Historic Farm to be Preserved

LOWER MAKEFIELD, Pa. -- Something’s sprung here at the 234-acre Patterson Farm in Lower Makefield Township and its not cantaloupe, zucchini, tomato or sweetcorn. What’s budded at the farm that’s been in the agriculture business for 340 consecutive years?

It’s the Patterson Farm Master Plan Project. The recently unveiled Stage One of the Project -- a three-year preservation effort at the site located between I-295 and Mirror Lake Road – is set to go with a range of improvements for the farm now in dire condition.

Lower Makefield Township bought the property for $7 million in 1998, and is funding Stage One at between $500,000 and $800,000. The 15 buildings on the property are mostly inaccessible to the public because of active farming there and because of poor conditions.

The Stage One projects to be undertaken – drafted by an Ad Hoc Property Committee made up of seven community volunteers reviewed and selected by the township supervisors– include management of Patterson Farm as a non-profit enterprise and entering it on the National Register of Historical Places.

In addition, efforts include management of on-site water to keep buildings dry; carpentry work and painting to enhance the buildings; environmental clean-up of the property; set up new access ways for farming operations, and for the public, and design of a nature trail.

An Implementation Committee should be established next, recommended the Ad Hoc Committee, which has set a Stage One goal as the protection, preservation and advancement of community use of Patterson Farm.

(If this farm isn’t preserved, what do you think will happen? Housing development or shopping mall? Send your thoughts and share this.)

Officials plan to preserve farm and fields like this one.Photo byBob BowieonUnsplash