As we all know, Rochester is a Right to Farm community. In 2018, 98.2% of the town was zoned agricultural/residential. That equals 2,875 out of 2,930 land parcels. Those 222 parcels of land, or 4,707 acres, fall under Chapter 61A, which is the assessment classification for farmland. The state guidelines for 61A “requires 5 contiguous acres of land under the same ownership and actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use”. Actively devoted to farm use means the land has been farmed for two years and produced at least $500 of sales for the first 5 acres of production, unless the added land is woodlands or wetlands. In that case the amount would be increased by $.50 an acre. These classifications are correlated to taxes owed.
As one rides around town, the many fields, grazing animals, and farm buildings add to the beauty and charm of Rochester. One such building is the large barn on the hill at the corner of Hartley Road and Vaughan Hill Road. The property on which it stands has a history of farming that goes back to 1754. The land was owned and farmed by many different people: the Vaughans, Blackmeres, Knights, Reynoldses, Whites, and Cervellis. The barn was used by all of them, and today the barn is leased by Jonathan Sprouts.
While it seems as though the barn has always been there, it actually wasn’t built until 1914. The builders are listed as Chartier and Dion, who built it for a dairy herd. At other times the barn also stabled sheep.
In 1951, Raymond White bought the property and became the owner of the barn that housed 50 of his cows tended by Manny Lima. White was the owner of White’s Dairy, which is still in business. White used this property and additional acres that he purchased to grow corn and hay to feed his many herds throughout the area. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, White was responsible for reviving New England’s aging worn-out farms by repurposing them as dairy farms. This brought renewed prosperity not just to Raymond White with his six farms, but to other farmers as well.
While the property and barn were owned by the Whites, they welcomed a new and very different kind of farming when they rented 50 yards of the old barn to Bob and Barbie Sanderson. They had started a sprout growing business and were growing sprouts in mayonnaise jars in the guest bathroom of their rented house in Marion. By 1982, when the Cervellis bought White’s 156-acre farm, the Sandersons were leasing pretty much the entire barn for their growing business.
When the Sandersons first rented space, the barn was dilapidated (as the picture shows) and it was only getting worse. However, as their business has grown, the barn has been restored and protected. Interestingly, the exterior of the barn in the second picture looks much like it did when it was first constructed, but inside it is a state-of-the-art growing lab complete with workers in white lab coats. We have the Sandersons and their sprouts to thank for saving such an iconic piece if Rochester history.
By Connie Eshbach