HISTORY TIMELINE

Family Farm to Restorative Destination

 

Summerfield is a town, a community, and the place we call home. The Villages of Summerfield Farms shares the overall desires of our neighbors to preserve the rural nature and small town look and feel of our charming town. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to have choices about what we want Summerfield to become for now and generations to come. Our idea is to preserve large expanses of land to share and to cluster homes in villages to protect and highlight our vistas and rolling hills. Some development is inevitable; Let’s make that development great. We are stewards of how we choose to think about the way we live. Our concept is to incorporate parks, open space, and greenways with tree lined streets for us all to walk to places close by, whether to a neighbors' house, our grandmother's house, a coffee shop, a small market, a local restaurant or a small boutique shop. We encourage a healthy, present, and welcoming community where we share a common love for our place, Summerfield. We love thy neighbor and trust one another to create a proud sense of place. Our commitment is to be open and transparent with the citizens of Summerfield, The Planning Board, Town Council, and Town Staff. We are requesting an Open-Space Mixed Use-Villages Text Amendment. If successful, we would then apply for a rezoning and work with the town on the standards and details of a development agreement, regulating every aspect and detail of the plan.

The story of the land begins long before human history accounts for it. Prior to the revolutionary and civil wars, prior to the railroad, the rolling hills of what is now called Summerfield Farms was home to sturdy oak trees and life-giving ponds, trickling streams and grassy fields.

Recorded history catches up to the farm just after the civil war when it was known as Many Oaks farm. It was abandoned and then homesteaded, part of it owned by Katherine Hoskins, a historian of Summerfield.

  • By the 1930s the farm was owned by the Gamble family, who raised tobacco and produced milk at Many Oaks, the sale of which allowed them to pay for their children’s schooling. They used lumber from the property to build Many Oaks farmhouse and built a barn in 1946, which remains on the property today as The Barn.

  • In the early 1950’s, the Gamble children could not agree on distribution of the property and the farm went up for auction. J.C. Cowan, CEO of Burlington Industries, put in a winning upset bid for the farm. Cowan was known for the many fishing and camping outings he hosted for local Boy Scouts. With all its ponds, fields, shaded oaks and creeks, the farm was paradise for young boys.

  • In the late 1970s, the Clarke family bought Many Oaks farm and began to raise Black Angus cattle for beef. They also kept horses and goats on the farm, and installed a large bell at the front of the house to call the family in from the fields for dinner.

  • Fast forward nearly 20 years to 1998, when the property was acquired by David Couch, an Asheboro native who believes he is not the owner of the land, but merely a steward of it. David purchased the property that constitutes the heart of the farm, and over the years he has acquired the adjoining parcels of what is now known collectively as Summerfield Farms.

    After nearly a century of being farmed, the land was in desperate need of renewal. David introduced holistic management on the farm, a system of regenerative agricultural practices that help heal the land and improve quality of life.

    As part of this practice, he began to raise the highest quality beef cattle that graze to maturity on 100% grass. The result of introducing herbivores to these abused and health depleted soils has been nothing less than stunning. By way of their impact, the cattle feed the soil’s microbial ecology, which in turn stimulates healthy plant growth and increases diversity.

  • To offer a retail outlet for 100% grass-fed beef, The Market was converted from a tractor shed in 2014, and sells beef, Summerfield Farms organic produce, gifts, dry goods—including many paleo-friendly and gluten-free items—and beer and wine. Summerfield Farms is the exclusive North American distributor of Health20, the world’s finest volcanic artesian water from Ecuador.

    From 2000 to 2016, extensive renovation and restoration of the farm’s original buildings created event venues and luxury lodging for entertaining and housing guests. Restoration continues today, in concert with Preservation Greensboro, to reclaim additional historic buildings such as the log cabin and the Saunders Inn, once home to William Sydney Porter’s (O Henry’s) grandfather.

    Today, Summerfield Farms is a working farm and events venue with a focus on crafting memorable events, producing 100% grass-fed & grass-finished beef, growing certified organic produce, and encouraging our community to cultivate and enjoy a healthy lifestyle.