Willsboro Research Farm
This 351.12 acre farm provides land representative
of the Lake Champlain-St. Lawrence River valleys for applied research,
teaching and extension and is located 1.5 miles north of Willsboro
at the entrance to the Willsboro Point peninsula with Lake Champlain
bordering to the east. The elevations obtained from the topographic
maps of the U.S. Geological Survey range from a low of 100 feet
at the shoreline of Lake Champlain to a high of 240. The farm
is on the gently rolling lacustrine plain adjacent to Lake Champlain.
The climate in the area where the farm is located is characterized
as cool temperate with a 150 day growing season. The soils on
the Willsboro farm were developed in glacial till (Bombay), deltaic
or glacial lake sands (Stafford and Cosad), and glacial lake clays
(Kingsbury).
Background history:
In 1982, E. Vreeland Baker, a retired independent investor in
oil and gas exploration, donated the Willsboro farm to the Cornell
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Mr. Baker grew up on
the farm and eventually attended Cornell, graduating in 1923.
During his childhood, the Willsboro farm, then known as the Baker
farm, was used by his grandfather primarily for the production
of apples.
