Visible from the Taconic State Parkway and I-84 in East Fishkill, Shenandoah Farm often signals your arrival in pastoral Duchess County. It stands testament to the area’s agricultural heritage, as this viewshed is often touted as many people’s favorite. But because of its proximity to two major highways, it was always at high risk of development.
Once upon a time, a Jackson ancestor sold part of his family’s Shenandoah Farm. Subsequent Jackson generations worked the same 39-acre parcel, along with their own land, as part of a lease with the owner for their dairy operation. But patriarch Verne Jackson longed to rejoin the parcel with their original holding.
Honored as both a Century Farm and a Dairy of Distinction, the farm is a key dairy producing milk which is sold to Hudson Valley Fresh, a dairy cooperative that the Jacksons are members of. When the 39-acres came on the market, the Jacksons and the DLC teamed up to return this land to its original family ensuring it will remain a part of an icon of the farming tradition.
The DLC, working together with partners Scenic Hudson, Hudson Highlands Land Trust, and Dutchess County, offered to buy the development rights from owner Dr. Joseph Manne, with an offer by the Jacksons to purchase the protected land to keep it in agriculture, as part of their historic farm. As Verne Jackson once said, “This land was originally owned by my great grandfather. We’ve been working the land for many, many years. It is a natural part of our farm. This transaction brought the land home.”
