The Phillips/Howell Farmstead

The farmstead provides the beginning and end points of the annual horse drawn wagon tour of the Pleasant Valley Historic District. In 1737 blacksmith John Philips purchased 125 acres from his brother, Joseph, of Maidenhead (now Lawrenceville, N.J.). His original farm included much of what are now the Howell Living History Farm and land bordering Pleasant Valley Road to the east of Hunter Road. John died in 1789 leaving the farm to his son, Henry, who enlarged the land holdings. When Henry died in 1805 his 225 acres were divided among his sons, and son Henry received what is now the Howell Farm. The farmstead with a two-story stone house with one room on each floor, now the oldest section of the Howell Farm house, was begun by either the elder Henry or his son. They also added the wagon house and two sections of the barn.

The farmhouse at Howell Farm about 1920 when the farm was owned by the Cromwell family. The original stone portion built by Henry Phillips is on the left.

Charles Miller owned the property from 1860 to 1898 and built the pond, ice house, corn crib, and another portion of the barn. After a series of owners and tenants, the Wilson Leming family worked the farm between 1909 and 1919 and built a well over 200 feet deep.

Xenophon Cromwell bought the farm in 1920 and it remained in the Cromwell family as a dairy farm until 1948. Several more owners operated dairy farms until 1962 when Charles and Inez Howell purchased the property. The Howells leased the farm to various tenants, the last of whom raised beef cattle.

Inez Howell gave the farm to Mercer County in 1974, in memory of her husband, and in 1984 the farm opened to the public as a living history farm whose own history covers over 240 years. Since 1974 the farm has been developed and operated by the Mercer County Park Commission as an educational facility serving schools, youth groups, and families by preserving and demonstrating farm life from the period of 1900-1910.