Our 100-acre farm has been in our family since 1818, when our great, great, great grandfather Raymond bought it from another farmer who obtained it in 1780 (approximately). Sadly, after buying the farm, Raymond died shortly thereafter. His wife is one of many women in our family’s history that saved the farm and kept it going through grit, determination, and hard work.
1818 is where our story begins with 32 Springs at Walnut Hill Farm, but the farm itself goes back long before 1818, well before the foundation of the United States! To say it’s chocked full of history would be an understatement.
In fact, the Spring House, which funnels actual spring water to the house, was built using bricks brough over on the second May Flower voyage.
The original barns date back around the same time, and if you look close enough, you can see how the wood beams were hand carved and chiseled.
In it’s hay day, our farm had everything from cows to horses to chickens, making it a staple in the Stafford, Virginia community. The farm was kept going by the strong and resilient Tolson Stern Family.
In 1918, our great grandmother was left alone with her five small children after her husband died of the Spanish flu. People told her to sell, to move away, that a woman could not and should not operate a farm. She and her children plowed the fields, sold hay, sold eggs and did what they had to do and saved the farm.
Now, over 100 years later, another woman has saved the farm again!
The last 20 years has not been kind to our family farm. Our family was divided and many wanted to sell. The few of us that wanted it stay a farm did not have the money or the manpower to upkeep the farmland. And to make matters worse, the farmhouse our grandfather grew up in (which dates back almost 100 years) was vandalized five years ago. Everything was destroyed, from the original windows to my grandparents record player from the 1940s.
All hope seemed lost, and in 2020, some of the family decided to force a sale and sell the farm to a developer.
Ann Tolson, who grew up on the farm and even raised her own pigs, cows, and chickens, knew she had to do something. And by some miracle, was able to put a deal together to save the farm from being turned into a subdivision.
To be quite honest with you, we’re all still a little in shock.
Three times in the last two hundred years, this farm has been saved by strong women. How about that!
Now our centuries old farm gets a fresh start, and we have a feeling this is only the beginning for our family farm.