NORTH YARMOUTH — It started over a quarter century ago. North Yarmouth residents did not want the beloved pastures and woods of Skyline Farm to turn into the proposed 15 housing lots.
“We just thought, ‘Do you want to see McMansions out there? No, we can’t let this place be developed. We just can’t,’” said Lynn Young, who lived down the road from the farm and rode horses on the property.
The 54-acre parcel near Walnut Hill had belonged to Horace “Ken” Sowles, and his death in 1997 left questions of its future, as his wife intended to sell it. Purchasing Skyline Farm in 1970, Sowles had owned the farm buildings, horses and indoor horse riding arena that was built in 1959, the first of its kind in Maine.
Sowles had stuffed the arena with his personal collection of over 300 antique carriages and sleighs, which schoolchildren would visit to learn more about local history. Others in North Yarmouth knew the fields and woods of the farm from riding either Sowles’ or their own horses through the property.
In a town that values both its rural character and its history, the prospect of the farmland dating back to the 18th century being developed brought the community together looking for alternatives.
“Wouldn’t that really accomplish two things? Saving this property in this beautiful piece of land, but also maybe being able to create the museum that Ken always wanted,” said Young, who is in her 70s.
So a group of North Yarmouth residents raised the approximately $75,000 needed to purchase the property, with $25,000 approved for the purchase at the annual town meeting, smaller gifts from the community and $30,000 from a wealthy private donor in Virginia who never visited the property but had a passion for horses. In the summer of 2000, the newly formed Skyline Farm nonprofit and the Sowles family agreed to a purchase of the property with a conservation easement by the Royal River Conservation Trust.
Now the volunteer-run Skyline Farm is celebrating 25 years of being open to the public for recreation and education. The fields remain open for people and their dogs to play in, and 1.7 miles of trails still wind through the woods and remain frequented by both hikers and locals riding their horses.
There is still an abundance of carriages on the property, but instead of stacking up in the old dirt-floor arena, they are in that refurbished building in a carefully curated museum that opened in 2006. Volunteers rotate out which 30 carriages in the extensive collection, now spanning beyond Sowles’ original carriages to a wider collection, are on display at a time, with themes such as “country vs. city” or “delivery vehicles.”
Volunteers bring the history of carriage and sled riding to life, offering horse-drawn carriage rides and “Sleigh Day” in February, where families can dash through the snow on jingling sleighs. Other annual Skyline Farm events include Farm Day in June, a 5K on the trails every September and HenryFest, a one-day outdoor music festival hosted by Yarmouth’s 317 Main Community Music Center. The nonprofit also hosts events and weddings to support their operating budget.
“What (Skyline Farm) has meant for me is that it just connected the neighborhood together. At the events I’ve met neighbors that live on the perimeter over there, we’ve met people from town,” said Skyline Farm President Jennifer Robbins, 62.
“It is just bringing the community together. And it’s very lowkey,” she said.
School and library groups of children visit the farm throughout the year, learning about carriages, seeing a blacksmithing demonstration by a board member, and interacting with the horses that locals bring to the property.
“I get the biggest kick out of it. It could be almost anything, but when the kids come, it is fun,” said Greg Cuffey, 65, a board member who does carriage repairs and blacksmith demonstrations.
As the nonprofit’s leadership considers the next quarter century, they hope to get more young people invested in the future of Skyline Farm. The dozen volunteers serving on the board of directors and maintaining Skyline Farm — a portion of whom helped conserve the land 25 years ago — are all over 60, save for Young’s 30-year-old daughter, who grew up playing in the woods of Skyline Farm.
“To me, we’re always so open, and we’ll just stay that way,” said Cuffey. “If we’re to stay alive, you have to be open to new ideas.”
Establishing and running the Skyline Farm nonprofit has always been organic and community-driven, said board members. For the next 25 years, they are open to anything, as long as it keeps the community invested in the property. They’ve done races and weddings and festivals before. Their newest consideration? Donkeys pulling the carriages.
“People’s interests change, and you have to diversify to get people who wouldn’t think of coming here. They might come here for donkeys or dogs or a road race and say, ‘Hey, we love this property and we want to support it.’” said Cuffey.
