Marion's Caldwell-Rich Bicentennial Farm

Caldwell Place Farm was one of 25 farms statewide designated as a Bicentennial Farm. It was honored at a recent meeting of the State Agricultural Society in Albany.

Pictured is Martha Rich, representing the eighth generation on the farm.

This farm, on the Newark Road, Marion is one of the oldest in western New York. It was established in 1795, when young Samuel Caldwell and his bride Nancy migrated from New Jersey. They arrived at the site of their new home in midsummer, with an ox team and sled and one cow.

When Samuel was short of cash to pay his taxes (only $2.50) he contracted to draw the first load of goods from Canandaigua to Pultneyville, a trip which took six days. With his ox team, he subsequently moved two families from Rhode Island and another from New Jersey.

He was succeeded by a son Joseph, a graduate of the University of North Carolina. Joseph's daughter Amanda married John H. Rich and the farm passed on to their son, Frank, and to his son John, the 1938 recipient of the Century Farm Award.

Since 1953, Caldwell Place Farm has been owned and operated by Harry E. Rich, John's son. It consists of 150 acres, upon which are raised hay and grains and a herd of Angus cattle.

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