BETHANY - An historic farm in Bethany that was damaged by last Tuesday’s ferocious storms, is still hoping to open for business Memorial Day weekend despite having suffered extensive damage.
“This used to be our old store, but luckily two years ago we built our new store,” said Lars Demander, pointing to the pile of wood that used to be a barn built in 1840.
That demolished barn and two other buildings on the Clover Nook Farm property, which did not suffer serious damage, are part of the State Register of Historic Places .
The eighth generation family, which has always owned the farm, described where they were as the storm approached.
“The second greenhouse behind that lifted on top of the other greenhouse, while we were in it, and all the hanging baskets started coming down on us,” said Debbie Demander, co-owner of the Clover Nook Farm, which dates back to the 1760’s.
She and her son, Lars, crawled under benches in the intact greenhouse.
“The whole greenhouse started going like this and we ran for the house,” she said. “We got blown by the wind, tree limbs are coming down. With our hands over our heads.”
“I was scared out of my mind.,” Lars Demander said. “We ran and I saw the whole barn was tipping forward and then, when I was in the yard, I caught a glimpse of the whole thing coming forward almost to the house.”
The barn came to rest in pieces in the middle of the road.
There were pieces of the cupola atop the barn that were found in a cow pasture approximately 500 feet away.
In addition to growing and selling fresh vegetables, Clover Nook Farm also has a great reputation for their farm raised meats, including lamb, pork and beef.
Because of a damage to some equipment, the corn crop may be delayed.