Our Farms are Our Future.
All photos courtesy of John Kane
The Davenport Farm, 173 Ridge Road
At one time, the Canfield Family owned not just the Davenport Farm, but about 1,000 acres in the Ridge Road area. The elegant 19th century white farmhouse that present owners Jim and Christine Davenport purchased a decade ago and handsomely restored, was built in 1864 by Loring Canfield and originally contained wallpaper from 1865, the year that President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
In the early 20th century, a Canfield heir and doctor sold part of the Canfield family holdings to Theodore Siskey and his family continued to farm it for two generations. In 2000, one Siskey daughter sold the house and about 100 acres to the Davenports, while the other sister sold part of her share to a residential developer and donated the other part to Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust. Thus, the Davenport Farm is bordered on several sides by four parcels of Weantinoge land protected in perpetuity.
Today, the Davenports lease 40 acres of tillable lands to two longtime, area farmers—Dean Schultz of Larson’s Farm in Southbury and Dan Loge of Loge Farms in Woodbury—to grow sweet corn, tomatoes and squash on their land. Jim and Christine have an application pending with the state for purchase of the development rights for their 100-acre farm on Ridge Road.
Harris Hill Farm, 99 Ridge Road
This 150-acre farm is famous for its spectacular view overlooking New Milford, Washington and Roxbury. It is a veritable icon in New Milford because of the thousands of school children from our town and as far away as Cornwall and New Haven, who have visited it on school outings. It was purchased in 1958 by George Harris, whose family had managed herds of Brown Swiss cows ever since the 1880s in Wethersfield CT. Brown Swiss cows are famous for the high butterfat and protein content in their milk, and during Harris Hill Farm’s peak days as a dairy farm in the late 1970’s, George had 120 cows.
In the early ‘80’s, he sold his award-winning herd and accepted a position as a traveling expert on Brown Swiss cattle and became Executive Secretary of the Brown Swiss Cattle Breeders Association. His son-in-law, Ed Bailey, brought in a herd of 130 Holstein cows, but by 1986, the price of milk had fallen so low that the US government offered whole herd buyouts, and Ed moved on to the contracting business.
George’s wife, the late Vivian Harris, was a longtime advocate for farmers and farming throughout CT. She became involved in the politics of farming in the 1960s, when she worked on legislation that became the bedrock of the state's farm policy -- Public Act 490. This allows farmland, wood lots and open space to be taxed at a lower rate than residential property, which, as George says today “was what allowed farms to stay in business. If it hadn’t been for Act 490, there would be no farms left at all.”
Mrs. Harris served on the state Farm Bureau, was vice president of the Litchfield County Farm Bureau, and was involved in the county's extension service as well as serving on the New Milford Town Council and Planning Commission where she was appointed Chair.
Over the last decade and a half, George and Vivian raised and sold wholesale pumpkins, hay and sweet corn. Today, the New Milford Youth Agency uses their greenhouse, and some of their land is leased to other farmers for growing animal corn. George and Vivian’s three children, Susan, Janet and George, have decided to pursue other careers than farming.
Reimerridge Farm,
The largest of the surviving Ridge Road Farms, Reimerridge, was likely a family farm as early as the 18th century. It comprises 320 acres of rolling pasture, cultivated areas and old growth forest. Reimerridge has a history of expansive dairy operations dating well back into the mid-20th century. A 1950 New Milford Times article, referring to it as both Chestnut Land Farm and “the Benmore place”, described it as “one of the finest dairying units in New Milford” with “many modern barns”.
That year, it was sold to a Mrs. Field, widow of a New Jersey descendent of Cyrus W. Field, a pioneer in transatlantic cables. In 1959, under the name of Westfield, it changed hands again, going to the Reimer family, originally from Westport, that presently owns it. At its peak, Reimerridge was home to a herd of 120 with 73 milking cows.
Today, Chuck Reimer, one of three Reimer children, presently owns the farm together with his sister Jane of Torrington. He continues to live there and manage the farm, visible from as far away as Washington because of its tall, handsome silos. The earliest barn of several handsome ones on the property, known as the Lower Barn and adapted as a garage is still a beautiful, compact red structure with original windows and handsomely carved white wood trimming. It dates from the 1880’s. In the front yard, a willow tree of immense girth, thought to be the biggest in Connecticut, shades the approach to the farm at the main entrance.
Reimerridge has 170 tillable acres currently under cultivation for corn and haying operations leased by area farmers. In addition, George Whiting, the Northville dairy farmer, grazes 10-12 Holstein cows there.
