BROWN FARMSTEAD

Inscription

BROWN FARMSTEAD
PURCHASED 1828 BY JOHN BROWN
FROM JANE COLDEN MURRAY.
HOME OF JOHN KNOX BROWN,
DAIRYMEN’S LEAGUE & WALLKILL
VALLEY FARMERS’ ASSN OFFICER.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2021

The former home of John K. Brown, aka the Brown Family Farmstead, is located just outside the Village of Walden, NY. Originally purchased by John T. Brown from Jane Colden Murray in 1828, the Brown Farmstead was passed down to John K. Brown. Born on the Brown Farmstead around 1854, John K. Brown was a prominent farmer, as described in a historic sketch featured in the1907 publication of Historic Wallkill and Hudson River Valleys:

From his early youth he has had a great love for country life and anything pertaining to agriculture, taking a lively interest in all matters for the advancement of his fellow farmers. He is a great advocate of the producer’s rights in the milk question and believes it will yet be settled to their satisfaction. On several occasions he has been the means of securing better prices for the producers. For many years he was school trustee of his district, and under his supervision a new schoolhouse was erected, which the district is justly proud of. Mr. Brown has one of the finest and best improved farms in the Wallkill Valley- its fertile fields and broad meadows with large orchards of various kinds of fruit, denotes a thrift that can only be obtained by diligent perseverance to the utmost end.

John K. Brown served as vice president of the Wallkill Valley Farmers’ Association for several years and later was a member of the Dairymen’s League. The family farmstead remained in operation for more than 100 years. In 1941, John K. Brown passed away at the age of 86.

As of 2021, Brown’s former home and farmstead still stood.