Description
This Century Farm traces its beginnings to Jacob King who began farming in the 1880s in Goat Cove, Conception Bay, near St Philip’s. Here, the family cleared the land by hand and was able to grow vegetables and provide sufficient hay to support a dairy herd. Some years later, the Kings moved to King’s Road, an extension of Bennett’s Road, near Hogan’s Pond. This move gave the family more land and easier access to markets in St John’s. In 1892 Jacob King was killed in an accident involving a runaway horse. In 1902, Jacob’s widow, Isabella, and her children, received the land grant for the farm. Isabella’s son John cleared more land to expand the acreage of the farm and he built new barns. The farm supported the family by producing milk and cream, eggs, and vegetables. In 1930, a nephew, George King, bought 20 acres from his uncle John. He paid $60.00 for the land. George’s son, William, continued on the home farm but expanded onto more land on the Bauline line in the early 1970s. He did this in order to increase his hog operation. Today, Stoney Ridge Farms is run by William’s son Stewart along with his wife Daphne and two children, Spencer and Sophia, the sixth generation on the farm. The farm now has 260 acres. This includes the original land on Bennett’s Road, and additional land on the Bauline Line and Portugal Cove Road. In 1993, Stewart built a provincially licensed slaughterhouse on the Bauline Line for processing their hogs. They have since closed out of hogs but continue to process turkeys. The farm currently produces turkeys, forage, Kentucky Bluegrass sod and brown shell eggs. Stewart King has not only maintained the tradition of the King farm, but he has also expanded it and developed specialized enterprises. He has also played an active role in the Hog Producers’ Association and in the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture as a member of the Board. All images and content copyright Agricultural History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador
