Welcome to Votervale Farm!
About Us
Co-owners Sean & Ian Allen prepping a pump:
People often wonder how a farm owned by the Allen Family came to be named "Votervale". Here's a little about our history.....
"The Farm" was settled sometime in the early 1800's by Samuel Sprague. There are some that say this was the first property settled in the town of Avon, Maine, but others dispute that. Since we have no evidence, we'll say it was one of the first. There is an inscription on the barn of 1810. Was it really built in that year? We may never know for sure, but it seems likely as Mr. Sprague was a selectman in Avon in 1808.
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n 1878, the farm was owned by Samuel Sprague's great granddaughter, Rhoda Sprague Hamlin and her Husband, George. Fortunately for us, someone in the Hamlin family had a camera and labeled the photos well. These were found in a dresser when our parents were preparing to move into the house.
In June 1946, the property was purchased from George's son, Henry, by newlyweds Laurence & Jean Voter and Votervale Farm was born. Laurence had been raised on a neighboring farm and Jean was from Industry, Maine. Together they raised four children and worked hard to make a living from the land. Over the years, they grew vegetables for commercial processors, raised dairy cows, and later moved to beef cattle. Gram and Gramp, as they were known to us, believed in hard work, family, and doing the right thing. That said, we're still dealing with some of Gramp's repairs that were "good enough"!
Laurence and Jean's youngest son, Verne, returned to build a house next door and raised his children to value time with their grandparents. The kids spent as much time at "The Farm" as they did at home, often helping with farm chores. After many years living "away", in 1999, Verne's daughter Angel and her high school sweetheart turned husband, Darren Allen, decided to return to the area and purchased Votervale Farm.We were fortunate to move into the house while Gram & Gramp were still here to share their knowledge with us and build relationships with our children. Sean is shown here with Great-Grampa Laurence and Grampa Verne.
Over the next few years, Sean was joined by brothers Evan and Ian. Darren set aside his dream of teaching to be a full time parent. In 2008, Darren and Angel decided to resurrect Votervale Farm and for several years raised sheep, pigs, cows, chicken and vegetables for sale through CSA's and farmer's markets. While the boys were at home, this was a great way to teach us the values of hard work and family that are so important. After thirteen years at home, Darren decided to resume his teaching career and the farm became inactive again.
In December 2015, we approached Mom & Dad with a plan to make Maple Syrup. We'd made syrup before in a small scale way, but we had a plan to install pipeline and expand production. They asked what we needed to get started and after a few questions, gave us the $300 we requested for materials. Now in our second season, we've more than doubled our production and have big plans for the next few years!