These Farms Have Deep Roots in America’s Past

As the United States turns 250, multigenerational families wake up before dawn every day to work on farms that are older than the nation itself. And while these farms have survived decades of change and upheaval, their future is far from guaranteed.

Tomapo Farm, a 257-year-old maple syrup producer in New Hampshire; Smiley Farm in Ohio, which was established 254 years ago; Alabama’s Datcher Family Farm, a Black-owned row-crop farm; and the 101-year-old Ed Dunneback & Girls, a women-owned fruit and vegetable farm in Michigan, are different in many ways, but one thing they have in common is a commitment to keep going despite the many challenges they face.

Pete Datcher's family rose from slavery to become successful farmers and a cornerstone of their community in Harpersville, Alabama.

And while the individual histories of these farms are fascinating, their stories are part of a larger narrative about the important role agriculture has played throughout U.S. history.

John Smiley is the seventh generation to work the fields at the 254-year-old Smiley Farm in Adams County, Ohio. Learn more about his farm and others by clicking through the links below.

A Bountiful Crop of Living American History

Join AARP on a multimedia tour of these four historic farms:

Tomapo Farm: ‘My Biggest Concern Was, How Do I Do It All?’

A 257-year-old farm in New Hampshire challenges its 64-year-old owner every day

Smiley Farm: ‘This Is All I Ever Wanted to Do’

A historic farm in Ohio stands the test of time thanks to a family’s deep devotion to the land

Datcher Family Farm: ‘They Do It to Keep the History Alive’

An Alabama farm originally worked by enslaved people tells a story of resilience and family

Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm: ‘It Was Always Important that People 4 to 74 Could Have Fun Here’

In Michigan, a woman-owned 101-year-old farm adapts to modern sensibilities

Before the country even existed, indigenous people harvested corn, beans and squash in what is now the Rio Grande Valley. By the time English settlers founded Jamestown in 1607, many tribes had mastered water management and controlled burns, practices that preceded the more recent regenerative farming movement.

However, early American agriculture includes a darker chapter: In 1619, enslaved Africans first arrived in Virginia. Their forced labor would eventually be exploited nationwide for centuries, primarily in agriculture. The enslaved people and their descendants, such as the Datchers of Alabama, leaned into their resilience and strong family ties to survive and even thrive.

As the nation grew, farming dominated its wealth and labor. By the first census in 1790, about 90 percent of Americans lived on farms or plantations, including several Founding Fathers. Indeed, for many signers of the Declaration of Independence, farm work was central to their conception of the new country. For example, Thomas Jefferson considered smaller-scale farmers like those who founded Tomapo Farm and Smiley Farm to be the backbone of the nation. In a 1785 letter to John Jay, Jefferson wrote, “Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds.”

Over the next 200 years, as the U.S. population grew in part thanks to industrialization and urbanization, agriculture remained crucial to the American economy. During that time, women played increasingly vital roles on the nation’s farms. That legacy lives on in Michigan’s Ed Dunneback & Girls farm.

Heidi Bundy's family has been tapping maple trees at New Hampshire’s Tomapo Farm for decades.

And despite technological advances and corporate consolidation that slashed U.S. farm employment by 35 percent between 1969 and 2021, 97 percent of American farms remain family-owned — including the multigenerational operations in this story.

For these American farmers, that history makes for a deeply personal connection to the land. In these stories and photographs, we’ll meet older adults and their families who still devote their lives to farming for their communities and the nation.

(From left) Stephanie Ginsberg, Suanne Shoemaker and Sara Stoddard represent the different generations working together at Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm in Michigan. What began in 1925 as a simple family operation raising apples, peaches, corn, hay and dairy cows has evolved into an agrotourism destination that draws thousands of visitors a year.