Heritage Farms

The Lawson Waterman farmhouse and barn.

NPS Collection

Located near Peninsula's historic downtown, Heritage Farms is the village's oldest family-run farm. Lawson Waterman purchased the property between 1844 and 1878. Also known as the Bishop Farm, Heritage Farms illustrates many of the trends associated with Cuyahoga Valley farming, including a long history of self-sufficiency, diverse products, and appeal to local markets.

 

Lawson Waterman in front of his farmhouse.

NPS Collection

The Landscape

At one time, the farm included three homes and 19 other buildings. Today, only two original structures remain standing: the barn—in continual use since its construction in 1846—and the farmhouse on top of the hill. Each generation made changes to the property to meet the needs of their growing business. They added and removed buildings, timbered woods, and cleared pasture lands.

 

---

In Their Own Words

Hear stories about Cuyahoga Valley life below.

To learn more visit the Heritage Farms website.

 

• Heritage Farm Operations

  
  

  Current owner and Lawson Waterman's descendant, Carol Haramis talks about changes in production since Lawson Waterman's original farm.
  Audio Transcript

  Every generation has done something a little different, and it's always something to make the farm profitable. So Lawson Waterman, they raised your typical crops. He had sheep and cows and chickens, and they did wheat and oats and corn. And then the next generation, he was more of a—That would have been my great-grandfather, Charles. And Charlie was more of a gentleman farmer and he leased out a lot of the land, but they still did maple syrup. Different farmers that leased the land grew different crops, and they raised cattle and all that "typical" farming stuff. And then the next generation would have been my grandfather. He didn't want anything to do with farming, so he rented the entire farm and he moved to Cleveland and lived in Cleveland. My dad, when he was twenty-seven or twenty-eight, moved—married my mom. He wanted to farm, so they moved here to the farm and he took over farming, and I learned everything I know from him.

 

Heritage Farms now sells Christmas trees, daylilies, and other products.

© Jeffrey Gibson

The Business of Farming

Since the 1840s, each generation of the Bishop-Haramis family has sold different agricultural products to meet changing market demands.

Lawson Waterman and his wife Angeline operated a general farm with a large flock of sheep, a dairy, and fields of potatoes. Lawson also owned a boat yard on the Ohio & Erie Canal. Later, nephew Charles E. Bishop inherited the farm. With his wife Kate, Charles expanded the dairy to 50 milking cows. Robert Poole Bishop (Charles' grandson) and his wife Jeanette took over the farm in 1948. They replaced the dairy herd with Aberdeen Angus beef cattle and planted Christmas trees.

A fifth-generation Bishop farmer, Carol Haramis and her husband Kim currently own and operate the farm. Heritage Farms sells Christmas trees, pumpkins, daylilies, and maple syrup; hosts seasonal events, including Peninsula Farmers' Market and Pumpkin Pandemonium; and rents space for meetings and events.

 

Learn about other farms in the valley:

• Former Coliseum Property

• Conrad Botzum Farmstead

• Point Farm

• Welton Farm

• Heritage Farm