BELMONT COUNTY, Ohio — Holding onto a family heirloom may be difficult, especially when you consider its age, but try holding onto a family farm that’s more than 200 years old.
Neal and Barb Caldwell are the seventh generation in a long line of property owners. The two are retired and instead of a vacation home on the coast, they’ve opted for eastern Ohio.
“What do you have planned for today, Barb?” Neal said as they drove through the property.
The pair loves to explore, just as their ancestors did throughout the last 200-plus years.
The Caldwells own an Ohio-certified Bicentennial Farm in Belmont County.
“This is sort of the history of our farm,” Barb said as she pointed to one of their oldest family photographs. “These are the first two people who actually lived here. Their father bought them the farm in 1818. This is Joseph Brown and his wife, Elisabeth Stuckey-Brown, and they were the first people to live on our farm. They had 11 children and one of their grandchildren was—”
The two often finish each other’s sentences.
“Yes,” he said. “This was John-Martin Caldwell, my grandfather, son of Priscilla Brown-Caldwell and he had two brothers, James and Hobert.”
They said family members of the past raised dairy cows and grew a variety of crops, including tobacco.
“The tobacco was either grown by my grandfather or his brother, Hobert. And my father kept it for years. And I am 77, and there was no tobacco, so has to be close to 100 years old,” he said, pointing to the tobacco hanging on the wall.
The two received the bicentennial certificate from the state this year and proudly display it alongside their family photos and relics.
“My interest in ancestry sort of started as finding out how long we had been on this property. We went by the note on the picture that was left for us,” Barb said.
The two credit the Captina Conservancy for guiding them on their way to certifying the farm. And while they enjoy looking to the past, they’re ready to embrace the future in big ways by ensuring the farm will be preserved for future generations and in small ways as well, carving their names in a few of the trees on the land.
“This is our grandson, Evan Caldwell, who was 15 when he carved that Fourth of July this year, so who knows who will be looking at it in the future,” Neal said.
“Hopefully his grandchildren carving their initials in one of these trees one day,” Barb answered.
