BACON HILL FARM TOUR
Discover the historic and cultural heritage of the Bacon Hill
area.
Click on photos to view enlargement
Bourret Dairy
Corner of Rt 29 & Wall Street
Tour route is 17.2 miles
A leisurely 45-60 minute drive
Visit and learn about the stewards of our land.
Take the farm tour and recognize the many
elements of a successful farming community – a diversity of farm operations, fertile
soils capable of growing high yielding crops and a rich agricultural tradition.
Begin the tour at the intersection of Wall Street [County Road 40] and Route 29, just
west of the hamlet of Grangerville on Route 29, and about 2 miles west of Schuylerville.
Begin Tour
Wall Street (County Rd. 40) [Mile 0.0]
Heading north on Wall Street, you pass the Saratoga Creamery [Mile 0.1] where local
farmers brought their milk in cans from 1888 to 1963, to be made into butter. The cream
was separated from the milk and the resulting skim milk was returned to the farmers to
feed their pigs or given to local residents. J. H. VanDerwerker was its first cream
gatherer. In the 1920’s about 200,000 pounds of butter were produced annually.
Fairlawn Farms of New Jersey later used the creamery as a milk transfer facility.
Town of Northumberland [Mile 0.3]
You now enter the Town of Northumberland which was created in 1798. Underneath the town
marker a sign reads, "Right to Farm Law
in Effect." In 1991, Northumberland became the first town in Saratoga County to enact
a right to farm law. By doing so, the town – demonstrating a show of support for its
agricultural heritage – has helped to maintain farming as an essential component of
its present and future. Earlier, Town of Northumberland farmers worked together to
establish the first Agricultural
District in Saratoga County, and one of the first ones in the state.
Bourret Dairy Farm [Mile 1.0]
Brothers Larry and Jerry Bourret were raised on one of the last active farms in Bristol,
Connecticut. With surrounding farmland rapidly disappearing and opportunities for
expansion vastly decreased, their mother, Cecile Bourret, was surprised to find that her
sons wanted to continue farming. "I told them they should go to work at a shop but
they didn’t want to, they liked the life on a farm." It is a hard occupation,
she admits. "The cows get sick, the weather is always too dry or too wet, you
can’t get in the fields, you don’t get much money. You have to love it."
The Bourrets, who purchased their 175-acre Northumberland dairy farm in 1981, lease
another 225 acres to grow enough feed for their livestock. Feed is stored in trench silos. The farm was owned earlier
by the Deyoe family who purchased it from the Conrad family abound 1860. D.H. Deyoe was a
well-known politician who served as a NYS Assemblyman and as Supervisor of the Town of
Northumberland. The home was used as an inn when stagecoaches traveled these roads.
200 Wall
Street [mile 1.2] (formerly known as the Inn at Bacon Hill)
This farmstead, once operated as a bed and breakfast, belongs to the Breslin family who
have been restoring it since 1979. The house, built in 1862 by Alexander Baccus,
represents the architectural style known as Italianate. Baccus was a member of the New
York State Legislature, a surveyor and a gentleman farmer. Legend has it that he
established a trade distribution of potatoes and other farm products between this area
and New York City’s financial center on Wall Street. Thus, Northumberland’s Wall
Street acquired its name!
Where is Bacon Hill?
Click for enlargement
Tour Map1
Bourret Data
Barn
130 Cows
Young Stock
Beef Cattle
400 Crop Acres
Crops: corn, alfalfa,
sorghum, grasses
