Pictured is the Woolley family on their farm, which currently is a sheep farm, and which will be celebrating 180 years in March. Submitted photo

ARKWRIGHT — 180 years is a long time for a farm to be in operation under the same family, and in March the Woolley family farm in Arkwright will be celebrating that anniversary.

The Woolley family farm started with the main homestead at Arkwright Summit on March 5, 1845, when it was purchased by James and Olive Abbey. Through the years the farm has been passed down through multiple generations, going to the Abbey’s daughter and son-in-law Lorett and Nicholas Black after them. The generations continued down through the family to Arthur and Clara Black, then Alfreda and Robert Woolley and then to Jared and Martha Woolley.

These days, the farm is still owned by the Woolley family, reaching the sixth generation of this same family, and operated by Mark and Ann Woolley. Currently, the Woolley family operate it as a sheep farm, under the name Arkwright Summit Sheep Farm.

While there is currently just sheep to be found on the farm, the family used to operate it as a dairy farm, Mapl-Camp Farm, until the milking operation stopped in 1998. The farm also produced many other products over the years including: maple syrup, honey, wool, eggs, pork, chicken and lamb.

Though the content of the farm has changed, Mark Woolley said reaching 180 years of being able to keep this farm under the same family is something rare and worth celebrating.

“It’s a major accomplishment,” Woolley said. “Not many farms can lay claim to being owned by the same family for that long of a time.”

At one point the farm grew to 650 acres, and now is currently around 500 acres with about 200 acres of wood. At one point the farm was home to the largest stand of virgin timber in Chautauqua County, and the main pond on the farm — originally known as Sessions Mill Pond but now known as Black’s Pond — hosted the first Girl Scout Camp in Chautauqua County and was used for public gatherings. From 1932 to 1957 there were 2,500 visitors recorded to the pond.

Nicholas Black built the current two-story house, which was originally three stories, at the corner of Farrington Road and Route 83 as a dowry to Mr. Abbey to prove he could provide for his daughter. This corner became known as Black’s Corners and is still part of the farm.

When Black’s son Arthur owned the farm, it became the first farm in Arkwright to have electricity around 1930. Arthur Black was also known to have purchased the first automobile to be owned in the town in 1905. He was a Justice of the Peace for the Town of Arkwright, holding court at the farm, a Taxidermist, an Apiarist with approximately 75 hives, and a woodcrafter, turning many lamps and pencil holders out of wood.

The Woolley farm is one of the few farms in the United States to have three 40-foot clay tile silos under one roof. They were built in the 1900’s using wooden scaffolding and are still usable today. Raising sheep on the farm was eventually introduced into the operation, so the price of wool would pay the taxes. In the summer of 1967, Jared Woolley added a “Herringbone Double Four” milking parlor, which allowed him to milk four cows at a time on each side of the parlor. This allowed him to reduce the amount of time to milk the herd and the herd size averaged 70 head. The herd mainly consisted of Jerseys and were milked twice a day. During this time, there were also approximately 100 head of sheep in the flock. In that the farm is largely located on gravel soil, the crops that were mainly grown on the farm were hay, corn and oats. The equipment used on the farm was Allis-Chalmers tractors, of which the D-17 is still there, and New Holland equipment.

These days, Mark and Ann Woolley have a flock of sheep that consist of about 25 ewes and two breeding rams. They continue to sell whole and USDA inspected cuts of lamb, along with raising their own hay, both standard square bales and custom size three by five round bales. A few years ago they also added an alternative trail for snowmobilers, allowing for right around two miles of public snowmobile trail on the farm.

Woolley said it is important to him and the family to be able to carry on the family legacy that has continued for such a long time already.

“I think one of the greatest things is to be one of the few family farms left in Chautauqua County and be able to continue the family legacy, especially at this milestone,” Woolley said. “We want to hopefully continue to keep the farm in the family, and maybe even reach the 200 year mark.”