History

Broadwater Farm got its name from the lake created when the adjoining Pickering Creek was dammed to create a large ice pond. For many years, the Knickerbocker Ice Company harvested ice here before the lake disappeared when the dam was swept away in the 1940's.

The property was a dairy farm from the 1700's until the 1940's when it was sold to a developer who ultimately converted the farm house, spring house, pool house, and trophy hall into 17 apartments which operated as the Charlestown Arms Apartments until the Carmelite Order of the Catholic Church purchased the apartment complex on 55 acres in 1985 for use as a convent. In 1990, the Carmelites sold the property to Liz and Bill Andersen and relocated to Spokane, WA.

To put the Farm back into production, the Andersens converted to pastures overgrown fields and woods which had not been farmed since the 1940's, expanded the orchard, fenced the pastures and acquired four adjoining parcels containing four houses on 95 acres. They began a pastured livestock operation with the acquisition of a small herd of registered Black Angus cattle, a dozen Dorset sheep, a Tamarack ram, and laying hens.

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Related Links
Charlestown Farm
Phoenixville Farmers' Market

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