evening hayrides in the summer and fondue nights in the winter.



15 Higley Hill Rd.
Wilmington VT, 05363
Phone : 802-464-3762
http://www.adamsfamilyfarm.com

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