Smith, John, Farm

This 199-acre farm along State Highway 80 near Hallsville, in the town of Minden, grew from a c1834 farmstead into a large dairy operation. The main house is a two-and-a-half-story brick and frame building on a cut limestone foundation. It was raised and updated around 1860-70 with scroll-sawn brackets, a frieze band with small windows and a robust front door surround. Inside are a double-pile plan, faux bois painted woodwork, a curved stair and a rear service block with a historic kitchen and butler's pantry. Surrounding buildings include a gambrel-roofed dairy barn with silo, a carriage house and granary, a chicken coop, a corn crib, a hog pen, a scale house and a farm manager's house. Eight resources contribute and one does not. Census records from 1860 show John Smith's wealth was nearly double that of neighbouring farmers, and he led the local cheese factory association. The farm reflects the Mohawk Valley area's dairying and cheese economy and its mid-nineteenth-century architecture.