Turtle Tales: "Good Manure Smell.........You Can't Beat It!"

"Good Manure Smell.....You Can't Beat It!" So said Miss Caroline Foster at age 90 when asked about her memories of her farm, Fosterfields. Fosterfields was her home for 98 years of her 102 years, dying in 1979. She wished to preserve her beloved home and to give future generations the chance to experience the sights, smells, and sounds of the rural life she had grown up with..."the good manure smell" as she called it. In 1974, she arranged to bequeath Fosterfields to the Morris County Park Commission to be preserved as a "living historical farm", the first in New Jersey. Fosterfields is not a replica, it has been a working farm since 1760 when Jonathan Ogden worked the farm. General Joseph Warren Revere, a grandson of Paul Revere, bought the Ogden farm. In 1854, he built the impressive three-story, wood-framed Gothic Revival home he called "The Willows". His occupancy of the site began and era of "gentleman farming" that continued well into the 20th century. In 1881, Charles Foster purchased the entire farm and changed its name to Fosterfields in 1881.

On Tuesday, we drove to Morristown, New Jersey to visit the Fosterfields Living Historical Farm. It was a beautiful day and temperatures were mid-sixties and comfortable. There were several school buses in the parking lot when we arrived, and we were told that school students in all grades from around the state, come to the farm regularly for the opportunity to walk back in time and experience farm life. It was very refreshing to hear that technology has not completely taken over the educational process and that there is still an interest in life as it was..............

At Fosterfields, life is interpreted as it was 100 years ago. During 1880-1915, Foster, a successful commodities merchant in New York, developed Fosterfields as a noted Jersey cattle-breeding farm. In the early 1880's, he introduced innovative techniques: the use of pit silos for ensilage, crop rotation to ensure soil nutrients, and the use of steam power to mechanize the farm. In 1915, the old farmhouse burned down, a new one was built, and a gasoline engine took the place of steam. In 1925, the old nationally-known Jersey herd at Fosterfields was sold at auction. At its peak, the farm grew to nearly 200 acres, with 100 Jersey cattle, 200 chickens, pigs, and a fruit orchard. Charles Foster's life at Fosterfields spanned during an incredibly active and important period in American agriculture. Charles Foster died in 1927, leaving his house, property and holdings to his only surviving child, Caroline. Caroline's life spanned a long history of a rapidly changing time.......from steam to gasoline, from horse and buggy to automobile. For more information on Fosterfields, go to www.morrisparks.net

Fosterfields Living Historical Farm