A Pastoral Island in the Heart of Cherry Hill - Cherry Hill, NJ
N 39° 53.462 W 074° 58.116
18S E 502684 N 4415663
Welcome to our last farm! This article tells the tale of how this farm not only came to be the last but what it had to do to sustain itself through the years.
Waymark Code: WMHVKY
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 08/16/2013
Views: 2
"The overall survival of Springdale Farm was made possible by help from the Township of Cherry Hill and Camden County's Open Space Trust, which enabled the families to preserve the grounds as farmland and approved their creative plans for the construction of the store complex that now serves as the center of a business that grows 30 different kinds of fruits and vegetables. The facilities, which include an on-site bakery, grocery store, flower shop, gift shop, greenhouses and meeting rooms, have become a magnet for community members with a yen for the direct purchase of farm-fresh produce as well as a primal desire to be connected to a real-life local farm and real-life local farmers, just as their Camden County ancestors were." SOURCE
As far as our local government, they are pretty proactive, especially when it comes to preserving the remnant of our once agrarian-based community. We have two farm houses which have been restored and are now on the NRHP, which although not exhibiting working farms, act as educational centers and have a museum quality to teach what life was like in the 18th and 19th century.
Our Green Acres program sets aside state money to preserve open spaces. Money was received from them as well and their sign can be seen displayed across the road where the fields start. There is lots to do here with regards to the fields as there is "pick-your-own" fruits and vegetables which of course is great for the kids. They also have hay rides, farm animals and all sorts of other neat stuff for the children.
Berry Picking - Pick Your Own
Every May for over half a century, Springdale Farms allows its customers to pick strawberries on its NJ Green Acres program-supported farms. It is the ONLY Pick-Your-Own farm in our county (Camden), and of course, the last one in Cherry Hill. Imagine, we were once entirely a farming community!
On a personal note, when I grew up here in the late sixties early seventies, farms were everywhere and I mean everywhere. I remember waking up one day and a goat was on our front yard which had strayed from the farm across the. Milk and eggs were delivered fresh as well. There was a farm on Brick Road I saw torn down and another where the Pep Boys is on Rt. 70. Short Hills was also a farm and the farm house from 1860 still stands, having been converted to a restaurant. Down Evesham Road was the Holy Ravine site where I remember feeding and petting the farm animals. Caddy corner to that is the last working horse farm in our town, also preserved which my friend Ken (from high school) owns. That is the Voorhees boarder shared with Cherry Hill. There are so many other farms, scores of them, lost to time and memoy, thankfully, this one still remains.
Quick History
"The original 67-acre Springdale Farm was established by Mary Ebert and her late husband, Alan, in a little-traveled, rural area of Camden County in 1949. It took its name from the natural springs that laced the area. The Eberts' was one of a network of family farms contracted to supply fresh vegetables to the Campbell Soup Co. in Camden and frozen food packer Seabrook Farms in Cumberland County. They also began the roadside produce stand that brought a regular tide of fresh produce pilgrims down the road that ultimately came to bear their farm's name."