History
OWNERSHIP The Crown sold the land to David Buchan on August 13th, 1853. There were many owners over the next few years. The property was owned by the Chester’s, Tallman’s, Bigham’s and Watts, and even by the well known merchant, Sam Jakes. On the 3rd of May, 1981, he sold the farm for $2,000 to Phoebe Chestir. They owned the parcel of land until the 27th of August, 1875, when they sold it to Augustus Derrick for $1,883.32. On March 4th, 1912, Augustus Derrick sold this parcel of land to L. H. Newman for $2,000. In 1977, Lenore Newman purchased all the properties from her Father for $50,000. Mrs. Newman owned the farm until it was sold to Jake & Katy Drummond in 2008.
FARM The Original Farm house and old barns were built in the late 1800’s, but it wasn’t until L. H. Newman purchased the farm in 1912 that the farm as we know it today started to take shape. In 1915, with his passion for agriculture and new technology Mr. Newman set out to build a state-of-the-art barn that would house his purebred Holstein herd, and would be known as Elmhurst Farm. The barn, which is 103’ 7” x 36’, took a few months to complete with a total cost of $4,089.66. Construction on the river house started not long after the completion of the barn with a total construction cost of $5,175.42. For the first few years it was used as their summer cottage, but in 1926, the main farm house burnt and they moved into the cottage. At that time they dug out the hill under the house and poured cement walls to create a basement that they used for storage and their summer kitchen.
L. H. NEWMAN Leonard H. Newman was Agricultural Canada’s Dominion Cerealist from 1923 to 1948, and was named to the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame on November 13th, 1977. Dr. Newman had a long career in agriculture, being associated with cereal research for more than 40 years. As one of the founders and secretary of the Canadian Seed Growers Association from 1905 to 1923, he pioneered the principles of registered seed production and played a leading role in forming the basic policies and programs of the association. He is an honourary life president of the association. During his 25 year regime, new rust-resistant varieties of wheat, oats, and flax were developed, resulting in tremendous economic benefits to Canada. Dr. Newman was born in 1881, near Merrickville, Ontario, and graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph in 1903. After his retirement in 1948, he settled down on the farm where he developed a small but high class herd of purebred Holsteins. He had a 40 year record as a Holstein breeder. He was the oldest living graduate of the college until his death in 1977 at the age of 97.

Katy & Jake

Reese

Summer of 1936

​Katy and Jake Drummond 620 Heritage Drive Merrickville ON K0G 1N0 main 613.269.9360 cell 613.229.0759

 

Heritage.Stables@outlook.com
Katy and Jake Drummond 620 Heritage Drive | Merrickville | ON K0G 1N0 main 613.269.9360 cell 613.229.0759